#Wholesale Wall Painting and Wall Mirror Factory

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Ensuring That You Get Original Italian Marble

https://bhandarimarbleworld.com/ensuring-that-you-get-original-italian-marble/

Italian marble and granite are considered to be one of the finest building materials in the world. Getting Italian marble and granite countertops for your kitchen and the bathrooms is a guaranteed way to give them a luxurious and elegant look. However, not all marble is made equal. We have remained the premier Italian marble supplier in India for many years and we know what makes marble so great. Marble is extracted from quarries. Unlike other construction materials that can be manufactured anywhere in the world, the quality of marble varies based on where it comes from. Italian marble has long been a hallmark of quality simply because it is the highest quality marble possible.

That is why we only pick marble that comes straight from an Italian quarry. Another problem is that there are a lot of fake Italian products available on the market. Usually, you can tell when you have genuine Italian marble in your countertops because it has the touch of quality which other marble doesn’t. It also stands the test of time. Both these things can, however, only be verified after the countertops have been installed and used for some time, and by then it is too late to do anything about it.

If there are two materials that are as integral to a modern home as a kitchen island or a bathroom vanity, it’s stone and marble. They have never been far from homes, of course—just think about cave dwellings—but it seems like today’s necessities of open concept floor plans and natural light must be accompanied by these two features, too. We can’t particularly blame anyone for this fact, either: Marble looks good in just about any capacity, and stone can make almost all spaces more stylish.

But if you don’t have the cash for an oversized Calacatta island, or you’re still hopped up on the terrazzo trend, there are ways to incorporate pieces of marble or stone into your aesthetic on a DIY budget. No matter which ones you choose to try, the results are sure to make the most of a good thing.

What are Most Important Things about Marble & Granite

The most important thing to remember about marble and granite is that they are rocks. You cannot make marble and granite in a factory. This means that the marble and granite have an undeniable link to the land where they are extracted from and not all lands are made equal when it comes to rocks. Marble is found in many places in the world, but Italian marble has been considered the best for centuries due to its unbeatable quality and beauty. You cannot recreate the same marble and granite anywhere else in the world.

Why can you not recreate it?

Well, marble and granite are naturally formed over millions of years of tectonic activity. The only way to recreate natural marble that looks this good would be to literally move mountains and recreate the same conditions that made Italian marble stones. That is why the most luxurious places in the world insist on installing Italian marble for floors and countertops. They know that they cannot get the same quality and beauty from marble formed anywhere else in the world.

Talking About Marble Wall Tiles

Marble wall tiles are a class of their own. Almost every luxury level house or building you enter will have marble wall tiles. Some of the highest-rated hotels in the world advertise the fact that genuine marble was used in the construction of the rooms. If you are looking for Italian granite and marble wall tiles, you have come to the right place. We are based in Kishangarh and have been dealing with both Italian marble and granite for a long time. We know a lot about these tiles, so let us take you through four important things you need to keep in mind when it comes to the wall tiles.

Bhandari Marble World is a directory of the World’s top direct importers of the genuine Italian Marble & Granite in India. We cater to both small individual customers as well as large-volume customers such as wholesalers, distributors, retailers, builders, architects, interior designers, and more.

OUR AIM IS ONE COMPANY-ONE FAMILY

Knowledge, professionalism, and passion have guided the Bhandari family for 387 years toward innovative choices, in keeping with traditional values.

CREATIONS, RETAIL, COMMERCIAL, RESIDENTIAL, WORK-IN-PROGRESS

A highly qualified technical section devoted to design study, development, and carrying-out of projects.

PRODUCTION-MADE IN INDIA

Finest marble, granite, onyx, and stone transformed into true Italian taste and tradition.

STONE STUDIO AVAILABILITY

Let our Stone Studio’s extensive choice of materials inspire you.

While marble is quarried in many countries around the world including Greece, USA, India, Spain, Romania, China, Sweden, and even Germany, there is one country which is generally considered the home of the most high-grade and luxurious marble available – Italy. It’s certainly the country of origin of the most famous marble but what is it that makes Italian marble so highly-sought after? As one of the leading suppliers of this stunning natural stone, we felt obliged to give some insights on why Italian Marble is in such high demand in India.

Below are several reasons behind the popularity of this beautiful natural stone:

History:

Italian marble is steeped in heritage. It was used by esteemed Renaissance artists including Michelangelo and Donatello, who used marble-like Calacatta and Statuario to create some of the world’s most iconic works of art, including the statue of David. Italian marble has been proven to stand the test of time and has stood strong for centuries on many buildings around the world, used both internally and externally.

Heritage:

Another reason Italian marble is considered superior is due to the stone working heritage of the Italian people. They were pioneers in perfecting quarrying methods in ancient times, many of which are still used to this day. The Italian people are considered as purveyors of quality in many fields including fashion, cars, and natural stone like marble! They set high standards for quality control and are considered technical experts when it comes to cutting and carving natural stone.

Stone Quality:

Italian marble is practically peerless in the natural stone world when it comes to its durability, purity, and beauty. It’s synonymous with luxury, elegance, and sophistication and is seen as a symbol of status in residential and commercial buildings around the world.

So, what is the best type of Italian Marble?

Here at Bhandari Marble World in Kishangarh, many customers come to us and ask, “Which is the best kind of Italian marble?”. However, there are way too many variables involved to have a one size fits all answer to this question. It depends on how much traffic the area will receive, whether they’ll be exposed to spills or excessive heat, used indoors or outdoors, which room they will be used in.

