Wood carving is a famous and traditional craft of Gujarat. Temples and old houses provide the best example of the richness of this craft with projecting balconies and floors of the mansions deeply carved. Wooden boxes and chests were once major dowry items. Bhavnagar can boast of the ‘Patara’, a bridal chest on wooden wheels. Pethapur has its carved blocks. But, there is no need to pine for the past as doorframes, lintels, and shafts are available even now in Gurjari. Even inlay work using coloured wood, horns, and even commercially viable options like plastic is used in artifacts, wooden plaques.
Wood carving of Kutch is part of a larger, confluence of cultures linked across the Thar Desert. The Desert encompasses a unique cultural complex, inclusive of Sindh in Pakistan, Barmer and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, and the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. The area has creative unity partly due to a common physical environment and partly because of the collective ethnic fabric of the area. Traditional carved wood can be found in all of these areas and is linked by common design though each region brings a unique flavor and attitude to their motifs. The carved designs in the wood are evocative of the motifs found in the embroidery styles of the region. They are also embellished with mirrors which further simulates the embroideries.
