Weaving a cane pendant in Naroda

Our cane cage pendant looks simple: a round shade of open woven cane around a single warm bulb. Making it takes two days and one very patient person, our weaver Salimbhai, who learned the work from his father in Kutch.

It begins with the frame. Thick rattan core, about 8 mm across, is soaked in a water trough for two hours until it bends without cracking. Salimbhai shapes it around a wooden former into the ribs of the shade, ties them at the top to a steel ring that will hold the lamp holder, and leaves the frame to dry and set overnight.

The next morning, he weaves. Thin split cane, a few millimetres wide, is soaked for twenty minutes and woven in and out of the ribs, starting from the top ring and working down in a spiral. He keeps a bucket of water by his feet and dips the cane as he goes, because dry cane snaps at the bends. The open pattern is spaced by eye, which is why the shadows each lamp casts are slightly different. A shade takes about six hours of weaving.

Once dry, the shade is lightly sanded to remove fibres and sealed with a clear, water-based finish that keeps the cane from drying out in Ahmedabad’s heat. Our electrician fits the holder, a 2 m fabric cord and the ceiling plate, and tests it with the bulb that goes in the box. The finished pendant weighs under a kilo and costs ₹8,900.