Craftyard furniture launches its first collection

The owner talks about her collection and how it all began.

LAHORE:

At the Drawing Room art gallery, a two-day furniture exhibition by Craftyard was held on November 17 and 18 showcasing its first collection titled the Ice Cream Garden. Inspired by various shades of ice cream, Anum Shahid — owner of Craftyard — has brought a contemporary yet vintage feel to her work.

While Shahid aims to retain the character of wood, she adds contemporary elements to her designs and plays with the hues for a modern and more colourful look. The collection consists of 15 different pieces.

Even though the choice of colours is candy-like and rather bold, the pieces still pull it off with a level of sophistication. Shahid, a National College of Arts (NCA) graduate, is an architect by profession but has chosen to be a furniture designer. “My academics taught me how to play with wood and spaces but I decided to move into furniture because I enjoy this much more than architecture,” said Shahid. “Although I have designed spaces before and after doing Zara Shahjahan’s store, I knew that I wanted to do interiors.”

Most of the furniture that was showcased at the exhibition consisted of one-off novelty pieces; rather than focusing on practicality, they focused on luxury. The baby crib with hand-painted floral panels is not only a piece to add to the baby’s room, but it also has a decorative purpose. On the other hand, the wooden trunks with brass handles, titled Pink and Blue Surprise, add character to the room and can also be used for storage.

The crater tables, which were available in three different sizes, stood out the most in the entire exhibition. The addition of badges and postage stamps turned them into novelty pieces and since they are lacquered, they can be used both indoors and outdoors.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2012.

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