Craft Melon Revives the Art of Wood Inlay

FDT Bureau

In a world of fast-paced developments when the traditional art and crafts of India are dying a slow death, Craft Melon is on a gallant path to revive the art of Wood Inlay. The founder of Craft Melon, Mr. Bhanu Prakash is a former IT professional who quit his job to give new life to the disappearing traditional art of Mysore. In an exhibition in Mumbai, Furniture Design & Technology (FDT) enjoyed the collection of the local heritage of Mysore-Wood Inlay. In an exclusive conversation with FDT, Mr Bhanu Prakash shared, “My passion was to do something different in the field of art and culture related to our traditions. I started the inlay art work in Mysore and decided to choose this passion as a profession.”

The wood inlay portrays India’s rich heritage embellished with the artisan’s dexterity. Craft Melon is forging a better future for the traditional art and pertained artisans. The art of wood inlay is a treasure of Mysore and predominantly use Rosewood along with other local selection of woods. At one time there was a great demand for inlay art in Mysore and more than five thousand artists were passionately attached to this art. This art has been passed on to generations but sadly urbanization has led the younger generation to move out of the region for other professions causing a slow death of the provincial art form. It uses wooden frame or surface to craft attractive paintings, designs, pictures of deities and great men. This art of painting on wood is quite complex that involves different types of wood for colour and the wood burr is filled in other wood depending on the design. This is very hard and lengthy work undoubtedly, which is possible only from a top class designer and wood specialist. “We can use it on wooden flooring, paintings, wallpapers, furniture etc. We are trying to innovate where we can use the inlay art work,” Mr Prakash shares. The company started its journey four years back and around two and half years were spent to understand the depth and prospective of this art work carefully including the wood species, research, technology, market, buyers and the cause behind the disappearance of the same. At present, Craft Melon is working with the architect community only and making the designs as per their requirements. According to Mr. Prakash, the architects and interior designers know what they are making and the use of the art resulting a good output. Answering the curiosity about the costs, he said that the costing of the paintings depends on the process of art work involved. The minimum price of an art work starts from the range of 1,050 to 1,500 and goes up to Rs 2 to 4 lacs and more. “We have done more than 100 experiments on the inlay art designing and got huge appreciations. Till now we have made almost 2000 designs on the orders. “We got the largest order from Asian Paints. We got that order when they visited us to promote their product and saw our designs. The team of Asian Paints was really impressed with our work and they ordered to make portrait of all their distributors of South India,” Mr. Prakash shared with much joy.

Process of Inlay artwork

1. First, the design of the art piece is finalized and drawn on a paper and colours are marked on the drawing.

2. Then small sections are traced on separate papers and used as stencils to stick on wood and then cut by following the outline with the help of a hex saw.

3. Once the cutting work is finished, the pieces of various coloured wood are arranged by referring to the initial drawing and stuck together using PVA Glue.

4. The work piece is scratched using a chisel and then rubbed using several grades of flint papers in order to bring all the pieces to the same level.

5. Then the carpentry jobs of the work piece are carried out wherever that is required like joining different parts together.

6. Fine grooves are made using a chisel to give detailing.

7. A mixture of molten wax and charcoal is applied to the surface of the work piece by a brush made of cloth and then scrapped by a chisel. So the wax remains in the groves and rest of the surface remains clean.

8. Final finishing is done to obtain a finished wood inlay painting.

Raw Materials Used in Inlay art work
1. White Sampige
(White Michalea chapaca).
2. Light Sampige
(White Michalea chapaca).
3. Dark Sampige
(Dark Michalea chapaca).
4. Doodi Wood.
5. Patak Wood.
6. Maddi Wood.
7. Dark Rose Wood.
8. Light Rose Wood.
9. More than 50 other different
species of wood.

History and Origin of the inlay Art & form

The 25th and the last Maharaja (King) of the princely state of Mysore, Maharaja Till now, we have made almost 2000 designs on orders. We got the largest order from Asian Paints. Jaya Chamarajendra Wadiyar Bahadur encouraged artisans to practice several crafts including ivory inlay in rosewood, as rosewood was available in abundance locally, during his reign. Lately a Master Craftsperson of the craft ‘Shokat Ali’ brought totally a new evolution in the craft by using locally available wood of different colours to create wonderful art pieces. These art pieces were well appreciated by the king and it was easy to learn and practice for other people too. The unique material culture and simple technique brought the revolution in the world of art and craft and also in the life of people. The artisans flourished with unique style in their products in Ivory & rosewood inlay craft.