Jodhpur-based furniture and décor brand Traditional Handicraft Centre finds meaning in upcycling wood collected from across the country

Furniture and antique brand Traditional Handicraft Centre (THC) in Jodhpur started three generations ago because of a unique fascination. “My grandfather used to collect old arms and ammunition and sell them to galleries and other collectors. Slowly this evolved into dealing in antiques and from there we transitioned to manufacturing and exporting handicrafts,” says third-generation entrepreneur and partner at THC, Priyank Gupta.

Waste not

The theme of THC gives Gupta the most satisfaction, and that is “finding value from salvage”.

“Our raw material is reclaimed. The products that we source from 32 different sites and centres around India are all part of items discarded, or destroyed. We reclaim them from demolished houses. The idea of using those pieces and giving them life — be it doing bone inlay, painting work, or carving work — is something I find very inspiring. As do my wife Palak Dhanuka and sister Vrinda Agarwal,” says Gupta.

Priyank Gupta
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Products are sourced from different parts of India. “Paper mache is sourced from Kashmir, while most teakwood items are sourced from the south of India. Bone inlay comes from Rajasthan. Pieces from Nagaland are mostly made of a single trunk, which works best for minimalist decor pieces. Teak doors come from havelis. We get a lot of Raj-era teakwood furniture from Kerala. The carvings on the items would reveal which location each of them is from,” says Dhanuka.

Nearly 90% of their products are created with reclaimed wood. But more than the selling of the finished product, the most effort goes into sourcing the material and processing it. Dhanuka says, “We prefer calling it reclaimed wood furniture and not second-chance furniture, as often they’re not furniture items but art decor, they’re collectables. Sometimes the functionality of the item is gone. A door is not used as a door but a mirror, a cabinet as a centre table etc. So they are one-of-a-kind pieces.”

The back-end process can be very time-consuming. “When we get this raw material, we have to clean it, and make sure all nails are out; we have to fix as much as we can, patching up the holes and so on. Our accumulation capacity right now is 1,200 tonnes; it’s a very good capacity for reclaimed teak wood, but the supply has to be all year,” says Gupta about the brand, whose pieces have been featured in Mumbai’s T2 Aiport, and the sets of major television series such as Game of Thrones and Lord of The Rings.

Palak Dhanuka
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Art speaks

Often the design of the furniture or product is foretold by the “raw material.” While both Dhanuka and Agarwal are designers, Gupta says the pieces created out of the material are something that often comes instinctively to their 300-plus contractors. “It is almost as if that is what the piece is asking for,” he says.

It can lead to surprising outcomes. For example, part of their newest range comes from old furniture and decoratives from Nagaland. “These pieces are discarded because people are creating modern concrete homes where these would have been wasted. We have recreated them with Rajasthani bone inlay and reimagined them as coffee tables or bedside tables,” says Gupta.

An imposing teakwood throne accented with brass detailing. 
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Beauty in diversity

Gupta does not foresee a challenge in adapting a THC product even in minimalist austere modern spaces. “I think even if our homes are private and calm, there are always one or two pieces that showcase our culture. Our homes can never be too minimalist. We cannot create 100 identical pieces of furniture because reclaimed wood will come with its patina and workmanship. The advantage of reclaimed furniture is that the wood is very sturdy. It is seasoned over time — for 50 years and more. It is for this reason that the price, when compared to a product made of new teak, is slightly more,” says Gupta.

Currently, THC does not have a retail store. The company is based out of Jodhpur, where all the products are on display. Customers can visit the factory and select the items they wish to buy. A few products can be bought online at shop.thcindia.in. Prices begin at ₹800 for a small paper mache pot; furniture cost is ₹10,000 upwards.

The writer is an independent journalist and consultant.