The Craft of an Indian Sesame Wood Chair

The stern, simple, straight lines, the sudden detail of the three-leaved clover motif at the three ends of the chair top made the chair memorable and in need of celebration.

The charm of classic craftsmanship coupled with a contemporary design ethic made an aesthetic whole. I still love everything about this chair!

It's made of Sesame wood, which, I found out -- along with Mango, Acacia and Teak -- is one of the most common in this part of India.

I also came to know that Sesame wood has - what is called - heartwood.

Heartwood has an extremely durable, interlocked grain and shares the heat-resistant qualities of teak.

My wondering also led me to a place that contained an interesting side note on "Sesame" and its use in the famous phrase:

"The explanation given to me many years ago by a distinguished Persianist was that sesame wood was used to make doors, and that addressing a door as Sesame was no different from the Cambridge practice of referring to a study door as an "oak." (In student slang, "sporting the oak" was banging on a fellow student's door.)"

But underneath its seemingly rudimentary, utilitarian design lies a disarmingly comfortable chair.

Once seated, I didn't miss the portions absent from the conventional mental image of the chair. Of course, it's also not something that you might fall asleep on. I find it good for short, focused sittings when I have a lot of thinking to do.

The maker's label on the chair refers to it as a "picnic chair" but the helpful person at the shop mentioned it's also called the "yoga chair" because it cradles the spine in perfection.

Also, from this angle, the front looks like one of those Japanese temple gates full of mystery, longing, and danger.



Beautiful!