AHEC's collaboration with Phantom Hands began in 2024, culminating in an exhibition in Bangalore in December of that year. During this process, AHEC shared its technical expertise with the PH team, offering insights and training into the material properties and working processes for the use of their foreign timber.
“From the very beginning, our decision to work with Phantom Hands was all about encouraging an accomplished and well-respected Indian furniture manufacturer to experiment with American hardwoods for the first time. We knew that this would be a challenge, given that their work was all in teak and that temperate American hardwoods not only look different, but behave very differently as well,” - Roderick Wiles, AHEC Regional Director.
AHEC also introduced PH to Australian architect and woodworker Adam Markowitz. A small collection, Refractions, of furniture and lighting created with Markowitz, specifically explored the technique of layered wood bending, well suited to the AHEC sponsored wood. The precision and prolonged focus required for this method turned out to be a deep dive into grasping some of the characteristics and behavior of the new species.
‘It was based on this experience that we decided to introduce cherry and red oak into our current catalogue, for x+l, INODA+SVEJE and especially the colored pieces in the Bawa Collection,’ - Deepak Srinath, Co-Founder, Phantom Hands.
The move was well-weighed. The Bawa Collection consists of re-editions of furniture designed by the late Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa for his spaces. According to Srinath, a number of these were originally made with tropical hardwoods that are now difficult to source ethically or banned for export.
Bangalore based architect David Joe Thomas was also brought on board for Re-editions. He had returned to the city a few years earlier to set up his own practice, NUMBER65, after having trained in some of the finest ateliers in India, Denmark, America and England. Aparna had come across some of his recent projects at the cusp of product and spatial design. There was an immediate recognition: a fellow inhabitant of the strict order of the grid; with an unusual additional quality of lighting it up with equal attention.
Due to the scale of the project, the initial plan was for David to produce the booth in collaboration with AHEC, taking cues from PH but without its production support. David started by looking at the furniture (and architecture) of the city of Chandigarh - this is where the overall program and construction logic of the final pavilion comes from, including the joinery style used.
After an initial phase of research, David proposed a nine-block modular structure - all but one, holding a piece of furniture at its center - aiming to provide a respite by creating an enclosed, visually quiet space. David delivered a clear, conceptual proposal; a strict framework; to then be inserted with one of 3 elements; a wall, a light box ceiling or a floor.
The pillars and column were used in the exact post planing size, to minimize wastage. Each narrow plank was elongated using an elaborate dual system of temporary interlocking profiles and fasteners to enable the timber an afterlife beyond the 4 day span of the event – also a strong directive of AHEC’s.
For the wall unit, the primary interface of the enclosure, David was keen on drawing inspiration from the integrated concrete brise-soleil Corbusier used across Chandigarh and Ahmedabad. His sense was to echo this configuration now using cloth as the facade.
“We had thought six of our carpenters for 4 weeks would be enough to work on the project. But in the end, nearly thirty of them worked on it for four to twelve hours a day, for seven weeks - in spite of contracting an external team,” - Srinath.
Timber remains at the heart of PH’s work, but this new chapter pushes the exploration beyond furniture. At its core, the collaboration with AHEC is an ongoing experiment, an attempt to understand what unfamiliar woods can do on their own terms and now to integrate them into the milieu of Indian furniture in an authentic way.
It’s a learning curve, and the Design Mumbai stall became both its testing ground and its showcase - an ambitious, unexpected project that revealed how PH’s relationship with wood and designing with it, is evolving.