Shesham Wood Furniture from India.
Almost in the shadow of the mighty Hanuman monkey god statue, (which you will find in the mysterious Chattarpur Temple in sultry south Delhi), we discovered an Aladdin’s cave of artisan produced wooden furniture.  Intricate Indian deities rubbing shoulders with magnificent contemporary dinning tables. In sheds behind the showroom gangs of guys beavered away polishing and packing shipments to be dispatched around the world.

Modular Designs & Practical Jokes
The boss man was a very unlikely Indian chap, a kind of Fonz of Delhi, complete with shades, funky haircut and a passion for practical jokes.

We had met previously in the Noida trade show, when I spotted some novel wooden racking I thought perfect for gift displays. Chatting to the owner we quickly related and were soon brainstorming a shop fit concept.  What if you could buy modular units that  all matched and could be configured in any number of ways?

So the next day we went off to see his factory to do our ethics audit, and make sure that the company is respectable.  After looking round and meeting some of the staff I asked if all the furniture was made there, no of course not, you need huge factory space – this was just the finishing and despatch unit. Could we see the main production? No problem and within minutes we are sat in the Fonz of Delhi’s big bouncy car as he drove us further south out of Delhi and in to the badlands…

He told us about various motoring accidents and how close to death he’d been on several occasions, and we were relieved when the notoriously hairy Delhi traffic thinned and we found ourselves on empty roads. After an hour we turned off the road to a bare track and bounced across an arid semi desert landscape complete with hot wind, tall cacti and tumbleweed.  Passing the occasional heavily fortified compounds our man explained that the Delhi mafia live like feudal lords out here.

We came to a grinding halt - dust drifting from the tyres. A big red evening sun cast long dark shadows across the landscape. The Fonz looked all at once serious, and for the first time noticed the scar “get out” he said.  We did as we were told and looking round could see no sign of civilisation. “If I left you here…?” he murmured leaving the question hanging in the silent heat.

Me, Slavka (my wife) and Carlos (our man in Spain) must have looked a picture.

Seconds later the Fonz was laughing, clutching his side and slapping us on the back. “I always do that – I can’t resist it, it always get’s ‘em”. He explained.

That sure is someway to treat your new customers!

Anyway a little further down the track we turned a corner and by a full size cricket pitch was a farm building with several big open sided barns. This was the production area, the cricket pitch was put to good use during break times when all the staff including the Fonz would troop out play an over or two.

All manner of furniture was being produced from Shesham wood. I didn’t realise but after being cut from the trunks of wood in to workable planks it has to be treated in vast metal kilns to harden it enough to prevent cracks and warping later. Shesham wood is sometimes called (erroneously) Indian rose wood and comes from fast growing fully sustainable sources in Northern India.

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