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Kachalinta now has a warehouse in Kathmandu.
You are most welcome to visit, by appointment. Contact us by e-mail.
Our clients are collectors, dealers and individuals from around the world,
and our prices are competitive in view of the high quality of our pieces.
If you are interested in anything on our Web site, or would like to see
other photos, please contact us.
We organise world-wide shipping from Kathmandu, Nepal.
For
more information about Tibetan furniture please see the publication WOODEN
WONDERS: TIBETAN FURNITURE IN SECULARE AND RELIGIOUS LIFE, Ed. By David
Kamansky, November 2004, which includes the article "Tibetan furniture,
Its Construction and Use in Tibetan Society", by Luca and Camilla Corona.
Luca and Camilla Corona have been living in Kathmandu since 1996 with their children. Information for the above article was gathered over the years as a result of collecting and restoring Tibetan furniture. In his most recent trips to Lhasa, Luca concentrated on interviewing numerous artisans with direct and indirect knowledge of furniture-making before the Chinese take over of Tibet in 1950. Also assisted by information given by Tibetan artists in Tibet who re-paint old furniture to produce some really excellent replicas, Luca and Camilla prepared a paper entitled "DISCERNING FAKES FROM GENUINE TIBETAN FURNITURE" which was presented by Luca at the symposium held at the Pasadena Conference Center, California in November 2004.
Luca and Camilla Corona have selected and overseen the restoration of each piece featured on this web site.
In order to provide the best selection of fine, authentic furniture, each piece is carefully chosen so that a minimum of restoration is necessary. However, no piece of furniture from Tibet is ready to go directly into the showroom. Everything has to pass through the workshop, which was established in 1996. A professional restorer from Italy helped to perfect the mix of good local skills and expert restoration techniques. For the carpentery work, traditional methods of joining panels are used, and all nails that were put in at a later date, are replaced by wooden pegs or "butterfly" joints.
All the synthetic varnish is removed and the original paint work is then sealed with the traditional shellac polish. Every effort is made to maintain the authenticity of each piece. Likewise, each carpet is washed and, if need be, expertly restored before arriving in the Gallery.
A
WORD OF WARNING. There are many fakes and replicas in the market: for more information go to ABOUT FAKES