Sankheda furniture
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Sankheda furniture is colourful teak wood furniture of Gujarat, India, treated with lacquer and painted in traditional bright shades of maroon and gold.[1] It is made in Sankheda village and hence its name.[2] The village is located about 45 kilometres (28 mi) from Vadodara.[3]
In recent years, colour innovation has been adopted with black, blue, green, ivory, copper, silver and burgundy shades. The product is not only widely marketed in India but is exported to many countries including Europe and West Asia. Now with the adoption of chemical pigments, instead of the traditional organic dyes and pulp of kewda leaves (fragrant screw pine) as a colouring base, the palette has many colours to offer for painting the furniture. However, the "tinfoil patterns with transparent lacquer coating" is the basic traditional method which is continued,[3] with polishing done with agate.[4]
The product is protected under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act (GI Act) 1999 of the Government of India. It was registered by the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks on 5 July 2007 under the title "Sankheda Furniture" and listed at GI Application number 100 under Class 20 on 5 July 2007 as a handicraft item.[5][6][7]