#industrial style

“My favourite colour is definitely pink. I bought this jacket a few months ago. When I saw the vibrant pink lining it just called out to me.”

We half expect Shivkumar to say ‘everything’, he’s been laughing and joking from the moment we meet. But he’s far more specific. “My children,” he says. “Their laughter. If I hear them laughing, it makes me laugh too.”

“I’m a spray man,” Dilip says, seriously. We tell him that with the gun and the name, it makes him sound like a super hero. He almost smiles. “This isn’t a toy. When I have the spray gun in my hand, I have to focus.”

Munelal is cheeky and full of genuine cheer. We come upon him telling a story to one of his colleagues, he’s animated, and the other man is laughing. “I’ve been here for two years,” he says. “It’s a first class job. Great people, hard work,” he flexes his arms to show he’s strong. “I’ll retire […]

Hariram looks up at the ceiling, the universal sign for thinking. The thought grasped, he turns his gaze on us. “Trying to find a good husband for my sister. She wanted to get married so much.” He explains. “And then I found someone perfect for her. I introduced them, and in a month, they’ll be […]

MD chuckles a little, as though a joke has been said and he’s the only one who understood the punch line. “It’s funny, you know.” He says, letting us in on the joke. “I love my job, I enjoy this kind of work.” He starts to laugh. “But I can’t stand the smell of timber!”

The central building of the mango wood workshop is surrounded by an outdoor area, in which young mango trees grow. These particular trees, their leaves dusted with a fine coating of sawdust, aren’t here to be harvested. They’re a symbol for the carpenters and the carvers: men from Uttar Pradesh who honed their skills on […]

He looks up from inspecting a freshly lacquered Sullivan and rattles off a volley of instructions to his workers, before turning back to us. “It’s very simple,” he says. “Family is the most important thing in my life. Especially my children.”

Mr Rambaby welds the frames for the Sullivan side tables in a bright area of the metal workshop. Vivid light, pouring in from the big open window behind him, reflects off the white walls, illuminating the space where he does his delicate work.

“Every time I speak to her she gets annoyed. I love it. So I keep talking to her.”

You can hear the metal before you see it. The unmistakable scream of an angle grinder as it finds its path through a solid piece of steel. So powerful that it almost silences all other noises in the workshop.

“I like to watch the Hindu devotional channel. It helps me to remove all the negative thoughts from my mind and just focus on positive thoughts,” he tells us. “I want to be a clear-minded, kind-hearted person.”