Marquetry
ABOUT THE CRAFT
Marquetry is the art of creating designs and images from carefully fitted pieces of thin wood. The process entails precisely cutting fine wood pieces of various shades and grain types and then perfectly piecing them together like a jigsaw puzzle Using precisely cut pieces that fit together craftspeople create elaborate designs and pictures using the wide variety of colours and grains that exist in different wood species.
Because of its complexity and delicacy, marquetry had to be done by hand for centuries. Pieces of wood were carefully cut out using small jigsaws, then carved or sanded to fit together. In the modern era, laser techniques have been developed that drastically reduce the amount of time required to make a marquetry piece.
The Beehive India has intervened majorly in Marquetry and have developed multiple series of products using newer motifs inspired by nature, flora & fauna, heritage monuments like Qutub Minar.
Leaf series is our most popular product series, inspired from the ubiquitous Champa Leaf. The artisan in Mysore generally makes the leaf using 2 woods Kathal & Paddock.
Chevron series is inspired from the naturaly present pattern. The artisan in Mysore generally makes the leaf using multiple woods.
We have designed and developed many Indian birds like Hoopoe, Sparrow, Hornbill, Bulbul etc. The artisan in Mysore has used multiple woods to make the birds.
Qutub Series is our heritage series inspired by motifs from the Heritage Monument Qutub Minar. We did a research on the motifs of qutub minar and finally selected a few of them to be interpreted in wood using marquetry techniques.
