'Faiz' Tea Box in Printed Wood

Provenance

The Faiz tea box belongs to the North Indian tradition of decorative woodware — wooden forms treated with surface print and sealed under a waterproof lacquer to produce objects that are functional and decorative in equal measure. Each box is individually cut and worked in wood, its surface printed with a multicolour ornamental pattern and sealed under resin. The tradition comes from workshops in Delhi NCR and western Uttar Pradesh, where artisans adapt the vocabulary of India's painted woodwork to contemporary domestic forms.

The surface print on Faiz carries the multicolour ornamental vocabulary of the North Indian decorative tradition — the dense compositional approach that treats the surface of a domestic object as an opportunity for pattern. The large format of this tea bag storage box gives the print more territory to work with: the lid becomes a small field of ornament, the sides carry the pattern consistently. Faiz in Arabic and Urdu names abundance and grace — the quality of bountifulness, the condition of having more than enough, which the large format of this box embodies in its generous surface and its capacity for storing many varieties of tea.

The waterproof surface makes this decorative tea box suited to everyday counter use. Each piece is individually handcrafted; print placement and colour tone may vary slightly between pieces.

Disclaimer

• These pieces are handcrafted in wood with a printed surface. Variations in tone and colour are a natural feature of the process.
• Minor differences in print registration or surface texture should be understood as the signature of individual craft, not a defect.