Antique furniture recreates an old-world charm

This is antique furniture with a contemporary twist where old pieces collected over the years are cut, spliced and carved, recreating old-world charm with an edge of practicality. Restorations is the brainchild of long-time friends and business partners Kasturi Khaitan and Sabina Agarwal.

The pieces have an antique look and feel and yet it is modern, multipurpose furniture that is in sync with apartments. The restorers take a basic piece and add design elements, transforming a bulky old chest into a wood and cane bench, an old kitchen table into a computer table with sliding shelves and an old garden bench into a living room settee. Their stuff is not sourced from fancy antique shops or auctions and usually comes from the narrowest by-lanes of the city.

“I keep my eyes open at all times and whenever I see a piece that catches my fancy, I stop my car and make an impulse buy. What is most important is the quality of the stuff. We work with teak, which is one of the most resistant as well as the best-looking wood,” says Kasturi Khaitan. Their signature style uses rare Portuguese, English and Santiniketan tiles embedded into the wood along with cane work and cast-iron rivets.

“Our stuff is custom designed keeping in mind the client’s requirements and their vision for their homes. Apart from the furniture, we have plans to work with interiors so we can give our clients a whole look, from doors and windows to furniture to small things like letter holders and newspaper racks,” says Sabina Agarwal.

Their pricing is reasonable, with products ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 15,000. “We want to capture the comfort and solidity of period furniture as well as add innovative tweaks to make an interesting style statement,” stresses Khaitan.


Diya Kohli, t2