It seems like Chennai has been hit by the 'Antique Craze' and many
shops selling 'antique furniture' are mushrooming at every nook
and corner of the city in their attempt to tap this opportunity.
But
it wasn't exactly monetary conditions that drove Ebony to
offer its services to those in search of antique furniture. Ebony
has been dealing in furniture restoration and reproduction for the
past six years now. For Dr Hemanth Kumar, it all started
as a hobby, which later became a passion before it turned into a
business. "I was into collecting all kinds of antique furniture.
I had a love for them. At one stage, the collection was so
huge that friends suggested we sell them to others who wanted to
acquire them. That was how a hobby turned into a business.
We chose the name 'Ebony', because it is the name of a hard black
wood of a tropical tree found in places like Africa. The name
is exotic and also in one sense rare, because the wood has been
banned of late", he says.
Dr
Hemanth Kumar runs the show along with his other partner Vijay.
According to them the greatest difficulty, especially of late has
been the sourcing of original antique furniture. The most remarkable
thing about Ebony is that, though they have not gone in for advertising
or promotions, it has just been word-of-mouth publicity that has
brought them a majority of their clients. "Just the day
before we had a lady from Mumbai who was shifting to Chennai and
she came here to choose furniture for an apartment, which she had
not chosen yet. Such was her trust in us, having heard about
the quality of our service from one of our old customers. In
fact, most of our customers are repeat customers, who having seen
our quality want to keep on changing their furniture every 2 or
3 years. The annual sale that we have held every year, are another
way in which more people have come to know of us", says Dr Hemanth
Ebony
is housed in a quaint old bungalow, in the quiet tree lined avenue
that is Dr Alagappa Road. Just about the ideal setting for
the elegant antique furniture that are housed in it. On any
given day, one can find the entrance of Dr Hemanth's office littered
with sawdust and wood chips. It is a sight indeed to watch
the master craftsmen glued to their task of restoring antiques to
their pristine glory. "Though they are excellent skilled
workers, since they get more money by working with plywood for making
shelves and cabinets, where they get paid on a per square foot basis,
they go there. Comparatively speaking, they get higher remunerations
while working with plywood, but their actual skill does not come
into play there".
When it comes to preference of customers, Burmese teak with raw
finish is the most popular choice. There is no such preference
of styles but according to Dr Hemanth, the Chennnai customer is
pretty much well informed about what he wants. "The Chennai
buyer looks for value and variety and not vanity. This year we will
be importing Indonesian furniture for the first time" he adds.
Address: Ebony Antiques, # 6, Kaliput House, Dr. Alagappa
Road,
Chennai 600 084. Phone: 532 4923 E-mail:ebony@md4.vsnl.net.in
9:10:26 AM 
But
it wasn't exactly monetary conditions that drove Ebony to
offer its services to those in search of antique furniture. Ebony
has been dealing in furniture restoration and reproduction for the
past six years now. For Dr Hemanth Kumar, it all started
as a hobby, which later became a passion before it turned into a
business. "I was into collecting all kinds of antique furniture.
I had a love for them. At one stage, the collection was so
huge that friends suggested we sell them to others who wanted to
acquire them. That was how a hobby turned into a business.
We chose the name 'Ebony', because it is the name of a hard black
wood of a tropical tree found in places like Africa. The name
is exotic and also in one sense rare, because the wood has been
banned of late", he says.
Dr
Hemanth Kumar runs the show along with his other partner Vijay.
According to them the greatest difficulty, especially of late has
been the sourcing of original antique furniture. The most remarkable
thing about Ebony is that, though they have not gone in for advertising
or promotions, it has just been word-of-mouth publicity that has
brought them a majority of their clients. "Just the day
before we had a lady from Mumbai who was shifting to Chennai and
she came here to choose furniture for an apartment, which she had
not chosen yet. Such was her trust in us, having heard about
the quality of our service from one of our old customers. In
fact, most of our customers are repeat customers, who having seen
our quality want to keep on changing their furniture every 2 or
3 years. The annual sale that we have held every year, are another
way in which more people have come to know of us", says Dr Hemanth
Ebony
is housed in a quaint old bungalow, in the quiet tree lined avenue
that is Dr Alagappa Road. Just about the ideal setting for
the elegant antique furniture that are housed in it. On any
given day, one can find the entrance of Dr Hemanth's office littered
with sawdust and wood chips. It is a sight indeed to watch
the master craftsmen glued to their task of restoring antiques to
their pristine glory. "Though they are excellent skilled
workers, since they get more money by working with plywood for making
shelves and cabinets, where they get paid on a per square foot basis,
they go there. Comparatively speaking, they get higher remunerations
while working with plywood, but their actual skill does not come
into play there".
