Stories of vernacular furniture and objects from north-west India
The South Asia Collection has over 250 vernacular furniture items and related objects from north-west India. Whilst researching the Collections, we realised that there was very little information that existed around such items. With the interest of representing them better, a Collaboration was set up with the Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC), CEPT Research and Development Foundation at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India in 2015. A research project, ‘Vernacular Furniture of North-West India’ was conducted with the aim to identify, map, document and study vernacular furniture that has traditionally been, and continues to be an inherent part of day-to-day life in an Indian household. Everyday objects used with furniture were also studied during this research. This has helped establish Contexts for such items in our collection.
This exhibition draws on the knowledge gained through fieldwork experiences. It presents a variety of vernacular furniture and everyday objects, together with representations of them in textiles and paintings. Larger examples of furniture can also be seen around the museum. The display is accompanied by photographs from the fieldwork and includes the voices of the people we met, for whom such items are an integral part of their everyday life.
