Every room
The ones we would take home
Kansa Baby Thali Set, 4 Piece
Kansa Baby Thali Set, 4 Piece
Rs. 5,599.00
Sale price
Rs. 5,599.00
Regular price
Handmade in India
Every piece finished by hand
Solid metal
No plating, nothing to chip
Weighed and listed
In grams, on almost every page
Tin lining stated
Where a vessel is lined, we say so
कारीगरीBy hand
You can see where the hammer landed
A sheet of brass is beaten over a stake until it holds the shape of a bowl. A lathe turns the foot true. An engraver cuts the lines with a hand tool, tapping rather than pressing, which is why the grooves take light unevenly and why no two borders match.
That is slow work, and it is the reason the metal is thick. A pressed shell can be made faster and lighter and it will look close enough in a photograph. What the weight on each page buys you is the hours in the piece, and the metal it takes to hold that shape once the hammer stops.
These are old ways of working, kept going by people still ordering things made this way.
Each piece is shaped and finished by hand, so small differences in weight, size, finish and surface marking are normal and no two are identical. Colour on screen can differ from the metal in daylight. Handmade in India.
Whatever the occasion, whatever the budget
For the days the house fills up
Dhanteras | धनतेरस
Dhanterasधनतेरस
The heavy ones, meant to be handed on
Brass Ganesh Murti in a Rocking Chair
Brass Ganesh Murti in a Rocking Chair
Rs. 6,599.00
Sale price
Rs. 6,599.00
Regular price
Hammered, antiqued, painted by hand
सवालBefore you order
Things people ask us
Will the piece look exactly like the photograph?
The shape, the size and the finish will. The surface will not, exactly. Each piece is worked by hand, so hammer marks, engraving depth and the darkness that settles in the recesses shift from one to the next.
Is the brass solid or plated?
Solid, on every piece we list. That is what the gram figure is for. Put the piece on a kitchen scale and compare it with the number on its page; a plated shell of the same size weighs a fraction of it.
What is kansa, and how is it different from brass?
Kansa is copper and tin melted together, the alloy an English speaker would call bell metal or bronze. It is denser than brass, it rings when tapped, and it darkens faster. Brass is copper and zinc, softer to work, and the usual metal for lamps and pooja vessels.
What is the silver lining inside some of the brass vessels?
It is kalai, a thin coat of tin laid over the brass by hand. It wears through after twelve to fifteen months of cooking and is redone by a local kalaiwala, usually the same day. Where a piece is lined, its product page says so.
The metal has gone dark. Is something wrong?
No. Unlacquered brass and copper react with air and with skin, and a piece in daily use dulls within weeks. Lemon and salt, or tamarind pulp, brings the shine back in about a minute. Leave it alone instead and the patina settles.
How long does delivery take?
Everything is dispatched from Guwahati. Nearby regions usually take three to five working days; the rest of India takes eight to ten. Handmade pieces are checked before they are packed, which is where most of the first day goes.
Can I return something?
Not for a change of mind, at least for now. If a piece reaches you damaged in transit, or is not what the page described, tell us within 48 hours with a photograph and we will replace it or refund it.
परंपराParampara
Brass, kansa and copper, and where each one belongs in your mandir, rasoi and ghar
-
Brass murti
Lit diya
Marigold
मंदिर Parampara of the mandir The lamp is lit before anything else in the day is done. Brass holds the flame, the water, the bell and the murti, which is why a mandir shelf reads as one object and not a collection.
Parampara of the mandir -
Kansa thali
Copper bottle
Brass katori
रसोई Parampara of the rasoi Kansa for the thali, brass for the katori, copper for the water. Each metal was picked for what it had to hold, and the thali was sized so one person's whole meal arrives at once.
Parampara of the rasoi -
Brass urli
Floating flowers
Brass diya
घर Parampara of the ghar An urli of water near the door, flowers floating on it, refilled each morning. It is the first thing a guest sees, and it was always meant to be.
Parampara of the ghar
Old metals, and the texts that named them
Brass is the metal most of this catalogue is made from, called pital in the house. Kansa is copper and tin melted together, sold as bronze in English and as bell metal in the trade. Copper is the base both are built on, and it covers the bottles, jugs, glasses and dispensers.
The Sanskrit texts on craft, the Shilpa Shastra, set down how an image was to be made and named the alloys it was to be made from: panchaloha, five metals, and ashtadhatu, eight. Both are built on copper. The casting method those texts describe, madhuchhishta vidhana, is the lost-wax process, and it is still worked by hand. The kalash carries its own story, from the churning of the ocean, where what rose at the end of it was a pot held in two hands.
What is on this site is brass, kansa and copper, and each page says which. None of it is sold as panchaloha or cast to a shastric prescription. That is the tradition these metals come from, not a claim about the piece in your hands. Handmade in India.
- Solid metal Brass, kansa and copper all the way through. No plating to wear off or chip.
- Weighed in grams On almost every product page. Check it against a kitchen scale the day it arrives.
- Lining stated Where a brass cooking vessel is tin-lined the page says so, and says what to do when it wears through.
- Handmade in India Shaped and finished by hand, so no two come out identical.