A cabinet made of grass

Called Atuxuá, the cabinet is a collaborative piece between Indian gallery æquō and Brazilian Estúdio Campana, and made from Sabai grass, a raw fibre native to India.

The cabinet is named after Brazilian masks known for their intricate craftsmanship and symbolic significance. It mixes the cultures of the design studio and the gallery. Drawing inspiration from India’s landscape and shape of traditional local bamboo objects, this grass cabinet is tied together with brass wires, emulating the traditional technique used to bundle grass for trade. Weeks of hand work were spent sewing each blade of grass onto a bamboo lattice to recreate the impressive mass that Sabai grass represents during its harvest. The coat covers a solid brass structure created in Jaipur with æquō’s partner workshop Frozen Music.

“For this collaboration, I wanted to work with raw materials and take into consideration a craft traditional from India, which is why the Atuxuá piece is made with natural fibre and brass,” Humberto Campana of Estúdio Campana said. “The intricacy of the Sabai grass and the metalwork represents a parallel between the spirituality, rituals, and religious syncretism we can find both in India and Brazil.”

Photos: æquō