JK Art Emporium

Khatumbandh is an art of making ceiling by fitting small pieces of wood into each other in geometrical patterns. All this is done entirely with hands without use of nails.The wood is processed it into batons and panels and fixed in the ceiling in various floral and geometrical designs.Indeed a painstaking work which once used to take months to finish a 10 feet ceiling. The uniqueness of this art is that when the ceiling is complete, it acquires a unique geometrical pattern, with fewer or no nails used at all. The Khatumbandh ceiling can easily be dissembled and reassembled at another place. The art of Khatumbandh was brought to Kashmir during the 14th centaury by famous Saint Shah-I-Hamdaan who visited the Himalayan Valley along with many followers that also included Khatumbandh artists from Iran. Fir wood used in making of Khatumbandh which is very light as compared to other woods. Fir is a conifer and are most closely related to the Cedars (cedrus). Artisans also use Deodar ( pine) and Walnut for making Khatumbandh in old times. The raw material is available in log form. They are processed into two basic forms, one log beeding and second into panels. The beeding are used for making Gaz-pattis and the panels are used for posh.

Khatumbandh is prepared in many designs such as:-

i.  Sheshgul

ii. Chaargul

iii. Chaarphool

iv. Panch Maraba

v. Teen Bakshi

vi. Muraba Badam

vii. Derwaza Grid etc. etc.