AJANTHA ARTS AND CRAFTS

K Ramachandran of Ajantha Arts and Crafts started out as a timber merchant in the early 80's.  Slowly he progressed and was making and supplying furniture for government educational institutions.  During the mid-80' he bought and resold a few antique furniture pieces.  He recognised the beauty and value of fine antique furniture and realised the potential it held.

With a small group of skilled craftsmen he began to make antique reproductions, which he supplied, to people exporting to wholesalers in the United States.  This was in the mid-80's.  Today, he is one of the major source in Chennai for all the exporters of antique reproductions, who export to the US market.  He has a purpose built warehouse, where he has about forty excellent skilled craftsmen who have anything between five to twenty years of experience.  He says, "My strengths are the excellent workmanship, strict quality control and unique designs.  We don't just simply copy antique furniture but adapt it to the modern needs.  Our biggest asset over the years has been our high quality and prompt delivery schedule, which has made us a favourite with exporters.  Apart from the forty workmen on our permanent payroll, we have in addition another twenty to thirty five men who come to work for us when we have huge orders.  The concept is simple, a huge variety of stock at sensible prices".

Ajantha Arts and Crafts has indeed come a long way from being a small timber shop to antique furniture reproduction manufacturer on a small scale to become what must surely be the largest operation as far as export of antique and antique reproductions in Chennai are concerned.

Specialising in excellent replicas, the unique highlight of their workmanship is the amount of attention that they give to feedback from their customers.  "We listen to them, what they need and sometimes they also give us some samples of how they would like that particular piece to be.  We then incorporate their suggestions into the design of the sample that they have shown.  In fact, I would say that interacting with customers is an experience in itself.  They share with us new ideas which have proved to be popular," he says.

While only Burma teak is used for the majority of the works, Rosewood is used for very exclusive and small works or for an aesthetic appeal.  All the wood for the reproductions is locally sourced.  Having a proven track record as far as antique reproductions are concerned, Ajantha has plans to tap the local market in the future.  "We would like to approach it in a different way, as we want to give our customers a touch of exclusivity",he added.

Address: Ajantha Arts and Crafts, 87, 5^th Main Road, C I T Nagar,
Chennai 600 035.
Phone: 456 364

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