Hoshiarpur's wood inlay work is held up by a small number of families. Roopan Matharoo has won a National Award. Kamaljit Matharoo campaigns for support.
Until India's ivory ban in 1989 the inlay used ivory offcuts from comb-makers and bangle-turners, along with camel bone and brass. Artisans switched to acrylic, plastic and bronze.
Craftsmen earn ₹600 to ₹700 a day while middlemen take the export margin. Small pieces sell for around ₹500. Large furniture runs to ₹8-10 lakh and can take over a year.
The inlay is called tarkashi: fine wire and shaped pieces set into shisham, in geometric and floral patterns, on boxes, trays, panels and furniture. The craft is documented in the district from the nineteenth century and was one of the Punjab exhibits at colonial exhibitions.
Camel bone and acrylic replaced ivory after 1989 and the work has continued at a reduced standard, because bone is harder to cut fine and the market that paid for the finest work went with the ban.
There are said to be a few dozen families left doing it, concentrated in a small part of the town. Nobody has counted them, nobody has recorded the pattern vocabulary, and the tools are made by the craftsmen themselves.