Preserving history
Period furniture restored
RESTORING AND recreating period furniture, antique artefacts and paintings are more than a tribute to nostalgia — in a sense they help preserve a slice of history itself. It is the spirit of authenticity that the designers and artisans of Sri Tulsi Arts seek to capture in their restoration and recreation of period European and Colonial furniture, Chola bronzes, Thanjavur paintings and brassware.
Every detail is painstakingly restored and new furniture items recreated at their workshop — be it a mellow Thanjavur frame, a family of brass storks in their British Raj `art natural' avatar, a planter's chair complete to the last detail, folding arms extendable to rest tired legs or intricate cane work in the curved back. Chettinad-tiled furniture reproductions are also available.
More, each of the reproduced furniture items is fashioned out of reclaimed wood, ecovered from old buildings pulled down to make way for new construction. Reclaimed wood comprises sturdy Burma teak and rosewood. They give authenticity to the reproductions. Sri Tulsi Arts is the only company in India to have Smart Wood Certification from Rainforest Alliance, an International non-profit NGO working for the environment.
An exhibition cum sale of Sri Tulsi Arts' furniture and artefacts begins today (December 17). It will showcase reproductions of French Regency style, Victorian and Edwardian furniture, Anglo Indian Raj furniture pieces from roll top tables to grand straight back `twisted arm chairs', colonial dining tables and much more.
On view will be high backed Sri Lankan drawing room sets, slatted three-piece verandah furniture, picnic chairs, as well as a range of beautiful reproductions of Chola and Pallava bronzes which have been crafted by sthapathis from Swamimalai. The bronzes span sizes ranging from six inches to eight ft and include a superb Kaaliya Krishna, an unusual Nataraja, Saraswati and many more masterpieces.
Other eye catching artefacts include interesting wood cut reproductions, Thanjavur paintings, stained glass panels made from vegetable dye pigments, a fantastic copper sheet embossed Kalpavriksha crafted by Vidyaswami Sthapathi from Swamimalai, unusual terracotta art work, again executed by well known artists and a wealth of craft. Among the old pieces is a superbly carved antique door. The Tulsi Art Exhibition cum sale will be on at 41, New Avadi Road, Kilpauk, till December 21.
PUSHPA CHARI
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