Marvels of the moghuls
Industique has amazing antiques and other eye-catching items from India as well as China
Modern minimalist furniture certainly has |its advantages, but if your personal style cries out for something more reflective of your character, for individualism and authenticity, you might well find what you need at Industique.
Tucked away in the tranquil residential area of Soi Sukhumvit 33, the store offers a mind-boggling array of antiques, rustic furnishings and decorative items imported from India and China.
Khamarat Chorchuvong and her co-owner friends love travelling and have been collecting home decor for many years. “We always bring home furniture in weird shapes and designs, and we realised there wasn’t nearly as much choice in the local furniture market, so we opened our first shop, called Indese, in Chatuchak Plaza four years ago.”
Khamarat says the rustic but often-ornate antiques and handcrafted wooden furniture from Rajasthan in India was immensely popular, eventually prompting them to move to Sukhumvit Soi 33 in 2011. The bigger store, Industique, has an expanded line with colonial, vintage-style furnishings. “The name is a combination of ‘Indian’, ‘industrial’ and ‘antique’.”
The main showroom on the first floor has an amazing assortment of unique furniture in metal and hardwood. They’re heavy to ensure durability by also elaborate in design. The adjustable wooden bar stools with black metal frames and an old door arch turned into a bookshelf stand out among the dining sets carved cabinets, glassware, zinc trunks and coffee grinders. Check out the lanterns shaped like boat lights and the hand-woven bedcovers with fantastic embroidery.
“Industique has more colonial and vintage metal furniture. They’re still handcrafted and charming, with sophisticated designs,” says Khamarat.
The Thara Bar occupies its own space on the first floor, holding an attractive selection of modern Chinese furniture made from pine and decorated with flowers and dragons. There are consoles, chests of drawers, cabinets, bedside tables and traditional Chinese door windows, rice jars, buckets and trays.
Upstairs became the new home for Indese with its wide range of wild and wonderful items from India. Most intriguing, perhaps, is an old “fridge” made of paper mache of the sort once commonly used to keep things cool, if not cold, in the desert heat of northwestern India. There are also teakwood trunks, star-shaped coffee tables, a mirror inlaid with camel bone and antique door arches.
“Indian furniture was traditionally made from teak, rose wood and mango wood so it would last a long time, but it’s heavy!” says Khamarat. “All the furniture is lacquered with an anti-termite treatment.”
There’s a grand sale all this month with discounts of up to 70 per cent. And if you need expert advice on a home renovation, Industique will provide a team to help you with the interior decoration.
ASIAN APPEAL
<< Industique is at 90 Soi Sukhumvit 33.
<< It’s open daily except Monday from 11 to 8.
<< Call (02) 260 1933 or visit www.Facebook.com/Industique.
