IN PRAISE OF WOOD

Delhi's naturalist Pradip Krishen's home shows the whimsical possibilities of wood with each piece contributing its own story. His experiments with wood extend from practical structures to playful aesthetics.

- PRACHI SATRAWAL

WOOD is a material of endless possibility-rich in texture, versatile M in use, and deeply embedded in human history.

Pradip Krishen, an environmentalist, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide and Jungle Trees of Central India, former filmmaker, and restoration expert, captures this perfectly: "Wood is absolutely fascinating and delicious to work with. I deal a lot with living trees and also with dead trees. I find that quite a nice combination, as both are completely different things." Sitting in his Delhi home, surrounded by furniture crafted from lesser-known woods Krishen reflects on his enduring relationship with this material, a journey that began over three decades ago. "My interest in wood started in 1992-95 when I was building a house in Pachmarhi. At that time, teak was ₹2,000 per cubic foot, and I couldn't afford to buy all the structural wood, doors, and windows in teak," he recounts. He began searching for alternatives.

Woody journey

"I asked a forester friend if it was possible to buy wood from forest depots. You need to know what you're looking for," he explains. He turned to book by Dietrich Brandis, India's first Inspector General of Forests, which included details on the trees of the region. "I made a list of about 12 to 13 species that should have been available in the forest depot." After navigating the auction system, Krishen managed to acquire 10 of the 12 species he had listed.

"The average cost came to ₹140 per cubic foot. Then I learned how to season woods. We had really wonderful results with the grain. This was 30 years ago," he says. He has since developed an expertise in using "waste woods," ones that would otherwise be discarded or used for firewood. "It's nice to know these were otherwise going to get burnt or made into crates. In a sense, we were using waste wood," he says with evident satisfaction.