Qayyum Furniture

Our workshop is tucked away on Nati Seva Sadan Road in Asalfa Village. Being in Ghatkopar West, it is a very busy neighborhood with narrow lanes and lots of people. We have been making furniture here for many years, mostly working with wood and ply. It’s a small shop, so things are stacked up pretty high to make room for us to move. You’ll usually find someone sawing a board or polishing a chair frame when you walk past. We handle a lot of local repairs too, like when a cupboard door falls off or a table gets wobbly. People from around Asalfa just drop by to ask if we can fix something small, and we usually do. It is a hands-on life. There is always the smell of varnish and wood shavings in the air. We don't have a showroom with big glass windows. We just have our tools and the benches where we work. My father taught me most of what I know about wood, and now I just keep it going. The rain can be a bit of a problem in this part of town, so we have to be careful about the wood getting damp during the monsoon. We just take one job at a time and try to finish it before starting the next one. It’s honest work and it keeps us connected to the people living nearby. I usually spend my evenings finishing up the polishing because it is quieter then.