Niraba brings sabai grass weaving to contemporary furniture design

Shining a spotlight connected Indian artisans, with a trade collaboration crossed the eastbound and westbound coasts of India, the Niraba (meaning quiescent spot successful Odia) postulation reimagines writer connected grain. An artisan-led inaugural betwixt Boito, an Odisha-based dilatory manner brand, and Ahmedabad-based plan workplace This and That, sabai grass weaving and dhokra craft find a worthy canvas connected wardrobes, chairs, barstools, lamps, and cabinets. Showcased precocious astatine the India Design ID 2025 successful Mumbai, and astatine the Bougainvillea Gallery successful Ahmedabad, the Niraba furniture and Jyoti lamp won awards astatine the Elle Deco International Design Awards held past period successful Mumbai.

Ariane Thakore Ginwala, laminitis of This and That, recalls the eventful collaboration. “Sometime successful February, I stumbled upon these antique sal doors astatine a store successful Mayurbhanj, and fell successful love, truthful I took each 27 of them,” says Ginwala. “Meanwhile, I was successful interaction with Richa Maheshwari [founder of Boito] due to the fact that I loved her coats [made with heirloom Odia weaving techniques ], and 1 happening led to another, and we decided to merge 2 crafts [bobei sabai weaving and dhokra metal trade on with woodcraft successful Gujarat]. I conceptualised the postulation successful May, prototyped the furnishings with my craftspeople utilizing section writer to spot if the weaving would enactment connected wood. Then, we had to fig retired logistics — determination some 150 kilograms of sabai grass and the weaving clump to our studio.”

Five pistillate weavers from Boito, and a woodworking squad successful Ahmedabad fused bobei sabai writer weaving and dhokra metal trade with sculptural lighting and furniture, successful conscionable 15 days.

Light arsenic a metaphor

The lighting postulation conceptualised by sculptural creator Radhika Sanghvi, uses illumination arsenic a threshold. Sanghvi explains, “I spot airy arsenic a metaphor arsenic it reveals, softens, and transforms substance into experience. With Niraba, my intent was to honour the traditions and techniques Indian craftsmen person refined for generations, portion pushing their boundaries into a caller aesthetic language.” The lamps (called Chhaya, Akash, Kiran, Jyoti, Prabha and Deepa), are covered successful elaborate woven writer panels. For the wardrobes (Dui, Eka and Sona) and chests (Vara and Reka), clients tin take from a scope of salvaged sal doors successful shades of turquoise oregon earthy grain, which are accentuated with woven drawers, making each portion unique. The chairs (Aaram, Jora and Sara) and barroom stools (Kona and Tala) person teak frames with multi-hued writer mats draped implicit the backmost and seating areas. The delicate weaving juxtaposed with the teak skeleton creates seating pieces that are ergonomically dependable and speech starters.

Of textile and teak

At ID 2025, Boito debuted its archetypal capsule postulation of location textiles, featuring Odisha’s practice khandua bandha silk, Kotpad handloom cotton, Pipli appliqué and Habaspuri silk, connected Niraba furniture. The doorway panels are a span successful the collaboration arsenic Boito’s woven textiles reflector the motifs and elements carved into the wood.

The textiles successful heavy red, ivory and navy, painted a beauteous representation astatine the Niraba booth. Maheshwari says the collaboration is an instrumentality to instrumentality accepted weaving into a future-ready and functional dimension. “My main purpose is to spotlight Odisha, truthful the artisans get an accidental to situation themselves, and for the adjacent procreation to prime up the trade to showcase their expressions,” she adds.

Boito works with 17 weaving clusters crossed the State. While specified worldly and trade partnerships unfastened a caller pipeline of revenue, the main absorption is an eagerness to propulsion boundaries, Maheshwari states. With Niraba, furnishings meets woven art, and the travel has been eventful and enriching. “The postulation is simply a measurement towards creating sustainable opportunities for craftspeople to grow their skills, gain dependable incomes, and spot their enactment valued successful caller contexts of collaboration,” says Ginwala. The wood utilized crossed the postulation is reclaimed teak, and the postulation pursues circularity successful process and product, wherever each worldly — writer oregon wood — is cautiously calibrated and crafted to make a merchandise that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The freelance writer is based successful Chennai.