Saraswati Pattern Works

Andheri East is always a bit of a struggle with the traffic, but we are tucked away in Giriraj Industrial Estate. Our unit is B-51 on Mahakali Road. We do pattern work here at Saraswati Pattern Works. It’s a craft that takes some patience. We use different materials to create the patterns that factories use for casting. There’s a lot of dust from the carving and sanding. We wear masks most of the time to keep from breathing it all in. The workshop is usually warm because of the machines and the lack of a breeze. We’ve got old benches that have been here since we opened. They’ve got nicks and marks from years of work. It’s a bit cramped inside with all the projects we have going on. We often have three or four different things happening at the same time. You have to be precise in this line of work. A millimeter off can ruin a whole mold later on. We don't have a big marketing department or anything. People know us because we’ve been in Andheri for a long time. They bring us drawings, and we figure out how to make them into a physical pattern. It’s satisfying to see a finished piece after hours of sanding. We close up when the sun goes down and try to beat the worst of the Mahakali Road traffic.