There was a time when good furniture meant intricately carved, heavy wooden artifacts. Every lavish mansion, luxurious casino or top-executive office all had furniture with intricate carvings. Then the era of modernity (and post modernity) arrived and with that everything became lean and sleek. Mahogany and teak no longer ruled the roost and were soon pushed over by steel and metal. Today wooden furniture sits precariously, watching helplessly like an ousted feudal lord, as metal sweeps the stakes and makes in roads into our homes.

Closer home in Hyderabad, there's a store that calls itself Essentially Metal. Like its name suggests, it sells nothing but metal furniture. Cast in what is called "mild steel", the furniture, ranging from candle sticks and vases to plush double beds are displayed across a thousand square feet of space. " The material is durable, rust proof and weather proof", says Mr Srinivas, store keeper. Essentially Metal arrived in Hyderabad eight months ago and is a part of a firm run by Bangalore-based Deepak and Ravi Johari. There are six other franchisees spread across Mangalore, Bangalore, Cochin, Pune, Goa and Chennai. Ms. Prema Rao runs the one in Hyderabad.
According to Mr. Srinivas, " Most metal furniture is made with wrought iron. But steel is far superior, and the one we use is treated several times before it is used". That's not all. The various beds, sofa sets, tables and chairs at Essentialy Metal are so finely designed and made that every curve and every bend has the grace and finesse of a ballet dancer. Except of course, it's mostly black. For those who are superstitious about having black strewn all over the house or for those who don't think black is beautiful, the furniture also comes in silver and beige. The metal goes very well with glass and just to prove that, there is a tiny table with a slab of tinted glass balanced on bow shaped metallic legs. Very classy, very sleek.


Besides the designs on display, Essentially Metal also takes design orders to provide more customised furniture. If a customer likes a sofa but prefers it to be differently covered, the cover is changed but at a little extra cost. Their furniture is also availale at Contemporary Arts & Crafts, Punjagutta. But with Hyderabadis being a more conventional lot, one wonders aloud: "How's business?" Pat comes the reply "We're fast catching on !" Good..