Some of our most popular Italian marble in-store are Calacatta, Statuario, and Carrara marble. These stones are ideal for indoor applications and are commonly used as kitchen benchtops, splashback, and bathroom vanities. Much like all-natural stones, they should all be sealed appropriately and maintained with PH neutral detergents that are not abrasive to the surface of the stone. We delve in a little deeper below to find out the difference between each of these natural stones.

CARRARA MARBLE

This is the most common type of natural stone that is quarried in the region it is named after, Carrara in Italy. The background color tends to lean towards a grey or blue-grey finish with more fine, linear striations, and generally a softer and subdued look. Carrara is quarried in abundance and is, therefore, the cheapest material of the three and readily available in the Sydney market in the slab or cut to size tile format.

CALACATTA MARBLE

The rare and luxurious Calacatta stone is similarly quarried in the Carrara region of Italy, more specifically in the Apuan mountains. The stone has a lot more variation in color than the Carrara and is characterized by a pure white to a milky white background with dramatic large veins that range in color from gold to brown to grey. The stone has been quarried for centuries and has been featured in some of the world’s finest hotels, restaurants, and residential homes. There are many selections of Calacatta available in stock at Bhandari Marble and the prices vary greatly depending on the selection chosen.

STATUARIO MARBLE

Much like Calacatta & Carrara marble, Statuario is too quarried in the Carrara region of Italy. The stone has a bright white background and thin to thick grey bold veining so there are greater contrast and not much color variation in this stone. The material is similarly priced to Calacatta due to the lack of supply and extremely high demand. Whether you’re an architect, interior designer, luxury builder, or end-user, call Bhandari Marble or drop into our showroom today and we’ll happily talk through your needs to identify which type of Italian marble is right for your project.

India has long been the seat of glorious architecture and a refined lifestyle. The days of the royals may have been overtaken by the democratic ways of governance but life-style choices of many remain as regal as those good old days. The grandiosity of Indian architecture, its characteristic yet sometimes extravagant opulence in the form of embedded gold, mirrors, and precious jewels and gemstones in wall paintings of the palaces, as in the Amber Palace at Amer, in the state of Rajasthan, have an indelible influence over the world unanimously.

But even in palaces with no gemstone paintings to boast of, the intricate carvings are done in priceless marble, the exquisite Indian marble floorings steal the hearts of the beholder. Be it the Mandu’s Hoshang Shah’s Tomb that inspired the architecture of the Taj Mahal, or The Lake Palace of Udaipur or the lavish Marble Palace of Calcutta, the use of Indian marble has added to their beauty and glory.

But luxury is not all that there is to marble, is it?

The reasons why Indian marble is preferred as the best building material and serves as only the most obvious choice of flooring material are altogether different. Let us separate the gold beads from the sand and figure out the craze behind the usage of Italian marble:

1. Drinking from the Fountain of Youth: Ages Beautifully

Using marble for flooring and other beatific applications is like taking your dream spaces to the fountain of youth and make them not just drink from it but bathe in it. Marble ages beautifully provided you take good care of it. Time to time application of a coat of sealant ensures that the marble maintains its envy-evoking finish. This is undoubtedly a small price to pay for the splendor that you bring home.

2. Marble Always Pays its Debt: Durable

One of the main reasons why marble is preferred is because of its strength and durability that exceeds that of the tiles and other flooring options by a remarkable mark. Though tiles are consistently being improved to bear heavy traffic, their maintenance is more difficult than marble. They never can be carved into something spectacular, unlike marble with which numerous sculpting can be carved in the interiors, as it suits you.

3. Sparkles like Stars: Awesome Finish

The natural finish of Marble is well one of the reasons why we can’t resist their charm. Indian marble is best known for being pure without many variations and veins of mineral impurities running through the surface of the marble. When polished this creates for spaces that sparkle and twinkle from a distance and appear clean as a mirror when seen close by.

4. The Other Road: A Better Option

The market is flooding with newer, technologically enhanced materials that serve as convenient, cost-effective flooring solutions. But, even so, these solutions do not cost much less than the marble and don’t quite have the same durability or the finish and texture as does the nature-created marble. Marble is indeed the better option. For those who incline towards the luxurious side of life, Imported Marble is a fair option. Mesmerizing variants of Indian marble are also quite popular across the world.

5. Bright as a Summer Day: Wizardly White

The specialty of Italian Marble resides in the startling white of the natural stone. With little to no impurities, the white marble mined from various mines in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Bhandari marble brings you the best of white that brings elegance and chastity to your spaces and captures attention like no other. Available in six variants, one exceeding the quality of the other, these Italian Marble variants are here to set your dream spaces leagues apart.

Italian marble is the soul of beautiful architectural masterpieces across the country and the world. Their worth needs no more praising as their superior quality speaks for itself.

Natural stone is one of the best looks for the exterior of a home. It’s beautiful, luxurious, and it last for years and years. Some of the most notable homes and buildings have been constructed out of natural stone, and they stand the test of time. When choosing the exterior material of your home, it’s important to consider things like climate and the structure of your home – if it is able to support the weight of a stone exterior. But if it can, it is one material that will create a stunning appearance to your home. Most stone types can withstand just about any type of weather element it is exposed to, which only adds to its attractiveness.

