Practical meets traditional: Spicing up furniture

Exhibition at Ejaz Art Gallery runs till April 22.

LAHORE:

The Spice Box, a furniture exhibit, opened at the Ejaz Art Gallery on Tuesday. Lattice work, incorporated extensively in the contemporary furniture, draws inspiration from Mughal and Hindu architecture.

The 35 consoles, drawer units, wall mirrors and side boards took Nadeem Bashir eight months to assemble. He said researching took up most of that time. “I read up on historical architecture which intelligently made use of light and shade.” Bashir then sketched the designs and employed traditional cabinet makers to translate his designs into the products.

“This collection has a very oriental character. Most contemporary furniture [made from sheesham] has a cold look to it. My furniture is warm on the eye while not losing the contemporary slenderness,” Bashir said.

Bashir who has been designing furniture for ten years said that as houses became smaller, the aesthetic character of furniture was dying.

“Furniture, previously, was lavish and took more space. Now, it has been downgraded to practical and functional.” He said the idea behind his furniture collection was to marry the practical with the traditional.

“I want to create furniture people can relate to.”

Bashir, who has been teaching design at National College of Arts for 16 years, said he would show a design to his carpenter and after the woodwork was finished, he would personally incorporate the carved metal-acrylic patterns.

“I studied patterns and their functions. The lattice has been used sometimes to enhance wind pressure. At other times it has been employed to deal with privacy concerns. Function and design made the traditional ‘jalees’ aesthetically very rich,” Bashir added.

Bashir said he had made sure the lattices were not being replicated. Instead, he recreated them.

“Replicating is easy. Re-designing is different. In design, there is regard for structure, space and their interplay with light.”

Artist RM Naeem, who also teaches at the NCA, said of the collection, “It’s sensible and a clever blend of oriental and contemporary aesthetics.” Naeem said he felt the furniture would add a new dimension to the furniture industry.

“We have not had any design maestros because our demand is market oriented. We want to replicate everything foreign instead of drawing inspiration from tradition. I hope this collection provokes other designers into going that extra mile and push their creativity.”

Over 200 people attended the opening and more than half of the collection, priced between Rs50,000 and Rs200,000, has already been sold.

Bashir plans to take the unsold furniture to a studio at his residence on Zafar Ali Road once the exhibition ends on April 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2012.

Correction: An earlier version of this article suggested that the furniture was made from metal and glass. The furniture is made from sheesham.