East meets the West - Evolution of Indian Furniture
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Article by: Kumar Ravi Indian craftsmanship has always enjoyed a fame that has invited both respect and pillage from the earliest days. Whether it is stone , A Look at Computer Desks for Children work on temples or standalone articles, terracotta figurines, jewelry pieces, woodwork or graphic and plastic , Bookcases and storage systems art, the craftsmen from this country have always been welcomed by connoisseurs of beauty. At times, however, this fixation with beauty sacrificed utility and comfort - this tendency resulted in ornate and complicated creations like a wooden , Aluminum Mini Blinds throne, for example, that would have raised the goose-bumps, but would also have given a nasty backache. Local , Wallpaper - Is It "In" or "Out?" tradition and culture contributed to the furthest development of ornamental woodwork - for palaces, temples, public houses, , Country Home Decorating - Country Style Home Decor the Way Life Used to Be works of arts, etc - but did not generate any utilitarian furniture , Using Vintage Hankies To Decorate The Bedroom of the kind we modern dwellers of the world are used to. One big reason for this was that eating was mainly done on floor, , Advice on Buying Cheap Bunk Beds and sitting and resting on charpoys (simple string bed , 7 Key Tips on how to Create the Illusion of Space in Small Rooms with wooden , Contemporary Grandfather Clocks posts). The main thrust to furniture , Use Home Furnishing to Decorate your Home with the Ultimate Designs development was given by foreign influence. When the Portuguese, the first Europeans to come to India, arrived, they did not find any familiar furniture, , Desktop Wallpaper it was them, and later, the Dutch, the French and the English, who inspired the composition of domestic furniture , Aluminum Mini Blinds to cater to their settlements. The Indian carpenter turned out to be precocious in adapting foreign designs , Bookcases and storage systems and inducing in them an indigenous flavor of craftsmanship. Thus, as Joseph Butler mentions in an article in Encyclopedia Britannica, "India's place , A Look at Computer Desks for Children in the history of furniture , Grandfather Clocks: How to Set One Up In Your Home is that of an adapter or transformer of imported Western styles rather than a creator of independent styles of its own." It was the play of these influences that gave birth to the Mughal style, the Goanese, the Indo-Dutch style, the use of ebony and ivory in the manner of Chippendale and Sheraton. English predominance since the 18th century resulted in English influence in furniture , Preserve Evergreen Memories styling, and this became so popular that even Indian rulers became patrons (this latter tendency could simply be a reflection of the Anglicization of the rulers, of their desire to identify with the ruling class). In the 19th century, the ornamentation assumed primacy, divorcing itself once again from utility. A tropical , Bookcases and storage systems country with about eighty varieties of hardwood available for woodwork, India has an old tradition of furniture , The Function of Hurricane Shutters making. Subsequent to the English influence who cultivated teak as a 'royal tree' for shipping industry (teak is tremendously resilient to water , What You Should Know about the Correct Paint Job and weather), teak assumed tremendous popularity for quality woodwork. Almost all large articles were composed on wood. , Bookcases and storage systems Royal houses , Kitchen Design Essentials - A Case Study and rich households , Curtains, Windows, and Feng Shui have always been the traditional patrons of the furniture , Wallpaper - Is It "In" or "Out?" industry, and even today the royal palaces strewn across the four corners of India feature , Country Home Decorating - Country Style Home Decor the Way Life Used to Be some of the most illustrious examples of indigenous woodwork. Frederick Litchfield's Illustrated History of Furniture , Buckwheat- Not For Pancakes- For Pillows! (1893) mentions many such marvels that still mesmerize. Like the two wooden , How to Choose Bed Sheets Effectively teak doors , Finding a Color Scheme - Decorating with What you Have sent as gift to the Indian Government and now kept in the National Museum (Kolkata). Or the shisham wood , A Look at Solid Hard Floors (rosewood) carved window , Different Types of Contemporary Chandeliers at Amritsar with its overhanging cornice, ornamental arches with pillars and intricate work on the body. Royal gifts sent to the Queen and the King as well as the Princes also showed an obsession with details that is unique to India. Even today, much of British royal furniture , Design is of Indian vintage. In the years since the British left the furniture , Wallpaper - Is It "In" or "Out?" industry in India has evolved. Utility and simplicity gained primacy over art. Price considerations have driven down ornamentation to the minimum, and cheaper wood , Bookcases and storage systems varieties have come to be used to cater to the huge low cost demand. Yet, in niche areas the old forms of furniture , Finding a Color Scheme - Decorating with What you Have still continue to be crafted. , A Luxury Featherbed Delivers The Ultimate Sleep Experience In many places, , Kitchen Design Essentials - A Case Study like Rajasthan, that still has a royal ethos in a Republican India, with its dozens of Palaces', the old form of furniture , Grandfather Clocks: How to Set One Up In Your Home making is still preserved. Here, one can take a time travel and find works of an earlier day being crafted , A Look at Solid Hardwood Floors with the same expertise. Exported around the world wherever antique and ornamental furniture , Finding a Color Scheme - Decorating with What you Have is appreciated, the Jodhpur furniture , Rustic Home Decor - The Return to Nature forms the focal point of this industry. Nowadays foreign designs , Finding a Color Scheme - Decorating with What you Have are adapted with local , A Look at Solid Hardwood Floors styles that are hugely popular with Western customers. Once again we are back to the Portuguese days when designs , Bamboo Furniture - It's Worth The Look! were an inventive amalgamation of European sensibilities and Indian craftsmanship.Written by http://www.eastwindtraders.com/ team. EastWindTraders.com is an American company involved in importation of custom designed line of unique handcrafted , Kitchen Table Sets - Add a Touch of Style to Your Dream Kitchen wooden and leather furniture, , Buckwheat- Not For Pancakes- For Pillows! antiques and more. Furniture , Desktop Wallpaper sourced from India and China, feature , Kitchen Table Sets - Add a Touch of Style to Your Dream Kitchen impeccable craftsmanship with custom made designs. , Kitchen Island Ideas for Great Custom Kitchen Islands |
  
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