Is plantation teak as good as old forest teak?
Nilambur teak is grown in plantations. Here is what that means for strength, colour and how long it lasts.
Mattancherry for furniture lovers: an afternoon walk
Old godowns, antique shops and carved doors around Bazaar Road and Jew Town, starting from our workshop.
Our workshop is in a former spice godown on Bazaar Road, and the streets around it are some of the best in Kerala for anyone who loves old wood. Here is an afternoon route our customers enjoy, best started around 3 pm when the heat eases.
Start at the workshop, where you can see the carpenters at work and the teak planks drying in the yard. Then walk along Bazaar Road towards Jew Town. Look up at the old godowns: many still have their original teak beams, wide plank doors with iron straps, and wooden pulleys under the roof that were used to lift sacks of pepper and ginger. Several are now warehouses for antique dealers.
In Jew Town, the lanes are lined with shops selling old furniture, carved panels, brass lamps and doors taken from demolished tharavad houses. It is a good place to see how Kerala carpenters joined and carved wood a hundred years ago, though be careful about buying: many pieces are new copies, and some old ones have been heavily repaired. Ask what the piece is made of and lift it; real old teak is heavy and oily to the touch. The Mattancherry Palace nearby has fine painted ceilings and wooden interiors worth seeing.
End the walk at the waterfront for the sunset, with a cup of tea from one of the small stalls. If you saw a shape you liked along the way, a chair, a carved back or a cabinet door, take a photo and bring it to us. Many of our pieces began exactly that way.
