How Kala Pata’s hand-lacquered boxes have captured our hearts

Beauty from within

We’re all excited at the prospect of receiving a gift, and while some may choose to rip the packaging open, because the gift is what matters, others pay careful attention to peeling the wrapper off slowly.

One such brand to understand this is Kala Pata, founded by Amreen Rahman. The lifestyle brand, which means ‘banana leaf’ in Bangla, sells handcrafted stationary like iPhone cases, ivory paper greeting cards, notebooks, and also wrapping sheets to go along with it. This year, the brand rolled out a series of stunning lacquered boxes and trays, individually packed in a silk box.

Each design modelled after Peranakan tiles or the Silk Road. The Koh-i-noor lacquer box (S$250, THB6,430)) takes inspiration from the city of Samarkand, part of the Silk route through Central Asia. Here, the cobalt blue box is topped with an intricate kaleidoscopic hand-lacquered lid, and finished with silver leafing along the rim.

http://kalapata.com