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Suresh Garg

"I was born in 1940 in Dehradun, India. We are three in the family - my wife, my son and myself. I started this work with no background in terms of my family or training in this field. I have learned from my own experiences. I always wanted my profession to be related to field of 'art.'

"I started with ivory products, and later switched to sandalwood. The art of making sandalwood boxes is extremely intricate and detail oriented, therefore it requires skilled workmanship. I am the guiding factor for my craftsmen, who create these exquisite boxes and other works based on my unique designs.

"My craftsmen and I are deeply involved with the making of sandalwood products, especially sandalwood boxes. We also use kadamwood on occasion. The making of these boxes require a lot of devotion, patience and concentration as intricate handwork is done. The sandalwood has a unique natural fragrance, and is available only in a few parts of Southern India. It is quite expensive and one has to be extremely careful while cutting the raw wood, to avoid any wastage. The intricate carving on these products is done with an iron needle. The products are polished twice in the production process. The polishing technique used is referred to as buffing, which gives the products an extremely elegant finish.

"We are proud to be associated with Novica which has given us a platform to display our products through its website."