Re-editions, a collaboration between the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), the leading international trade association for the American hardwood industry and Bangalore based furniture manufacturer Phantom Hands (PH), was unveiled at the second edition of Design Mumbai, which ran November 26 - 29. The collection features eight pieces of furniture (tables and seating), each made in American red oak or cherry; designed by Dutch duo x+l, Japanese-Danish duo INODA+SVEJE, Australian architect and furniture maker Adam Markowitz and the iconic Sri Lankan Architect Geoffrey Bawa.
This latest collaboration builds on REFRACTIONS - a cross-cultural, international design collaboration - which introduced Phantom Hands to American hardwoods and to Adam Markowitz, an Australian architect and woodworker. This resulted in a small collection of furniture and lighting created with Markowitz, that specifically explored the technique of layered wood bending, well suited to American red oak, cherry and maple. According to Phantom Hands, the precision and prolonged focus required for this method turned out to be a deep dive into grasping some of the native characteristics of these new species.
“It was based on this experience that we decided to introduce American cherry and red oak into our current catalogue, for x+l, INODA+SVEJE and especially the colored pieces in the Bawa Collection,” said Deepak Srinath, Co-founder, Phantom Hands. “The move was well-weighed given that the Bawa Collection consists of re-editions of furniture designed by the late Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa for his spaces. A number of these were originally made with tropical hardwoods that are now difficult to source ethically or banned for export. Given the environmental credentials of American hardwoods, it made sense for us to incorporate them into our existing collections.”
At Design Mumbai, the eight pieces are placed within a microenvironment, organized as a strict grid structure with independent floor, ceiling and wall modules. The geometrical arrangement of fabric layers coupled with the dismantlable structure point to the origins of Phantom Hands, rooted in Chandigarh's modernism - particularly Corbusier’s brise soleil such screens and Jeanneret's furniture designs - such as the periodicals bookcase and the demountable chair. Bangalore-based architect, David Joe Thomas was commissioned to design the pavilion, which has been made using American hard maple and crafted by Phantom Hands.
The pavilion has been designed to accommodate the eight selected pieces made in American red oak or cherry. Since it had to be assembled at the fair site and dismantled once the event was over, the structure had to be light, transportable, and easy to unpack and construct. It also had to use American maple, the last of the three hardwood species from a donation by The Rossi Group, that Phantom Hands had yet to explore. Lastly, the pavilion had to reflect Phantom Hands’ design aesthetic and history. This would involve connecting a geographically alien wood to the mid-century modernist moment in India that was the point of Phantom Hands’ inception.
“Our decision to work with Phantom Hands was all about encouraging an accomplished and well-respected Indian furniture manufacturer to experiment with U.S. hardwoods. We knew that this would be a challenge, given that their work was all in teak and that temperate American hardwoods not only look different, but behave very differently as well. After many months of experimentation, knowledge transfer and a successful collaboration, Phantom Hands were more than willing to adopt American hardwoods into their body of work and across their collections. Bringing this to Design Mumbai was an obvious thing to do, as it would give us an opportunity to show India’s design community what is possible,” said Roderick Wiles, AHEC Regional Director.
The eight pieces that make up the Re-editions collaboration include: the Saddle Chair, Bentota Dining Chair and Bentota Lounge Chair, all in American red oak and designed by Geoffrey Bawa Practice; the x+l 14 Full Circle Coffee Table in American red oak and x+l 02 Room Divider by x+l in American cherry; the Tangāli Modular Armchair by INODA+SVEJE in American cherry; and a Dining Table and Bench by Adam Markowitz in American red oak. According to Wiles, Phantom Hands can be characterized by a dedication to thoughtful craftsmanship and traditional manufacturing techniques and these furniture pieces on display embody timelessness, in a world where throwaway culture is becoming the norm.
“Timber remains at the heart of our work, but this new chapter pushes the exploration beyond furniture. At its core, our collaboration with AHEC is an ongoing experiment, an attempt to understand what unfamiliar woods can do on their own terms and now to integrate them into the milieu of Indian furniture in an authentic way. It’s a learning curve, and the Design Mumbai pavilion became both its testing ground and its showcase - an ambitious, unexpected project that revealed how our relationship with wood and designing with it, is evolving,” concluded Aparna Rao, Co-founder, Phantom Hands.
About AHEC
The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) is the leading international trade association for the U.S. hardwood industry, representing the committed exporters among U.S. hardwood companies and all the major U.S. hardwood production trade associations. AHEC runs a worldwide programme to promote American hardwoods in over 50 export markets, concentrating on providing architects, specifiers, designers and end-users with technical information on the range of species, products and sources of supply. In addition, AHEC also produces a full range of technical publications.
www.americanhardwood.org.
Instagram @ahec_sea
About American red oak (Quercus species, mainly Quercus rubra)
Warm, grainy, tough and bendy. Reaching a height of 21m, with a trunk diameter of 1m, red oak is the most abundant species in America’s hardwood forests. Named for the color of its leaves in the fall, this classic oak wood has a light brown sapwood, and a heartwood characterized by attractive warm reddish-pink tones. Red oak is strong, straight grained, coarse textured and distinctive. Its porosity makes it a premium wood for bending and staining.
About American maple (Acer saccharum, Acer nigrum, Acer rubrum)
Light, fine, hard and incandescent. A close cousin of European maple and sycamore, American maple can reach heights of 23–27m, with a trunk diameter of 75cm. This project uses two botanical subspecies, hard and soft maple, which share similar characteristics and are both relatively abundant. Hard maple is a cold-climate species favoring the northern states, whereas soft maples grow more widely across the mixed hardwood forests of the eastern United States. Both hard and soft maple produce syrup.
About American cherry (Prunus serotina)
Rich, smooth, vibrant and flexible. A medium-size tree, reaching a height of around 20m, cherry has a relatively short rotation, taking less time to mature than other hardwoods. The narrow sapwood is a light pinkish color, while the heartwood varies from rich red to reddish brown, and darkens on exposure to light. American cherry had a long period of popularity in furniture making; it became less popular but is on the verge of a revival.
About Phantom Hands
Phantom Hands is based in Bangalore, India and makes handcrafted, design driven furniture rooted in Indian Modernism. Their collections include re-editions of historically important mid-century designs, as well as contemporary objects created in collaboration with acclaimed furniture designers such as INODA+SVEJE, x+l, Derek Welsh, Klemens Grund, BIG-GAME and Nityan Unnikrishnan. Phantom Hands products are available globally via leading design galleries and furniture showrooms in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.
www.phantomhands.in
@phantomhands.
About David Joe Thomas
David Joe Thomas is the founder of NUMBER65, an architecture and design practice based in Bangalore, India, working at the intersection of product, spatial, and architectural design. Current and recent collaborations include Nila Jaipur, Phantom Hands, Kaash Gallery, Asian Paints, and Nilaya Anthology. David Joe Thomas holds an MA in Architecture from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen. Before founding NUMBER65 in 2023, he worked with internationally renowned architecture studios including David Chipperfield Architects, Rick Joy Architects and Studio Mumbai.
@davidjoethomas
@number.sixty.five.
