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CEPT University Press Launches Book on Vernacular Furniture of Gujarat

12.10.2018

University Press

Following its first book launch in September, CEPT University Press released its second book titled Sahaj: Vernacular Furniture of Gujarat’. On October 10, Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijaybhai Rupani released the well-researched book on traditional furniture of Gujarat. This book, authored by Mitraja Bais, Jay Thakkar, Samrudha Dixit and Ben Cartwright, is the result of the first ever survey and the accompanying research of vernacular furniture in Gujarat. Sahaj is the result of Phase I: Gujarat of the Vernacular Furniture of North-West India project, a collaboration between the Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC), CEPT University, and South Asian Decorative Arts and Crafts Collection (SADACC) Trust, UK.

In September, the new CEPT University Press released “Building with fire” by Ray Meeker at the Indian Ceramic Triennial in Jaipur. Meeker is a renowned potter, teacher, and architect based in Pondicherry. The book is a compilation of Meeker’s best studio ceramics, with some essays that accompanied his show catalogues. The title ‘Building with Fire,’ is meant to underline a technique where the fire is introduced into the construction processes as ‘cement,’ for bonding building elements together permanently.

The vernacular furniture presented in Sahaj plays an important role in the tasks and rituals of everyday life in Gujarat, and in some cases, has done for centuries. The Gujarati term Sahaj, means ‘inherent’ or ‘intrinsic’, and this book introduces the everyday furniture that is inherent to, and still is made and used throughout Gujarat. Furniture items are presented in five use-based chapters: Aasan(seat), Manch (bed), Manjush (storage), Sapaat (surface), and Vastu (objects). Each furniture type is accompanied with detailed physical information (materials, construction methods, scaled drawings and exploded drawings made using 3D modelling software) and a more human story (location, contextual photographs, oral histories). Gujarat is a large and environmentally diverse state with a number of different communities and language groups; the vernacular furniture in Sahaj reflects this diversity.

The book presents the result of Phase I of the research project: Vernacular Furniture of North-West India. This phase has two outcomes – this book and an accompanying catalog. The catalog presents in detail over 400 vernacular furniture pieces and objects from Gujarat. In the subsequent phases of this project, vernacular furniture of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana will be researched and documented.

CEPT University Press is set up to promote writing and research on architecture, planning, design, technology and management of human habitats with a focus on South and Southeast Asia. Set up to open up ideas and debate, CEPT Press titles explore new paths of knowledge and contribute to the theoretical formulation, pedagogy and practice of architecture and design of habitats.

CEPT University Press Launches Book on Vernacular Furniture of Gujarat