KOLKATA
Artisan’s deals in a rather unusual material. Time. Sometimes it comes in the form of timber darkened over decades, its surface carrying scratches, softened edges and evidence of previous hands. Sometimes it is held inside the precise gesture of a bronze figure, cast today through a process that has survived for centuries. Elsewhere, it appears in a carved temple door, a stone sculpture or an artefact whose maker may no longer have a name.
Since 1969, the Chennai-based family house has built its collection around such pieces. What began as a project to preserve Tamil craftsmanship has passed through three generations, growing into a repository of South Indian bronzes, carved wood, stone sculptures, temple doors and rare finds that now travel to homes around the world.
There is no insistence that everything must be old. That would miss the point. Artisan’s moves between the antique and the newly handcrafted, choosing pieces for the knowledge contained within their making.
Its bronzes are a fine example. Created using Pancha-Loha, the traditional five-metal alloy process, they draw from the sculptural grammar associated with Chola bronzes. Casting is only part of their making. The hand-finishing that follows determines the expression of a face, the fall of ornament, the position of a finger and the balance of the entire figure. Each bronze is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity signed by the master sthapathi.
The older pieces possess a different kind of authorship. Antique wood arrives with irregularities that cannot be designed into it. Temple doors bear carvings shaped as much by age as by the original chisel. Stone carries its own weather and wear. Artisan’s preserves these traces rather than polishing away the years.
Perhaps that is why the collection does not feel uncomfortable in a contemporary setting. These are not objects trying to recreate an old interior. Bronze can stand against bare plaster. A carved door can become the strongest presence in a restrained room. Centuries of ornament can sit quite happily beside a clean-lined chair.
For Artisan’s, preservation has never meant keeping the past still. Since 1969, the family has allowed it to keep moving, from maker to collector, from one generation to another, and from Chennai into rooms thousands of miles away.
Time, after all, was never meant to stay in one place.