The only thing standing in many homeowner’s ways when deciding on the type of exterior for their home is money. Natural stone can be quite a bit pricier than other types of exteriors, but the longevity and durability, along with the beauty that natural stone can offer, can be worth the price in the end. Here are seven different types of natural stone for your home you can choose from. After learning more about natural stones for your home’s exterior, you just may think twice before you agree to anything but stone.

1. QUARTZITE

Quartzite is one of the hardest natural stones and is known as a cleaved stone and offers a rustic type characteristic to the stone. It has a similar look and durability to marble but is different in many ways. One of the quartzite’s greatest qualities is the sparkle that it illuminates at its surface. It’s unique in its look and extremely durable so that you can count on it being as beautiful and in as great condition years down the road, as it was when it was first constructed.

2. TRAVERTINE

Travertine falls into the sedimentary rock category. It’s a type of limestone and develops, and is shaped primarily in natural hot springs. Travertine is known for its small cavities that form naturally, and it is these cavities that help to create this stone’s natural cream-colored tones with little flower-type patterns throughout. When travertine is used for construction purposes, such as on the exterior of homes, builders will often fill these little cavities with grout to help increase the stone’s durability, however, the cavities do make the stone susceptible to stains which may be a concern for some homeowners.

Even so, travertine is one of the most beautiful stones used in home construction, not only on the outside exterior and walkways but on the inside of homes as well. You’ll often see travertine tiled floors, counters, and more on the inside of homes. One reason travertine is favored for homes is the options it offers in colors. Travertine comes in a variety of hues, such as pink, orange, and gray. One thing to consider with this stone for the exterior is its inability to resist heat, making it a poor choice for cold climates.

3. LIMESTONE

Limestone is a great natural stone for using as an exterior stone for your home for many reasons. Limestone is a stone that will weather naturally over the years to give your home a beautifully unique look. Builders like using limestone for the exterior of homes due to its even texture and its ability to sculpt and tailor it easily to fit the look they want it to. As far as durability, Limestone will maintain its integrity for years and years. Despite its durability for the exterior of your home, one place you may want to avoid using it is in your kitchen. Limestone is not a stone to use where it will be put to use in a functional situation, like a kitchen counter. It is a porous stone, meaning it can scratch and stain easily.

5. GRANITE

Granite is one of the hardest natural stones ever found. The only stones known to be harder and more durable are diamonds and sapphires. Granite has the unmistakable flecked mineral colors with a swirled and spattered grainy appearance. It is often used on the exterior of buildings and homes due to its durability and ability to withstand time and age. It is about 20% quartz and can be made into large or small slabs, and can be left in its natural state or polished to a perfect, sleek look. For the exterior of a home, granite can be a smart natural stone to choose if you love the look of a speckled, natural-looking stone. The most popular colors of granite include brown, pink, and black.

6. MARBLE

Marble is one of the most luxurious and most beautiful natural stones known to man. It is also one of the most popular stones used in construction, for both the inside and outside of homes. Marble is commonly seen in homes as flooring, in the kitchen as countertops, and it is also used on the exterior portion of homes as well. When used on the outside of a home, you instantly think of a classy and expensive home. Marble’s smooth and polished texture requires special care when being laid for the exterior of a home, but the beauty and durability that it provides are unsurpassable. Marble is available in a wide array of colors and patterns, from brown to pink, purple, gray, brown, and it’s even found in marbled patterns of mixed hues.

7. SANDSTONE

Sandstone is a rock that develops from sand turning to a stone material hard enough to be used as a building material. The natural rock is a pleasure for builders to work with because of its ease to chisel and cut into just about any shape or size desired. It’s often used when a type of pattern in the exterior surface is desired. One of the most popular traits of this type of stone is its reflective nature. As the sun moves, it causes the surface of the stone to change colors which can create a beautiful look to your home’s exterior. Whatever color you’re looking for for your home’ exterior. Whatever color you’re looking for for your home’s exterior, you are sure to find it when you choose sandstone as your home’s exterior. Choose from white, pink, orange, yellow, and even purple hues.

Combine beauty with Design

When looking for the perfect stone, the first consideration is how it will look. The right stone defines the look of your building, living room, or bathroom. Choose the design, colors, and styles that you desire and gather that information to obtain the first step of your selection.

Durability, Stain and etching

For example, if you’re looking to buy a countertop for your kitchen, one of the main characteristics you might require is durability. In this case, we do not recommend soft finishes, like honed, meaning that the surface of the stone has been ground to a smooth, flat, consistent surface. If you wish to use marble on a well-used kitchen countertop, be sure to seal it properly to inhibit staining agents from being able to seep in. The more absorbent the tile or stone, the more likely it will stain if not sealed. On the other hand, etching is caused by acidic liquids coming in contact with acid-sensitive stones, that’s why Marble is rarely recommended for areas that are subjected to dangerous factors.

Porosity

Staining is linked to porosity—in other words, how much open space exists within the solid matrix of the stone. Thankfully, the high pressures that bind rocks into solid forms tend to squeeze away most of the pore spaces. But different stones have been subjected to different amounts of squeezing, and thus, porosity varies among stone types. Limestone, for instance, is the most absorbent stone due to its high porosity, so it’s not recommended for kitchen countertops, for example. Marble comes next. Granite is the least porous stone, making it the least absorbent and the most suitable for surfaces like countertops.

