The chess sets hand crafted by artisans
from ‘Sawantwadi’, a princely
town in the Konkan belt, have helped sustain
the skill of hand painting. The chessboard
folds into a box to house the pieces, which
are all intricately carved from local wood
and painted in great detail to capture the
character of each
In the Khamadi style, old, elaborately
embroidered pieces are joined to make
wall hangings. Pieces from garments
belonging to the royal families were
collected and sewn together by artisans
in Barmer, close to the Indo-Pak border.
Traditionally these were used as ceiling
or wall coverings in large houses.
At a closer look, one can actually
see pieces from an old ‘topi’
or ‘choli’ or even a nose
ring with pearls.
