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Onam, Reminiscing Mahabali or Vaman Jayanti
Happy Onam. Today being the tenth day of the festivities, the grand finale of the festival popular in Kerala. It is one of the few traditional festivals which is celebrated by all religions. One reason for this that it is also the harvest festival. What is the religious reason that is given for this? You…
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Winds of Change
Winds of change is a famous phrase, also a song by scorpions. What is incredible about this phrase is that wind blows when something changes. When temperature, pressure, humidity something changes, the air moves. So when the wind changes direction, it is a second degree of change. And wind changes in the most unexpected ways…
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Foraging for Sharpening Stones
What makes a good sharpening stone? In an emergency you could sharpen it on any hard rough surface, even concrete. It depends on how hard your steel. The basic principle is, that it should be harder than steel. Ideally the particles that make up the stone need to break away so that it keeps revealing…
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Low seating – Grace Five inches high
When making load bearing furniture with wood, often minimal use of wood is preferred. In addition to saving wood, it also shows intelligent structural design. Another benefit is the lesser weight, which makes it easier to move around. The very first stool I had made was one such. But this kind also has limitations. The…
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Corner Lamp Natural Edge wood
Once while in Auroville, I came across this incredible low table, made with two symmetrical huge planks of walnut. It was so breathtaking I couldn’t wait to tell Kenji about it. The next day when I mentioned this, he told me that it was called the ‘Peace’ table. Made by George Nakashima, who made six…
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Multi legged insect table
“Form follows function” was coined by an architect in the late 1800s. From a design perspective that makes a lot of sense. Design presupposes a problem and then tries to solve it. But when inspiration strikes first, before there even is a problem to solve, then ‘form’ becomes primary. The problem solving is then to…
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Belated Holi Mubarak
A very happy and belated holi wishes to all of you. Delayed because I was offline almost whole of yesterday. I had taken a holi getaway, Dhuleti Mudflat hiking in the Gulf of Khambhat. Though I know of the group Diving Deep, since my friends went for a Sharad Purnima event at a farmhouse near…
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Wood Finish with edible Linseed oil
While researching on the internet for organic (non poisonous) wood finishes I came across one option which was fairly common in India. Both inside kitchens, as well as workshops, only a few decades back. Linseed is Alsi, Adsi or Tees in different parts of our country. It was used as a cooking medium wherever it…
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Where am I headed?
Somebody a few days ago asked me, “Anand bhai with this wood working where do you think you are headed?” I know a lot of my friends and acquaintances might have had similar questions. So I have decided to answer this question once and for all. But before that I would like to point out…