Hardness, Traffic, and Resistance

For flooring, the stone used needs to be resistant to dirt, to spilling and has to have a certain finish so that it can handle the traffic or usage that it will be subjected to. The softer the stone-marble for example, the more inappropriate it is to use in those areas. Each type of stone has different levels of hardness. Some types of limestones are not recommended to use on surfaces with a lot of traffic because it’s a soft stone. But, for example, a specific limestone can be harder than another.  On the other hand, marble is harder than limestone, so it’s more appropriate for surfaces like flooring.

Weather

In some cases, the weather is also an important feature, especially for external cladding and external flooring, such as the building’s façade. When the externals of the buildings are vulnerable to weather conditions, for example, extremely cold, humidity, rain, extremely hot, etc you need to keep in mind the stone’s characteristics for the most suitable option. To make sure what type of stone is suitable, it’s recommended to take the defrost test into account, for example.

So, before going to look for the perfect stone, try and gather as much information on these topics as possible, depending on your project goal. In this way, it’s easier for you and for your suppliers to choose the right stone.

What type of finish should I use?

The surface of natural stone can have a variety of finishes. It is important to choose the right type of stone, depending on your project and the features mentioned above. Using different techniques and mechanical processes, natural stone can be adapted to interior and exterior applications.

For example, soft finishes like honed, flamed, and split, which is more smooth tend to absorb more. So you should avoid them on surfaces with a lot of traffic and in staining areas. This applies, especially to limestones and marbles. This factor also varies with the durability and the porosity of each stone. Each stone has its own characteristics so not all finishes are suitable for every stone. For instance, the flamed finish can only be used on hard stones.

For surfaces subject to other factors, such as the exterior part that is most exposed to erosion, for example, finishes like bush-hammered, honed, sandblasted, or brushed are recommended. The polished finish consists of brushing the slab with a range of brushes and the result is a slightly undulating surface. For this reason, it is suitable for surfaces like bathrooms and kitchen tops, because it doesn’t absorb as many impurities as other finishes.

Why Marble Stone is Great

The three keystones from which you’ll browse for your kitchen worktops are granite, marble, and quartz. Today, we want to sing the praises of marble stone for kitchen worktops. While each stone has its benefits for different kitchen designs and concepts, we will look at the times that marble is the top dog! Consumers often associate marble with traditional kitchen concepts. However, just take a quick look through the marble library and you’ll find varieties that work for modern and contemporary styles.

An Elegant Stone

There’s a reason that marble has been used for hundreds of years in grand homes, palaces, and temples. It possesses a timeless elegance which is truly striking. Why is this, though? Well, whether the variety of marble that you select is white or colored, the crystallization within the slab gives the stone a unique iridescence. Even if space is already bathed in natural light, this reflective stone widens the perspectives of a room. For darker or smaller kitchens, the brightness of marble stone makes space appear brighter and larger.

Beautiful Shapes

While some see the relative softness of marble against granite and quartz as a disadvantage, we see the benefits. By no means is marble a soft material, but as it is more porous than granite and quartz, it is easier to cut, form, and shape. So you’ll find that you have more options of kitchen worktop edging when you choose marble. Or perhaps your kitchen design features more ambitious shapes or angles than a standard square layout. As marble is so much more workable, it can be shaped to create perfectly fitting, and even artistic worktop features.

Practical Benefits

With such diversity of marble available, there is likely to be a stone within your price range. This is great in making it accessible. Whether a budget is extensive or limited, you can choose from local to exotic, and abundant to rare varieties of stone. Whichever range you choose, you will find that the surface will withstand daily pressures far better than many alternative materials. There’s a reason that ancient sculptures and monuments are fashioned from marble and have stood the test of time!

Colors and Patterns

Why is it, then, that marble forms in so many colors and patterns? It’s all to do with the minerals and sediments found in different parts of the world. In magnesium or silica-rich conditions, green varieties form. Then the quantity of clay, iron oxide, and silt combinations vary hues and veining. So every slab within every variety brings a distinctive look to your kitchen.

Tips on Marble Stone for Kitchen Worktops

Protection

Sealed marble is heat resistant. This makes it unbeatably cool to the touch – perfect if you like to bake! However, it is porous, so is not immune to damage from high temperatures. For this reason, ensure that you protect your marble with a pot stand or hot plate to take pans and dishes.  Similarly, don’t chop food directly on the surface as it may scratch. A rustic butcher’s block can bring a great contrast to your marble

When You Do Business with Us, You Won’t Only Get the Best Price for The Most Luxurious Home Building Materials Like White Italian Marble and Granite, But You’ll Also Get the Most Caring and Professional Customer Service Throughout the Entire Process! We’ll Won’t Be Satisfied Until You’re Satisfied.

ADDED BY EXPERT AND EXPORT TEAM OF BHANDARI MARBLE WORLD KISHANGARH RAJASTHAN 305801.

