History. As it stands today.

One may be familiar with certain vocabulary that is embedded in traditional, historical and antique furniture. For example, the eighteenth century mahogany sideboard expressed hospitality, while the curvaceous cabriole leg spoke to the quest for ideal beauty. In these ways forms, materials and motifs communicated a variety of cultural meanings as each piece established itself with majestic value for the times and environments they were created. They stood tall in design fantasy as well as for the specific functional and social purposes they were created be it dinning, working or conversing. In the present day, this beauty of the past may however sometimes be relegated to being art pieces or seem like misplaced museum items as they lose their functional and form relevance in modern living spaces. Smaller living places, changing tastes, new geographies, shifting and adaptive cultures demand new furniture grammar. However, modern living does not mean the burial of all things old. Here’s where historical pieces can probe into newly revealed functions, incorporate modern materials and expand its range of meaning. They can yet remain true to their tradition and find new definitions and contexts. The finest furniture makers are able to realise and incorporate a pre-existing form into a new contemporary statement capable of standing on its own merits. Liberties are taken with the original piece through insightful inspiration and are beautifully adapted into modern settings. The art of discovering new meaning to old symbols has been masterfully undertaken by the craftsmen of WTP as they have re-appropriated some fine classics. Take for example the beautiful hand-carved teak door. This palatial door of Royal India was painstakingly and innovatively recoded to a table that now lives to tell a new tale. Narrowing the view between today and the past was also brilliantly embarked on by the experts at WTP with conversion of an old ornate chest into a glass top bar which today stands as a conversation piece around conversations. Besides, the magic and mystique that surrounds the  craftsmanship is unparalleled. The intricacies, detail and originality of the craft are deeply pronounced of a time that possessed a daring purity. Matching these subtleties and high standards set by the original artisans by the modern craftsmen for certain refurbishing elements is a true challenge. This ‘revival’ of past into the present is a tribute to the brilliance of tradition as it commands and deserves the respect to integrate into ones life with new function, structure and form.