Shaan Khan has nothing but a scowl for a society, which he feels has more or less lost its appreciation for classy drawing rooms and tastily furnished bedrooms. He could go on forever about the local demand during the twentieth century for fine drawing-room furniture, chairs, tables, stools, plant stands, cabinets and huge wooden beds and bedside tables and cupboards fashioned from carefully prepared hardwoods, first, as separate pieces then eventually fitted and glued together.
Those were the days, he says, when the joiner brought his works of art to the homes of the middle class and when even “the poorer class” sought to afford some pieces.
In the halcyon days of joinery, Khan had been apprenticed to Mohan Persaud’s Furniture Store on Saffon Street. That was after he had been introduced to “working with wood” at Carmel Primary School. After that, he worked with the establishment helping to turn out furniture to supply Guyana Stores, Fogarty’s and several of the other furniture stores in the city.
He later branched out on his own, supplying stores himself.
