FEATURES: Bengaluru-based multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur Sandeep Sangaru of Sangaru Design Studio makes use of natural material to create eco-friendly furniture. Working with the traditional craftspeople of Kashmir to design and produce a chair made out of the locally available walnut wood, he creates design and technology interventions to make processes more efficient and sustainable, simultaneously widening the scope of their utility. He seeks inspiration from the muqarnas, or the ornamental vaulting seen in architectural structures in Kashmir. The Walnut Mukarna Chair employs the use of the age-old technique of carving in walnut wood, creating a simple yet chiselled contemporary design of hollow rhombus-like patterns on its single-plank straight back.