‘Tambuti’… as exquisite as his craftsmanship
‘TAMBUTI” Singh has named himself after the wood which is closest to his heart, as this is what he uses to craft magnificent pieces of furniture.
His talents have seen many of his pieces gracing royal and presidential palaces in different parts of the world, as well as in South Africa.
It can take between 10 and 12 years to treat and dry the unique wood of the tambuti tree. Once prepared, Singh can put his talents to work – visualising, carving and lovingly polishing each masterpiece at his workshop at Kwadukuza on the North Coast.
King Goodwill Zwelithini commissioned him to produce a king’s chair, a queen’s chair, seven chairs for other wives, a podium and 10 side tables.
Singh has made gifts for the British royal family, such as a wooden cross for Queen Elizabeth in 2009 – which he placed at the spot where her mother loved to pray.
He carved a jewellery box for Princess Diana, on the occasion of her wedding to Prince Charles and a wooden writing desk as a wedding gift for the duke and duchess of York (Prince Andrew and Sarah) in 1986.
Singh believes a table he sent to former president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy still has a place of honour in the White House. George W Bush also received a small table, as a gift to the American nation, after the attack on the World Trade Center.
The then-president of
India, Pratibha Patil, received a treasure chest for Mother’s Day.
Asked to “carve out” some of his own history, for the reader, Singh said: “My Ronald and Nancy Reagan sent this autographed picture of themselves to thank him for his gift.
worked with imbuia, walnut and teak from India, but during World War II there was no timber available.
“The ships went astray, so my father made an expedition into the Zululand forest to check what trees he could turn into planks to manufacture furniture. He brought back some tambuti logs. Once having worked with
this “king” of trees, the family never looked back.
In 1956 his father brought back a tambuti log from the Tugela valley. “While stripping it into planks, we heard a cracking sound. We switched off the machine and split the the log in half. We found a military bullet embedded in the log. We removed it and got some historians to find out how the bullet had entered the tree. They said it was fired during the Bambatha Rebellion of 1906. Somebody probably hid behind the tree and was saved. My father kept the bullet safe, wanting to make something for himself.”
Eventually this bullet found its way into the table which Singh sent to George W Bush, sympathising with what had happened on September 11, 2001 when terrorists launched suicide attacks in the US.
“We believe the the life of somebody was saved from the bullet so that they could uplift somebody else.
“I saw this bullet as a symbol of protection for the American people,” said Singh.