About the Atelier
A family that carves together
Marikamba Handicrafts is a family-run workshop in Sirsi, Uttara Kannada — carrying a sculpturing legacy of over forty years into mandiras, chariots, doors and wood works for temples and homes.
Our Story
Forty years of reading the grain
The atelier's craft begins with founder Sridhar Gudigar, a sculptor with over four decades at the chisel. What started as one man's discipline with wood and form grew, over twenty-five years ago, into Marikamba Handicrafts — a workshop where that discipline became a family vocation.
Today the atelier takes on the full breadth of sacred and domestic woodwork: pooja mandiras and mantapas, temple chariots and pallakis, carved doors, simhasanas, sculpture and complete temple and home wood works — each piece made to order, none repeated.
The standard was set long before the name was: proportion first, ornament second, patience always.
What We Hold To
Three quiet rules of the bench
I
Proportion before ornament
A piece must be right in silhouette before it earns a single carved detail.
II
Built to be inherited
Seasoned timber and traditional joinery, so the piece outlives the occasion it was made for.
III
Commissioned, never repeated
Every project is drafted for its deity, its building and its family — once, and only once.
Rooted in Karnataka
Made in Sirsi, where carving is a way of life
Sirsi sits in the forested heart of Uttara Kannada — a region where temple towns, processions and timber have shaped one another for centuries. It is not where our workshop happens to be; it is why our workshop exists.
The vocabulary of our carving — gopuram crowns, torana arches, yali brackets, lotus medallions — is the vocabulary of the temples and homes around us. We did not adopt it for a brand. We grew up inside it.
Every commission is still drawn, carved and finished at the Sandalwood Complex atelier on Karigundi Road — and from there, it travels across Karnataka and beyond.
Materials & Method
Honest timber, traditional joinery, patient hands
I
Seasoned hardwood
We work in seasoned timber selected for grain, density and stability — wood that will hold fine detail today and still hold it for your grandchildren.
II
Joinery before glue
Traditional joinery carries the structure, so pieces can be assembled, moved and reassembled across generations — the way temple craft has always travelled.
III
Hand finish
Every surface is finished by hand: chisel texture where the craft asks for it, deep polish where the wood deserves it. No two surfaces leave the bench alike.
Customisation
No two projects are the same
We do not hold stock and we do not repeat designs. Your commission is drafted for its deity, its direction, its doorway and its budget — then carved once, for you alone.
Scale
From a miniature ratha to a festival chariot
The same hands that carve a palm-sized shrine also raise full-scale temple chariots tier upon tier. The vocabulary of form does not change with size — only the scaffolding does.
The People
The Gudigar family
Sridhar Gudigar
Founder
Manjunath Gudigar
Managing Director
Ganesh Gudigar
Marketing Head
The best way to know the atelier is to visit it — or to begin with a phone call.
Follow the Craft
The chisel never really rests
Works in progress, processions, installations and quiet mornings at the bench — follow the atelier as the next piece takes shape.