‘Everywhere is within walking distance if one has the time.’Manisha Shanbhag-Nayak and her husband Ashish Nayak believe in these words ofSteven Wright as the young couple walk into distant tribal areas with a soleaim of helping traditional art come alive in Goan homes. In order to do so theyhave set up ‘Sawdust’, a walk-in design studio at Miramar, where rustic piecesof art are on display awaiting to be picked by choosy home makers.
“We launched Sawdust in December 2012 with a motive topromote tribal art in India and also to offer a blend of old and new, modernand contemporary pieces of furniture to the enthusiastic clients,” says Ashish,31, who has returned to India after his stint in Dubai, strongly believing thatone is never too old to set a new goal. As a Mechanical Engineer he worked with Voltas in Mumbai before movingto Dubai where for seven years he handled engineering of MEP (MechanicalElectrical Plumbing) installations of skyscrapers in the Middle East.
“At Sawdust we have tried to assimilate various designercrafts, showpieces, paintings and tribal art so as to mix and match with the modernfurniture in today’s homes,” states Manisha, a B.Arch who worked independentlyin India and Dubai handling architectural and construction projects.
Sawdust offers tribal traditional art from Bastar districtin Chhattisgarh, Lamani art from Sandoor, cane art and sculptures from ruralartists from North Karnataka and wood work from South Indian homes that blendsbeautifully and indigenously with contemporary as well as traditional designsto bring aesthetic and affordable spaces to today’s consumers.
Sawdust promotes good craftsmanship, maximising the use ofhandmade products and plans to create a market for Indian craft traditions.“With a commitment of sustainable living by creating a line of eco-consciousrepurposed antique furniture, we work closely with nature and offer naturalproducts,” Ashish disclosed.
The furniture on display has a rustic contemporary look withclean simple lines filled with raw textures, organic materials and a mix of oldand new. Silky fabrics, pretty mosaics, carved out wooden furniture, metalliclantern and golden glitters are some of the items on sale.
The most exclusive thing that Sawdust boasts of is theoriginal Lithographs of six of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings. “Sawdust looks atthe preservation of art, history and nature as a great way to add some life andcharacter to the space we all live in,” concludes Manisha.
