The document discusses the traditional craft of 'sadeli' marquetry practiced by the 'pe gara' family in Surat, India. It has almost vanished today with only one carpenter retaining the skills. The author's project aims to create a book and video to make people aware of 'sadeli' and encourage more people to learn the craft, thus helping sustain the 'pe gara' family's livelihood and cultural identity. The methodology involves researching the craft's history, documenting the process, and editing the final outputs to educate audiences and promote 'sadeli'.

1. Design Project 3 | Semester 4
Sneha Sarang | 2015 Batch
Photography Design
DP Title - Sadeli

3. Bibliography
Omeara, Stephen James. “The Hidden Treasures.” Deep-Sky Companions: Hidden Treasures
(n.d.): 17-544. Web. 12 Apr. 2017. <h p://www.gujara ourism.com/file-manager/ar cles/
handicra s_5.pdf>.
Dharmesh Joshi. “Gujrat Mitra.” Editorial. Surat Ni Benamun Pe gara Klane Bhar Lavvana
Prayaso [Surat] June-July 1992.
“Surat Ma Pe gara Karigaro Dvara Nirmit Marquetry Namunaonu Pradshan Yojayu.” Editorial.
New Surat Times [Surat] July-Aug. 1992.
Tanushree Chakraborty, ed. “Marquetry: Surat’s Claim to Fame Finds No Takers.” Editorial. Surat
Newsline [Surat] 4 July 2001.
Index
Acknowledgment
Objec ve
Introduc on
Methodology
Summary
Approach
Bibliography

4. Video screenshots

5. Approaches
Book
Anima on
Acknowledgment
I wish to express my sincere thanks to Rishi Singhal and Sathyanand
Mohan at Photography Design in NID for conduc ng the course and
constant guidance. I would also like to thank Marc Ries and Serena
Chopra for enormous support and encouragement.
I would also like to thank all the par cipants in the project for their
valuable contribu on and coopera on.

6. Introduc on
The decora ve technique of ‘sadeli’ is a type of micro mosaic with repea ng
geometric pa erns. It has had a long history in India and the Middle East with
early examples da ng back to the 16th century. It is a highly skilled cra and
became very popular in 19th century Britain as many boxes, card cases and chess
boards were imported from India. Bombay became a center of making and these
imported wares became known as Bombay boxes.
Today in city Surat there is a ‘pe gara’ family who is s ll encouraging and keep
running this cra which is on end stage due to hard work, me tacking process,
and lake of interest of karigars.
“ I was climbing the stairs, listening to a voice of the tool pairs. Wooden smells go
in my nose and par cles stuck in my eyebrows. It was a dusty corner in my town
where ‘sadeli’ boxes laid down.”
Technique - Whilst the technique may at first seem exquisitely complex, the
theory is rela vely simple. A s ck is made up of long thin rods of many materials
which are then cut transversally to form a repeat pa ern. This is essen ally the
same as a s ck of Brighton rock where the le ers are embedded throughout the
whole s ck.
The first step in crea ng ‘sadeli’ is preparing the thin rods by scraping lengths of
ivory, bone or wood into the desired shape. Most o en the rods are triangular
in sec on, from which a diverse variety of geometric pa erns can be made up.
Woods used include ebony and rosewood with green stained bone and ivory. If
n or pewter were used they would have been extruded into circular or triangular
rods, then once a supply of rods had been produced the cra sman could build up
the s ck, joining the lengths with animal glue.
When the packet was completed it could then be sliced up with a fine saw and
the pieces arranged and glued down onto the box. Any slight varia ons in surface
height would be leveled by scraping.
Summary
Today ‘Pe gara’ family has their karigars who are carpenters.
Only one carpenter has the skills for ‘Sadeli’ cra . My project video will
encourage more people to prac ce this cra . People will take a movement
to know about this cra which helps ‘Pe gara’ family to gain their iden ty
in surrounding socie es. The government will also help them to spread
their cra to encourage people. So people will start buying their ar facts
which will help them to provide a livelihood or basic source of income.
Pa erns

7. Objec ve
To make people aware about ‘Sadeli’ and make them buying ar facts.
To encourage karigars for ‘sadeli’ work. Also to encourage others to
learn this cra which has almost vanished.
Methodology
1st 2nd week :
I will research on data regarding ‘sadeli’ work and how it evolved.
Contact those ‘pe gara’ family and tacking appointments.
3rd 4th 5th week :
Conceptualiza on and get access to the place & materials for my
project output and start documen ng it.
6th 7th 8th week :
Making book and video.
9th 10th :
Sound and color edi ng for video.

