A bed built entirely of turned spindles

The Artisan's Haven is the most heavily worked bed in the Temple Town range, and the one that shows most plainly how much hand time goes into this kind of furniture. Headboard and footboard are both filled with close-set turned spindles — dozens of them, each shaped individually on the lathe — set between rails in a tall screen. Most four posters put their carving into the posts and leave the headboard flat. This one does the opposite.

A full canopy, with spires above it. All four posts are joined overhead by a square teak frame. The finials do not stop at the rail: they carry on above it as tall turned spires, so the bed's silhouette continues past the canopy line. In a room with height, that detail is what makes the piece read as architecture rather than furniture.

Turned and reeded posts. Each post moves through a sequence of turned swells and reeded sections from a heavy vase-turned foot up to the spire. The proportions are drawn from the four posters of old Kerala and Tamil houses, where the post was a structural column first and a decorative one second.

Solid Indian teak. Kiln-dried and responsibly sourced, finished in a warm mid-brown that leaves the grain visible through the turning. No veneer, no cane, no upholstery on the frame — the entire piece is wood and joinery.

Making and delivery

• Handcrafted to order in Temple Town's own workshop in Thrissur, Kerala
• The spindle work is the slowest operation in the range; allow 4 to 8 weeks for dispatch
• Available in King and Queen
• Arrives largely assembled; instructions included for any remaining assembly
• Slight variation in colour, grain and dimension is inherent to handmade work
• Covered by a 1-year warranty against manufacturing defects, termite and borer. Normal wear, accidental damage, improper use or cleaning, and natural wood movement are excluded
• As each piece is made to order, cancellations and refunds cannot be accepted once the order is placed

Temple Town builds in the Heirloom Modernism idiom: Indian craft held to the standard of the world's finest furniture, made to be inherited rather than replaced.