[handicraftsnmore-blog]

Handicrafts, A Treasure Since Inception

Metal Handicrafts will be the most extensively utilized type of decoration. Millions of homes are available using metal crafts within their rooms. Artifacts and metal crafts are easily obtainable in the marketplace. They can be produced in huge quantities in factories and then delivered to various towns for sale. Metal crafts are provided to big businesses for export reasons and wholesalers also. The art of creating metal crafts continues to be known for nearly 5000 years to craftsmen. Metal crafts are created from a diverse array of metals and its alloys like iron, copper, silver, bronze, white steel, wrought iron, etc. Experienced steel craftsmanship is employed to make some of the best and most fashionable items of daily use like mirrors, picture frames, vases, bowls, trays, and so on. Today, rates are sky high. The commodities that are simple price a lot of money. In these instances, how can one afford and handle costly gold and diamond jewelry? Imitation is the solution to the question. Imitation jewelry is extremely cost-friendly and comes in various styles and designs. There's a wide selection of imitation jewelry in the industry to select from. Imitation jewelry can be purchased at various rates ranging from several hundred to a lot of thousands. In the fashion-conscious world of to-day, sporting the jewelry that is same on garments and diverse instances is a sin. To seem up-to-date, one wants imitation jewelry to go with all the outfits of these wardrobes. Imitation jewelry isn't just an alternative but in addition a better alternative for diamond and gold jewelry. Marble handicrafts will be the satisfaction of Indian craftsmen. Marble handicrafts spring to mind as soon as one talks of artifacts and unique craftsmanship. Traditionally, craftsmen make by hand Indian marble handicrafts. Marble handicrafts are created by carving them from the little bit or an s-Lab of marble. Making marble handicrafts needs dexterity and excellent ability. Marble handicrafts usually stay static in popular in the global and nearby markets. Ganpati wall hangings are a significantly popular product. Ganpati wall-hangings are hung on the partitions of the residence, in the prayer rooms and in the key entrance. It's said that in the event you include a murti of Ganpati in your home or a wall-hanging, it delivers you pleasure, blessings, and luck. Ganpati wallhangings are manufactured from various supplies like stone, steel, wood, etc. In some Ganpati wallhangings, the figure is etched or engraved on a history, whilst in the others, it might be painted or printed on a material and framed later. Ganpati wall hangings are a really well-known gifting merchandise as they've been considered auspicious for house-warming celebrations and inauguration of new offices and businesses.

[ashleysgoodvibes]

It was nice to sleep in. I was still tired from yesterday. We got ourselves together and went downstairs. A tuk tuk driver tried to scam us into going to the less than stellar local floating market. He lied about the opening time of the wholesale market we were going to. It opened at 7 am and he said it opened at 11. He got indignant when I insisted it opened at 7. He the was like, yeah oh ok, THAT market is open. He knew we weren’t falling for it so he moved on. We walked up the street and grabbed a taxi. It dropped us off at the Pratunam Market. It was crazy! Just stalls and stalls, row by row. It was a maze of stores. Some rows dead ended. Some rows just look liked they did but if you turned you would get to another row. It just went on and on.

The main row was wide enough for a car to squeeze through, so you had to pay attention for cars. So rows were only wide enough for people and motorbikes. You could hear them slowly winding through the people. The people were the craziest. Most of them had huge bags of carts filled with clothing they were going to sell in other places. The more you bought from a shop, the cheaper each item was. There were lots of knockoffs. Mostly really cheaply made. But if you searched hard enough you could find better quality fakes. It was overwhelming after a little bit, so we walked towards the sunlight and made our way out. We hadn’t had breakfast yet, so we looked for food. Denali saw an escalator to an inside market that said it had a food court. It too was a strange sight. Lots of clothes and stuff. I hate to use the word stuff, but that’s the best way to describe it. There was a little but of everything. Shoes, trinkets, pots, rope, you name it, you could find it. The food court was in the third floor surrounded by shops and kiosks. In order to pay, you had to exchange your money for food coupons. I’ve never seen anything like that except at an arcade. Tokens in the place of quarters.

Denali gets the coupons and we pick where we want to eat. There is a decent choice. Arabic, Indian, Thai, Americanized, vegetarian, etc. With that choice came all of those smells, mixed together. I got my standard chicken fried rice from the Arabic place. I was lured in by the photos of samosas, they weren’t ready yet. Denali got green curry rice from an eatery on the other side of the food court. We both enjoyed our food and marveled at the environment. I don’t want to call it strange, just different. We had some food coupons left over so we got some ice cream. I couldn’t decide between cookies and cream or rainbow so we got a scoop of each.

The cookies and cream tasted like a bunch of an Oreo filling with a few cookies crumbled in it. The ice cream wasn’t really creamy. The rainbow tastes better but we couldn’t quite place the flavor. But we finally figured it out. It was birthday cake! We were sharing back and forth until we got to the cone, I took the rainbow. Right as I was biting into the bottom I dropped it on the table. Denali and laughed and he went and got another cone. But by that time I was full so he ate it all. We went back downstairs took a short look around. I found some elephant pants and we made our way outside. We hopped in a taxi, it was time for the Grand Palace. The taxi let us off a block away of the closer side. A woman tried to scam us into going somewhere else first because it was too crowed right now. We told her we were going anyway. She got mad as usual. We walked to security, passed through, to the main gate. Today we got in with no problems, Denali’s legs were covered.

Like the woman said, it was very crowded. It felt like Disneyland but there were no rides. We walked around and saw the sights. It was amazing. I can’t think of a better word. Photos do it no justice. Almost everything was tiled. Some with tiny mirrors and gold, some with ceramic flowers. Everything was glittering in the sunlight. It was awe inspiring.

The Wat with the little emerald buddha was just incredible. They won’t let you take photos of the emerald Buddha or inside where it’s located. It sits high on top of an impressive shrine. All around on the walls are paintings like in the Sistine Chapel. Im not a good enough wordsmith to conjure up the words that will do it justice. If you ever get a chance, you should go. After leaving the Grand Place. We walked to Wat Pho, to the see the giant reclining buddha. On the map it looked like a small jaunt but in reality it was far. By the time we got there I didn’t even want to go in. I gave myself a 5 minute sitting/ water break and then we made our way in. The reclining Buddha was enormous. I thought the one in the monkey cave was big. That one pales in comparison. There is an order of what you have to do while inside Wat Pho. You stop and take a picture of the head when you walk in.

