Makonde

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRODUCT

Africa is known worldwide for its unique Arts especially the "Makonde Wooden Carvings". Makonde is one of the Tribes hailing from South Tanzania or North Mozambique. People from this Tribe are internationally famous for their intricate carvings based of Life, Love and God. For centuries they have been carving Figures from Ebony wood. That is why these carvings are also known as "Makonde Carvings".

These carvings are made out of "Ebony Wood". In India, particularly the North India, this is knwn by the name "Aabnoos". It is a precious wood and its main speciality is its dark colour ranging from deep red to black. The colour of the Ebony Wood depends upon the age and the soil in which it grows. The older the tree, the darker is the colour! The outer portion of the Ebony tree is like any other tree but if this is cut from inside, it is black in colour!!

Another unique feature about Makonde Carvings is that it is always carved out of a single log of wood without using any glue or nail, whatever may be the size or shape of the item being carved. These carvers try to keep their work as close to nature as possible, in the sense that they do not apply any artificial colours, Paints or Polishes. At the most they use wax polish to give it some shine. After carving a piece, very fine sand paper is applied. Depending upon the size and the shape of the piece, the Carver may spend-even a few days applying sand paper on a single piece. Sand paper application coupled with very fine grains of the wood result in smoothness.

These carvings require minimum maintenance as there is no polish involved because of the natural fine grains of the wood. These carvings can even be washed and if desired repolished with wax polish because these do not carry any colurpolish. Another positive factor is that Ebony wood being so hard, termite cannot cause any damage to it.