Kinnal

In Kinhal, a small town in northern Karnataka, a community of artisans has been carving and painting wooden figures for temple chariots and festival processions for generations. The pieces are built with lightweight wood, layered, smoothed, then painted in flat, luminous colour with gold detailing. The result is bold, frontal, and unmistakably ceremonial. This is a GI-protected craft with a shrinking number of practicing families.