Then walk to the middle where there is a place to get closer to the Buddha to take a shot of you and the head behind you.( There was a line here. It was not very long but people kept trying to cut, and the line kept making an uproar about it. It was very funny) After taking your picture you keep walking until you get to the end. You walk out the door and then left. You are greeted with a view of the feet, inlaid with what looked like pearl or abalone. It’s breathtaking. You can’t get a good photo of the feet because there is a mesh wire over the window. You then walk back into the wat, but this time behind the giant Buddha.

There are rows of metal pots. If you want, you can buy a bowl of coins to put in the bowls. It makes a constant clanging sound. (We wondered what it was when we were in the other side.) After you admire the back of the Buddha, you make your way out of the front of the Wat and then you realize just how much there is to see at Wat Pho. Disclaimer: after seeing all of these wats in the last few days, I’d become kind of jaded. But seeing all there is to see at Wat Pho brought me back to life. It is my absolute favorite Wat to date.

There were multi courtyards with rows of buddhas. Multiplicity of form is a beautiful thing. After gazing in wonder at one courtyard, you would walk through th a doorway into another courtyard with more buddhas, this time just bigger. If you looked to the left or the right, there were more courtyards with more buddhas. There were stone giants, there were spires of gold and spires covered with ceramic flowers. There is just no way to describe everything.

We thought we would only need a half hour or so at Wat Pho. We spent about two hours there. We could have spent more but it was time to get Denali’s suit. We got a taxi to The Factory, given a bottle of water and guided to an upstairs room. Not as posh as downstairs. There was a curtain, a couch, a mirror, and some suits hanging up. We waited for the suit to be brought in. I had a brief thought that we had sold ourselves into slavery, but then they brought in the suit. Denali tried it on and it fit nicely.

He picked out a free tie and the gentleman packed everything up. No one wanted to drive to Chinatown in rush hour but we finally convinced a taxi to take us to our hotel. We relaxed, got spring rolls, and called it a night

Bangkok day two… It was nice to sleep in. I was still tired from yesterday. We got ourselves together and went downstairs.

[caveartfair]

This Village Used to Make 60% of the World’s Paintings—Now Its Future Is in Jeopardy

A so-called Chinese “urban village,” Dafen once produced an estimated 60 percent of all the world’s oil paintings. During its heyday—when the village’s reputation as an art factory rang truer than today—it almost exclusively cranked out copies of paintings in the Western art canon. These canvases found their way into hotel rooms, show homes, and furniture outlets all around the world. Not bad for somewhere that until the late 1980s was a largely overlooked and decidedly rural backwater on the periphery of Shenzhen.

Now, an array of factors, which in many ways mirror the larger picture of rapid Chinese economic development, have converged to threaten Dafen’s long-term viability. In response, the government is stepping in to try to change its image from a city of cheap fakes to a creative hub home to original artists making works to fill the homes of China’s rapidly growing middle class. But the future for these artists and artisans remains uncertain.

Building the World’s Art Factory

A view from the Dafen Art Museum looking down the east side of the village. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

An entrepreneurial trade painter, Huang Jiang, launched Dafen’s remarkable trajectory. Upon moving his business in 1989 from his native and increasingly pricey Hong Kong across the border into mainland China, Huang recruited and trained additional, migrant workers to fulfill a glut of existing orders. Taking advantage of Hong Kong’s more mature infrastructure for practicalities such as shipping, Huang developed an assembly line process for art reproduction in Dafen.

Huang Jiang’s relocation of his business nearly three decades ago was opportune in several ways. Shenzhen proper was already a burgeoning Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a designation rolled out in the early 1980s as part of sweeping economic reforms that provide tax and business incentives in order to attract foreign investment. But in 1989, Dafen was positioned just outside of this lucrative region.

Although later swallowed up by the expanding SEZ in 2010, at the time, Dafen quite literally sat at the gateway to the massive export economy on which modern-day China was built. The result was fast urbanization thanks to incoming cheap migrant labor and Shenzhen’s sprawl. But in Dafen, grassroots, bottom-up industries—propelled by cheap labor and land—could develop away from the pressure cooker-like policies and conditions of the SEZ proper. For Dafen, that industrialization took the form of art.

A view of Dafen Village’s kindergarten located in the central square. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

An artist studio in Dafen. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

At its peak, Dafen was jam-packed with sizeable, factory-like studios, all employing Huang’s production line process. Individual workers each focused on a specific compositional element—background details, or eyes, or trees—dutifully painting their part and then passing the canvas along the chain.

In the mid-2000s, Dafen’s copy industry was booming. It was at this point that auxiliary commercial avenues began to take root in the village. Quaint cafes, as well as more accessible “gallery shops” (predominantly fronts for anonymous art workers and addresses from which to tout for business both wholesale and retail) lent the village lucrative tourist appeal.

By the decade’s end, Dafen was well and truly on Shenzhen’s map, its success story absorbed into the city’s broader narrative. To that end, at the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, Shenzhen’s Urban Best Practice pavilion featured a mosaic of 999 panels painted by more than 500 art workers to recreate what was dubbed the Dafen Lisa.

Around the same time, Dafen began to see a dip in international demand, which—combined with rising property costs, plus China’s broader aspirations with regard to soft power—has resulted in complex, and sometimes conflicted, development. Throw into the mix the spending power and growing taste for art of China’s expanding middle class, and several distinct drivers soon emerge.

