Dumbara rata kalala runner
Three weeks on a pit loom in Thalagune, in a pattern held only in the weaver's head.
$340
Lacquer writing box
$295
A flat box in three lac colours, lined in bare wood so it still smells of the tree.
Materials & dimensions
- Kaduru wood
- Natural lac in black, red and yellow
- Brass hook
32 × 8 × 22 cm · 850 g
Care
Keep it out of direct sun and away from heat — lac is a resin and will soften and mark. Dry cloth only. Do not stand a hot cup on it, however flat and convenient the lid is.
Shipping & duties
Free standard shipping
Express $43.20
North America · 850 g · includes $6 for fragile packing
Import duties and taxes are set by United States, not by us. They are not included above, and your carrier collects them on delivery.
The story
A flat box is harder to lacquer than a round one. A bangle can be turned on the lathe and the colour laid on in a single unbroken revolution; a rectangle has to be worked panel by panel, and every corner is a place where two passes meet and can show. Sunil builds the border out of narrow bands for exactly this reason — the banding is decoration, and it is also where the joins live.
The interior is deliberately left bare. Lacquer on the inside would seal the wood and the box would smell of resin instead of kaduru, and a box you keep letters and pens in ought to smell of the wood it is made from.
One brass hook, no lock. Nothing in a writing box has ever needed a lock.
Sunil Wijesuriya
Matale, Central Province · working since 1994
