embroidered panel

chair table wardrobe

kum tabil asmali

My favourite furniture

EMB0117

Rohingya families traditionally gifted furniture sets on big life occasions such as weddings or the births of children. Skilled carpenters made the sets to order from the hardwood of local trees in Rakhine such as sheguwan (teak), hatal (jackfruit), or siam fata, or the now popular Australian akashi (acacia). A family might plant trees with the aim of one day making a falonk (bedstead) or sat kum (table and chair set) to set up their daughter in her new household once she got married. Carpenters would carve beautiful decorative details such as flowers or vines. Special pieces of furniture could be very expensive and elaborate. For this workshop, the embroidery artists drew and rendered from memory their most beloved furniture items from Myanmar. Space constraints in the camp mean that few of the refugees in Cox❜s Bazar own any items of their traditional wooden furniture today, and their practice of commissioning and gifting furniture to mark life transitions is on hold for the present time. The asmali (wardrobe) was Rokeya❜s favorite furniture which she used as a cabinet to showcase new dishes and glass ornaments. When guests would come over, tea was served on the table. When Rokeya came to the camp, she gave it all away to relatives who stayed back in Burma. She misses the furniture very much since they were presented to her by her father.