By far the loftiest ambition of the various players currently invested in Dafen is for the village to become an authentic creative hub, and above all a place for original art and culture.

Today, this branching of paths—from copy art, to original art, to shining national example—feels tangled. Case in point: During my stay, I was corrected and chided for referring to copyists as artists, or yì shù jiā in Chinese. They’re huà jiā, painters or art workers, and the difference in social hierarchy is made extremely apparent.

Artist collective the Chaospan Copy Painters work in a narrow alley between buildings on the east side of Dafen. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

City at a Crossroads

I visited Dafen in March 2017, taking an hour-long subway ride north from the cosmopolitan bustle of Hong Kong. A large sculpture of a hand holding a paintbrush marks the entrance to the village: a gated development of just under half a kilometer square whose narrow streets are laid out in a grid. At its outer edges, sawdust mingles with the metallic clinking of hundreds of staple guns as framing stores prep a constant stream of blank canvases before stacking them in wooden pallets. Towards the village’s center, the wood smell is replaced by the distinctive headiness of oil paint and turpentine.

Around half of the low-level buildings accommodate stores selling a bewildering (but for the most part, homogenous) mishmash of paintings. Framed pictures of pastoral idyls, Van Gogh replicas, and photorealist portraits of Trump, Putin, and anonymous tourists cover every available inch of wall; canvases are stacked clumsily on the floor between layers of cling-wrap; and outside, tourists rifle through bargain bins of small paintings and prints priced from just ¥10 a pop (roughly $1.50).

Other storefronts are rented directly by painters—the working studios serving as a useful shop window for their respective niche, be it pets, Picassos, or Pop art. Case in point: Zhan Xin Xiang, who considers his diminutive studio space, shared with three artworker friends, to be a kind of advertisement. Loud music blares from the radio; all four men sit at canvases and meticulously copy images from their iPads. He explains that buyers for Chinese online art galleries—most of which reside on T.Mall, the B2C spin-off of e-commerce giant Taobao—frequent the village looking for talent. Such commissions earn Zhan in the region of ¥10,000 ($1,500) each month, he estimates.

An artist studio (with a copy of Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon at the Great St. Bernard, 1801) and framing shop in Dafen. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

There are also more conventional galleries, generally showcasing the work of—and often owned by—a single artist. One such space is Ease Gallery, established in 2006 by Ethan Lau, an artist and teacher from Huanggang, Hubei province. An exponent of Dafen’s more recent turn to artists creating original paintings, Lau says designers, homeowners, hotels, and clubs are the most frequent buyers of his large-scale ink works, inspired by traditional Chinese calligraphy. He also works with more studious collectors, he explains. (Lau declined to disclose how much he makes from his sales, but when I asked his staff the price of a particularly striking work on canvas at the gallery, I was told around ¥10,000.)

Surrounding these studios and galleries in Dafen are art supply stores and a handful of whimsical cafes, some of which offer painting classes to visitors. There are also a more workaday street-side sellers of málàtàng, a type of hot pot in which skewers of various meats and vegetables are cooked in a spicy broth; a Lanzhou noodle shop; a post office; and a primary school. It’s a dense, colorful, bustling place.

At the village’s eastern edge is the Dafen Museum: All angular grey slate, the impressive architecture is fronted by a plaza intermittently occupied by pop-up markets, careening children, and older generations performing evening exercises. Opened in 2007, the museum was built by Urbanus, the same Shenzhen firm behind the city’s ultra-contemporary OCT Art Terminal Shenzhen and Artron Art Center. The museum shows predominantly modern and contemporary art from China.

A large mural outside of the Dafen Art Museum. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

A view of Dafen. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

In stark contrast to the of-the-minute museum, an adjacent stone frieze some 30 meters in length depicts Western art classics: There’s a snippet of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, Picasso’s Dreamer, and a longstanding Dafen best-seller, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Like the Old Master busts dotted about the village (Da Vinci is to be found staring beatifically at the primary school), the frieze points to Dafen’s candidness and pride in a global reputation founded on reproduction, even as it strives to be known for original production.

All signs point to an impending identity crisis.

A Shifting Economy

Replica Rembrandts and mock Modiglianis continue to serve Dafen well—in 2015 revenues in the village were estimated to be ¥4.29 billion ($630 million). However, its “global painting factory” moniker is now not only overwrought, but for the most part outdated. Production has declined as the internet and online retail has removed the necessity for its centralized form of production. Rising rent prices in Dafen itself have further exacerbated the issue, with a copy-art boom now occurring in cheaper cities like Xiamen and Yiwu.

Meanwhile, cheaper and more efficient production methods have been developed. Many copies are now first printed onto canvases in high-definition, after which art workers apply just enough paint to make it appear as if they were painted by hand, a process which requires significantly less skill and produces a more consistent result.

A freshly painted copy of Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

Among the remaining owners of large-scale production and export businesses in Dafen is Miles Tang, director of B&C Arts, whose business can be found on the e-commerce platform Alibaba. The Henan native first arrived in Shenzhen in 2001. He launched B&C in 2006 out of one of Dafen’s gallery shops. Finding the retail market to already be both saturated and fiercely competitive, a year later he switched his focus to international wholesale. This came at a precarious time: Many of Dafen’s sellers saw a significant downturn in international orders during the global financial crisis. But Tang’s business boomed.

