The Rann of Kutch. A salt desert in northern Gujarat on the west coast of India, that is desert for half the year, and is flooded for the other half. The gypsy tribes who once grazed cattle here, and later settled in villages, still retain their traditional customs and wear their elaborately embroidered and decorated clothes as they go about their daily tasks.
Janmamad Luhar is a traditional bell-maker in this region. He practices a craft that was passed down to him through several generations.
Sheets of recycled steel are beaten, shaped into cylinders and formed into bells, without any welding at the seams. The shaped bells are then dipped into a copper slurry. Women make a dough out of clay to protect the bells during a complex firing process.
Bells are fired in kilns in the desert sand. During the firing, the steel and copper anneal to form bronze. After the firing, the protective clay is chiseled away.
Using age-old techniques and a mallet and an anvil, Janmamad personally hand-tunes each bell to perfection.
This age-old technique of metal-work is what gives each piece its unique patina and exceptional tone.
These wind chimes can be hung indoors, under a porch or awning, or outdoors in the garden or under a tree. Bronze, being an alloy of steel and copper, these chimes will patina naturally over time.
This is a collection of small chimes. We have two more collections of chimes, medium sized wind chimes ranging from 10" to 13" and larger sized wind chimes ranging from 20" to 40" in length. The longer chimes have a variety of different sized bells, and produce a beautiful harmony of tones.
Handmade in Gujarat, India.
