New Dawn Carpentry

The doors are four meters high, each smoothly rotating on two ball bearings. The scene is the new Centre for Indian Culture at Bharat Nivas, the construction of which is in the finishing phases. The carpenter is Auroville’s New Dawn Carpentry, run by Aurovilians Ricardo Cosarinsky from Argentina and Danasu, from Tamil Nadu.

“The doors are impressive,” confirms Ricardo. “But they were the devil in making. We used wood from the khaya trees that came down in cyclone Thane, as that was the only wood available that was large enough. But the wood is very unpleasant to work with. Though it had been seasoned for 28 days and the humidity content had come down to the normal 8-14%, the wood kept warping and twisting. I also wasn’t happy with the finishing touch, as khaya doesn’t allow for such a smooth feel as does ‘Work’ tree.”

For the layman, however, the doors feel good, as do the other doors and windows that New Dawn Carpentry has been making for the new Centre. “It has been keeping us very busy and we have had to postpone orders,” says Danasu. Ricardo laughs. “My standard reply has been ‘Please come back in two months’ whenever I was asked to take up new work.” The reason for New Dawn’s popularity, he says, is the high quality of its work and the transparency of its accounting. “We specialize in wooden flooring, doors, window frames, louvers, cupboards, beds, kitchen cupboards, and furniture. And as there are constantly new buildings coming up in Auroville, our work is in high demand.”

Not only in Auroville, though. New Dawn’s carpenters have also been working in Hyderabad and Chennai, creating home theatres and sound studios, a specialized work. “I don’t like to go out, but this type of work gives the unit a financial boost,” says Ricardo. “The carpenters love it as it means a good extra income for them.”

Ricardo joined Auroville in 1997, after a career as an airline pilot in Argentina. “I wasn’t happy with the political situation in my country, and I tried my luck in Europe. But because of my nationality, I was not accepted and had to return to Argentina. I then stopped aviation, went to the countryside and started living a different type of life, which included learning about carpentry.”

Soon after he joined Auroville, he was asked to oversee the crew of carpenters working at the Surrender collective housing project. “It was quite a challenge,” he recalls. “I was used to working alone, and here suddenly I was boss of a team of people who came from a completely different culture.” It took time for them to get used to each other. But when the project was finished, they asked him to continue and start a workshop. “I got together with the best carpenters, amongst whom was Danasu, and opened my own unit.” New Dawn Carpentry was born, operating from a little rented house in Kottakarai village.

“When I joined Auroville I had no money. I wanted to serve Auroville in the best way I could and since my skills are in the field of carpentry I felt I should do something in that direction. I also thought that this would be the best and easiest way to get my economic independence, and not come to depend on the maintenance system.” It worked out nicely. Today, New Dawn Carpentry has a large building in Kottakarai community, operates modern woodworking machinery and employs 10-15 carpenters.

“They taught me quite a lot,” admits Ricardo. “In the beginning I thought that I had a lot of carpentry knowledge to teach, and in some ways I was correct. But I’d never suspected how much they could teach me! Our workshop has become a real human school for all of us.”

Cyclone Thane gave Auroville a lot of wood, mainly ‘Work’ tree. It was a windfall, agrees Ricardo, who refuses using rainforest wood, such as imported timber from Mayanmar. But he prefers to work with recycled wood from demolished buildings. Pointing at a stack of Kalimadu beams he just acquired, he says that the stability of second hand wood is much better than that of recent wood. “That lot is for the furniture for the new Centre. I hope it is sufficient, for it is increasingly difficult to get old wood. Those beams come from as far away as Madurai. But I am afraid that in 1½-2 years second hand wood will no longer be available.”

A new entrant in the unit is Auroville born Chaitanya, recently returned from learning carpentry and roof making in France as an apprentice of the Compagnons de Devoir. “He is now training to become a woodworker,” says Danasu. “He may take over when I retire,” grins Ricardo. “If that ever happens in Auroville …”