Today, Tang rents a capacious factory some 20 minutes’ walk from Dafen proper. But despite its expansive floor space, only half of his workforce of around 30 painters is based there. The rest, he explains, have left Dafen for their respective, and generally more affordable, hometowns. Tang emails orders for artists to complete off-site and send in upon completion. At the factory, their finished canvases are rolled into compact shipping cylinders, with most winding up in furniture shops in the U.S. and Mexico. Tang estimates his operation’s total output is usually in the region of 500 canvases per week, with numbers reaching up to 1,000 during peaks in demand, such as Black Friday.

Dozens of copies of Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889 are delivered to a gallery on the eastern edge of Dafen. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

Some retailers benefited from an uptick in domestic trade when international market fell out in 2008: Today, hotel chains in China have become Dafen’s biggest customers. A four-story shop on a prime corner of Youhua Jie (“oil painting street”) claims both the Westin and the Marriott in Shenzhen as customers, as well as a host of interior designers in Hong Kong.

Xu Mei Juan, who owns another gallery nearby, explains that the increase in domestic trade can partly be attributed to a newfound appreciation of art among Chinese consumers. Roughly translated as “Starry Sky,” her business specializes in Monet and Van Gogh replicas, all painted by her husband.

“Between 2008 and 2010, most orders were coming from abroad. But now, I mostly sell to Chinese hotels and also regular customers,” she says. “For Chinese, it has become much more normal to have art hanging on your walls at home.”  

In a village so abundant with Sunflowers, the heavily textured creations she offers are palpably superior—and notably more expensive—specimens. Xu quotes ¥1,000 ($150) for a framed painting measuring 30 by 40 inches, and estimates that, including drying time, each takes around 20 days to complete.

Artist collective the Chaospan Copy Painters work in a narrow alley between buildings on the east side of the village. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

To a Westerner audience, the desire to vaunt what is so obviously a fake may be difficult to grasp. But in a Chinese context, it’s sobering to remember that for much of the country’s recent history, and in particular during the Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976, it was simply impossible for “bourgeois” artworks to exist. The government dictated that the only permissible art should be hóng, guāng, liàng, or “red, bright and shining.” And while such thinking may have since been resolutely stamped out in cities, the same still cannot be said for the Chinese countryside. As such, Xu’s domestic market continues to have room to grow.

Government Intervention Spurring Original Work

By far the biggest shift in Dafen’s recent history is the move toward promoting original art. Two things have driven this change. First, the aforementioned competition from cheaper locations offering comparable products, combined with a decline in global demand, is forcing painters who once worked exclusively in the field of copy art to diversify their offering. And rising rents mean these copies are no longer sufficient for survival; even with high domestic demand, their market value remains low.

As such, many painters have begun to create both replicas and original works, which they can sell for a higher price. The development isn’t always smooth, and there’s often friction with Dafen’s guard of original artists. Lau explains that plagiarism is rife.

“I have had embarrassment all these years because of copying, duplication, and even copyright breaches for printing my artwork in bulk. It never stops,” he says.

An artist paints in his studio in Dafen. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

A more powerful catalyst for original art production has been the Shenzhen government, whose ambitions to pitch the city as a cultural center extend to Dafen. In 2004, the government launched an organization called the Art Industry Association of Dafen Oil Painting Village to promote initiatives such as the National (Da Fen) Youth Oil Painting Exhibition, co-organized by Longgang District committee since 2012, and a national Dafen art competition. It also acts as an umbrella association for Dafen’s participation at trade fairs and expos, including Shenzhen International Cultural Industries Fair, Guangdong International Hotel Supplies, and a Shanghai Furniture fair.

Beyond promoting the Dafen brand, the Art Industry Association of Dafen Oil Painting Village also supports the upgrading and diversification of the village’s art industry and recently hosted a meeting between its members and the e-commerce platform JD.com. Reinforcing how the internet and e-commerce in particular continues to shape Dafen, a representative explains that changing conditions have necessitated innovation on the part of Dafen’s workers, particularly by way of leveraging the internet as a sales channel.

“The traditional channel is not conducive to the development of oil painting. The business model has changed [so] Dafen oil painting village must also change,” he says. “Dafen enterprises engaging in e-business platforms is a trend.”

As opposed to the Western art market, in which online art sales outlets are typically seen to sell lower-end artworks most effectively, the association’s representative says that their interest in e-commerce retailers like JD.com is the access to more upwardly mobile consumers.

“The JD.com platform reaches high-end customer groups, so art as lifestyle, not only as culture,” he says.

Detail of a copy of Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, Spring 1887, at Star Arts (Van Gogh / Monet Gallery). Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

The picture of Dafen today is far more nuanced than it once was, both in terms of opportunities available to its workers and the ambition the local authorities have for its future. The village is host to an ongoing negotiation between feeding a domestic market still hungry for the copied artworks it has long produced and recognizing that, in the very near future, that market may not be sufficient to support the artists who feed it. At times, the urban village’s future can feel extremely precarious.

As the cost of living rises, Dafen’s initial life force—its migrant painters—are most at risk. While the Chinese middle class may be growing rapidly, the shift from a volume-based model of selling cheap copies to businesses, to selling relatively much more expensive original paintings to consumers, will mean that fewer artists and art workers will be supported.

—Frances Arnold

Translation assistance provided by Mo Fanlin.

Cover image: An artist paints in his studio in Dafen. Photo by Adam Kuehl for Artsy.

from Artsy News