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In Saharanpur, art of woodwork thrives as artisans embrace international designs, digital business methods

Saharanpur's Khata Kheri is home to several artisans whose products are sold in India and abroad. They have married tradition with modern business methods such as offering their services online.


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In Saharanpur, art of woodwork thrives as artisans embrace international designs, digital business methodsSaharanpur's Khata Kheri is home to several artisans whose products are sold in India and abroad. They have married tradition with modern business methods such as offering their services online



Wahid was feeling particularly restless the day he decided to come back to India. The 51-year-old woodcarver, having spent 25 years of his life creating furniture for the king of Bahrain, dreamed of starting a woodcraft business at a time when he could have been working towards a retirement plan. With enough expertise, Wahid returned to Saharanpur — the place where he was born and grew up. He found his way back to the same old lanes where he was first introduced to woodcarving.

These lanes are where I find myself one winter afternoon. Khata Kheri is buzzing with the cacophony of cutting and drilling machines. The air is heavy with sawdust, the narrow streets are bustling with hawkers and buyers. Roadsides are dotted with huge wooden logs. The only colour in the otherwise bleak and brown landscape is of the vibrant signages of each workshop, highlighting the services they provide. Looking at woodcarvers and carpenters hard at work in each of these shops, Khata Kheri feels like an artisanal village buried deep inside the small, industrial town of Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh. Notorious for its caste-based riots and communal violence, a few are aware that Saharanpur is also known as the ‘wood carving city of India’ and is home to almost 1,50,000 artisans. With the industry pegged at Rs 400 crores, these wooden handicrafts travel from tiny workshops to plush showrooms in the country and are exported throughout the world.