Pine Jali Furniture
Jali is one of those designs that ebb and flow in their popularity, but never quite leave the furniture zeitgeist. Injali, or Indian Jali for the less acquainted among us, is fast becoming popular again due to its rustic design and sturdy nature. The intricate metalwork and carvings don’t hurt as well.
Jali has its roots in old subcontinental storage boxes, fully closed boxes prevented aeration in a hot and humid climate so the perforation in jali is key to letting air into products and preventing dampness, especially during the Monsoon season. These reasons still ring true, and not just in the subcontinent. Storing sensitive goods such as olive oil or old books will always be safer in a perforated environment with plenty of air flow. Indeed, the fact that you can peek a glance at your precious products inside the jali without opening it is a rather good bonus. Satisfy your curiosity and keep tabs on the little bits and pieces within, without having to constantly open the door.
Jali on its own with traditional Indian woods and finishes can have a very ethnic look, brilliant for subcontinental housing – not so much for a modern European or American house, or even a contemporary home elsewhere in the world. Therefore, we here at Artisan Furniture have created our own Jali range with pinewood and, drumroll, brass jali.
The words pine and jali in the same sentence may trigger memories in some of you. Perhaps that’s Pine Direct’s (PD Global) renowned jali collection. You may even recall that we’ve acquired PD Global’s online presence and website — offering the same variety of pine furniture they did at even better prices owing to our direct-from-factory supply chain. But there’s another association that you may remember…
Back in the days when the internet was but a word for techies in poorly ventilated basements and dodgy sitcoms ruled the airwaves, Artisan Furniture’s parent company Global Vision pioneered pine jali furniture in India. At that point, rustic jali was popular but pinewood didn’t even exist as furniture material in the subcontinent. Global Vision’s founder Amit Basu launched pinewood as a viable furniture wood and pioneered Indo-western Jali that became incredibly popular in Europe and launched the company into the furniture zeitgeist. No longer were companies limited to traditional Indian designs or solely English outlines, they could merge the cultures in a melting pot of furniture innovation. The future was here, and it was here to stay.
Just as PD Global’s founders Tim and Sandra Johnston took a leap of faith to give Global Vision their big break and bring Pinewood Jali to British shores, Artisan Furniture now hopes to launch a new jali collection that’ll have the same impact. Rustic, roughened pieces are all well and good — but sleek, contemporary products with bold designs are the way forward.
The new Pinewood-Jali Collection, exclusively for business to business sales at the Artisan Furniture website, brings together three crucial elements are to be key to its success. Indian inspired Jali, brass and pine . We’re not simply giving our old Jali collection a facelift, we’re completely redesigning what jali furniture means to the modern consumer.
This is pinewood jali for the 21st century. Gone are the rustic edges and dark, roughened finishes of the 1990s. The collection has a sleek brass jali design that’s inspired by the subcontinent’s ventilated containers of yore, but with all the sheen and refined nature that you’ve come to expect from brass. Pine can be polished and finished to your taste, and whatever you choose, it’s sure to be the centrepiece of your living room, dining room or living chambers.
Consoles, media units or even bedsides. All handcrafted by skilled artisans, honed in North western India’s jali tradition for years. They use sustainably sourced pinewood from New Zealand, no pine tree is cut down without being replaced. You can be sure that every product you buy, regardless of what wood it is, is being made without harming the environment.