8. Cra : Sadeli
‘Sadeli’ is a form of marquetry. A long me ago when Parsis landed on the
shores of Surat from Iran, they brought with them the invaluable cra of marquetry.
It has now become the signature of Surat city. ‘Sadeli’ bears much resemblance to
Khatam which is the Persian version of marquetry, which is said to have developed
in Iran during the reign of Safavid dynasty from 1501 to 1722. The ‘sadeli’ cra smen
are mostly carpenters, who have the precision and pa ence required for the art forms
of marquetry. ‘Sadeli’ was used mainly for decora ng doors, windows, and furniture,
today these cra smen also embellish jewelry boxes, photo frames.
Today, ‘Sadeli’ has almost loost its iden ty. It is very unfortunate that hardly
someone knows about ‘Sadeli’ cra . Today, this cra is only prac ced by some families
in Surat. It has not found any patrons beyond city limits.
‘Pe gara’ family is the only family who has s ll space for sadeli cra in their ‘praga art
and cra ’ workshop. Jitendra and his son Rakesh Pe gara is the witness of the ‘sadeli
cra ’ which has almost vanished today.
‘Sadeli’ is the art of decora ng the surface of wooden ar cles with delicate
pieces of wood and other materials in precisely cut geometrical shapes. First of all
geometric pa erns are marked on pieces of wood. Then they are chiseled and fi ed
according to the pa ern. Ar sans cut wood pieces and other materials, and glue them
together, based on the plan, colour, shape, dimensions and the place of applica on.
Though it sounds simple, it is a cumbersome process which has to be done manually
and requires experts de ness to execute the complex pa erns with perfec on.
Surat’s people will be surprised to know that the person who is a member
of ‘Na onal handicra award sami ’ and who is a not Gujara and non-Sur , came
forward to encourage this cra . His name is Raju She y.
Raju She y is an architect, designer and writer. Raju said in one of his
mee ngs that sura ’s are not aware of their precious cra . When he came to get
informa on about this cra he had to suffer a lot. He said unity is a very important
thing. If pe gara want their cra to stay alive, if they want it to be in the market, if
they want encouragement, the thing they want is unity and organiza on. It is very
unfortunate that hardly anyone knows about ‘sadeli’ cra . Today Surat is a known for
diamond & tex le industry, but only because of ‘sadeli’ cra it will stay immortal.

10. Jitendra Pethigara, State award winner - 2002
Infused with new ideas, Pe gara is an interior designer by
training. Jitendra Pethigara says,
Right now I am trying to make more and more people aware
about the wider use of marquetery ar cles.
We were also giving training to women in 1992. We used to
import the wood from Indore & Ujjain and export ar facts in gulf
countries and earning up to 15 lakh.
Commen ng on the tradi onal cra , Rakesh Pe gara said,
My grand father learned the art from a local cra sman
and then it was adopted by my extended family. My father
also worked in this field and now I too am interested in this
tradi on.
In an earlier era we were making these ‘Sadeli’ boxes for
welcoming guest and certainly for bride’s haldi ceremony.
The quality of the cra smanship is judged by the intricacy
in detail of the geometric forms used in a surface. We
successfully apply 250 pieces in one square inch of a
wooden surface. This art is dis nct from inlay-work, as
in we do not inlay wood but create a decora ve layer for
wooden products.
Earlier animal bones and ivory were used for the inlay. But
since these ar cles have been banned for use, we have
started using acrylic sheets available in various colours, it
has made work easier and cost effec ve.