Ajanta Daybed

Design: Valériane Lazard for æquō
Material: Teak wood and rice straw
Craftmanship: Wood carving - Bangalore
Straw weaving - Gadag, Karnataka
Edition: 11


A graduate of the Design Academy of Eindhoven, Valériane Lazard had a rigorous training in product and interior design. Her research for her collaboration with æquō began in a rare, highly regarded book, The Cave Temples of India, which was first published in 1880 and authored by Scottish-born indigo planter James Fergusson. It is here she discovered section drawings of Bedsa, the Buddhist rock- cut monuments near Pune, and of Ajanta, the well known caves near Aurangabad dating from the 2nd century that have inspired many contemporary architects. The monumental formations she discovered informed the hollowed proportions of this chair and daybed - they are both massive structures of teak wood, hand carved with great voids by craftsmen in Bangalore. With a lightness that is in contrast to the monolithic form, a cushion and mattress was given equal thought in its development.