Furniture and Crafts
Most of the furniture designed by THF and produced at AAAH (Himalayan Bauhaus) aims at preserving the traditional techniques and materials while creating products that suit the new lifestyle. In this way the traditional craftsmanship continues to be promoted.
One of the most successful products in 2019 was the dry toilet set designed by Yutaka Hirako. It consists of a wooden box to keep the soil, ashes or wooden shavings that are used in the toilets to dry the liquid and a separate wooden box that serves as a seat.
The first two toilet sets were installed in Hemis Monastery, in a private room in the monastery and in the retreat centre of Gyalwang Drukpa Rinpoche, the head of Drukpa sect. Later another set was order by Hemis monastery for a temple in Changthang.
Kitchen and bathroom furniture
The survival of traditional buildings as residential spaces depends on the capacity of the building to adapt to the modern needs of its inhabitants. THF’s Yutaka Hirako has designed modern style furniture using traditional materials to be manufactured by THF/LOTI craftsmen. The furniture is tailor-made to blend with the spaces in traditional houses, that do not conform with standardised sizes and styles, and adapted to the use of modern appliances.
Yutaka Hirako designed two modern kitchen sets in two traditional houses in Leh old town, and furniture for the washing rooms. The kitchen furniture in Kushu houseKushu house is designed according to the needs of a family setting. In Gotal house, where the Artisans, Artists and Architects House (AAAH) is based, the kitchen was designed as a place to prepare small meals and drinks, but it can be expanded into a family kitchen.
Both kitchen and bathroom furniture answers the modern needs of the residents, so that traditional houses can be upgraded with style and comfort.
We hope that this will attract young people to live in traditional and naturally-made buildings, and have them fitted with furniture and furnishings like rugs, textiles, etc, made by local craftsmen using local materials and designs.