Aurorachana

An interview with ClemensBy Carel

Keywords: Furniture, Antiques, Restoration (buildings, furniture), Teak (Tectona grandis), Rosewood, Recycling, Work tree (Acacia) and Cyclone Thane

Set of chairs

In 1995, Aurorachana (meaning ‘Auro Creation’) started giving a second lease of life to old and broken furniture – colonial English, Pondicherry-French and some of Chettinad style – mostly made of teak or rosewood. “This business still continues,” says Clemens. “But increasingly, we are making new furniture, some of it designed by us, other pieces designed according to the client’s request. For example, they want chairs and come with a few photos. They like the armrest of this one, the backrest of that one, the seats should be upholstered with cloth or leather, and could the legs be bent instead of straight? Then we do the designing, show it to them, and when approved, start making the chairs.”

With a staff of thirty carpenters and upholsterers, Aurorachana is the largest carpentry unit of Auroville. Wooden chairs, beds, tables, cupboards, sofas, office chairs, deck chairs, room dividers and doors leave the Aurorachana premises with great regularity. “We also make steel furniture such as massage benches,” adds Clemens. “Basically, we make everything.” A great project, he says, was doing an entire house: doors, window frames and all the furniture. It took two years.

The wood used is preferably old teak. Large beams are lying in the yard. “We recycle wood. We don’t want the rainforests of other countries to be denuded for our benefit,” says Clemens. “The wood comes from old village houses that start crumbling after a lifetime of 80-100 years. The only thing of value that remains is the wood. In those days, everyone used teak, and the richer families used rosewood. Teak has a lot of natural oils, which remain in the wood and are the reason for its continuing flexibility, even in old age. Rosewood doesn’t have that; it very often cracks when you try to reuse it,” he explains. “Old teak wood is perfect for carpentry. Its quality is better than that of new teak, as it has a higher density. New teak comes from teak plantations, where the trees are grown using lots of water and fertilizers. This leads to a lesser density.” Is old teak still available? Yes, he says, but prices are increasing steeply – they have already doubled in the last three years.

Aurorachana also uses Auroville wood that came down in the cyclone, but to a far lesser extent. “Work tree is about 1/3rd the price of teak.” Clemens recently did a Kindergarten project for the European School in Chennai, using Work tree and some plywood to make chairs, tables and cupboards for the children. It fitted their budget. “Also most Auroville clients prefer Work tree, because of cost considerations.” But Aurorachana’s main clients are Indian hotel chains, interior designers, architects and expatriates living in Chennai. “The Australian consulate has put us on their list of preferred vendors,” says Clemens proudly. “Our order portfolio is full till March.”