Mirror Glass inlay furniture

Then tradition of Mirror Glass inlay is over 300 years old, though  little is known about it outside of Udaipur. It has mainly be used in adorning wall panels in Udaipur’s many oppulent palaces. The City Palace by the shores of lake Pichola in Udaipur has some stunning examples of glass inlay wall panels, rangoli patterns of hand cut mirror fragments were laid out by palace craftsmen to create stunning and often colourful mosaics. This famous peacock with its explosion of colours is an early creation for the City Palace. Each individual piece of mirror is hand cut with a scissor like tool that takes skill and care, and the end result is a reflective, shimmering  expression of Rajasthani style. Like Indian bone inlay, glass inlay can be applied to furniture too. Here is an example of a glass inlay geometric chest of drawers. Imagine the patience, skill and artistic mastery required to create this complex geometric pattern by hand.

We have purchased several wall panels, console tables and bedsides in mirror inlay. We have also picked up this mirror glass inlay floral chest of drawers. Remember you can imagine this in any colour. Instead of white resin in the background you could have any shade you can think of.

I believe Iris are the only company offering mirror glass inlay  outside of India. We would love to get customer feedback on this unique style of Rajasthani furniture.

Like all our furniture styles, we can offer a bespoke service in our mirror inlay range. We invite you to design your own bespoke inlay furniture. Different colours of glass are also available, so you can choose the background colour (the resin the glass is set in) as well as the glass itself! You could choose one of the patterns from our bone inlay furniture range, and simply request the same in mirror inlay, selecting your chosen colour. These vases give you an idea of how the furniture would look with different colored resins, the grey one on the right has excited us particularly, before long we will commission a grey glass inlay item and display it in our shop in Brighton and on our web site.

Believe it or not, the method used for creating mirror glass inlay furniture has not changed for 300 years. Because of the challenges in cutting glass without it splintering in unwanted directions it can not be cut with power tools, strange bent scissors are used to sheer the fragments, and this tool has remained unchanged since the early artisans in Udaipur were working on the city’s palaces.

If you are reading this blog and you have a desire something truly unique from the creative hot bed of Indian style that is Udaipur, collaborate with Iris and we will help realise your vision. Whether its mother of pearl inlay furniture, bone inlay or glass inlay, send us some drawings, a photo, or a link- and begin a bespoke order process. We will send you images of your furniture before it leaves India, we just need a 40% deposit in advance, and you pay the balance once your unique item arrives in the UK. Please send enquiries to info@irisfurnishing.co.uk