An open four-poster, in the Kerala idiom

The Malabar is a four-poster in its oldest and purest form: four tall posts rising free, with no canopy rail overhead. It is the bed of the old Kerala house — built for high, beamed ceilings and rooms that breathe, where the posts draw the eye upward rather than enclosing the sleeper.

Hand-turned posts. Each of the four posts is turned by hand from a single length of seasoned Indian teak, tapering through a series of rings and swells to a carved urn finial. The lower sections carry fine reeded fluting. Because every post is turned individually, no two are identical to the millimetre — the small departures are the record of the hand that made them.

A spindled headboard. The headboard is a run of slender vertical spindles beneath a gently bowed top rail, a form borrowed from the railings and verandah screens of traditional Malabar homes. It is open rather than solid, so the wall and the light behind it remain part of the room.

Solid teak, dark-finished. Built entirely from kiln-dried, responsibly sourced Indian teak and finished deep and warm, close to the colour old teak reaches on its own after fifty years. There is no cane, no veneer and no upholstery — only wood, joinery and finish.

Dimensions

• King: frame 74" W x 81" D x 82" H (188 x 207 x 210 cm) · mattress 72" W x 78" D (183 x 198 cm)
• Queen: frame 62" W x 81" D x 82" H (158 x 207 x 210 cm) · mattress 60" W x 78" D (152 x 198 cm)

Making and delivery

• Handcrafted to order in Temple Town's own workshop in Thrissur, Kerala
• Dispatch in 4 to 8 weeks depending on availability
• 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.