The Nail and Thread Artists of Borvaav Village

Above the tables at Swadesh, our Kathiawadi restaurant, a lotus hangs from the ceiling. It is made entirely of nails and thread: about 3,000 nails, each hammered by hand, with thread pulled taut between them to form the petals. No paint. No printed pattern. Just nails, thread and a great deal of patience.

The person who made it is Suresh Bhai, an artisan from Borvaav village, a short drive from Sasan Gir.

How It Started

Eleven years ago, when we were building Swadesh, we wanted the restaurant to feel connected to the region it sits in. Instead of buying a decorative piece from outside Gujarat, we looked for someone local who could make something that belonged here.

That search led us to Suresh Bhai. We asked what he could create using nail and thread art, a technique he already knew. Together, we worked out the geometric lotus design that now hangs above the restaurant. It took him weeks to finish.

At the time, it was simply one installation for one restaurant. We did not know it would grow into anything more.

What Nail and Thread Art Involves

Nail and thread art looks simple from a distance: thread stretched between points on a board. Up close, it is a slow and exact process. Each nail has to sit at the right angle. Each length of thread has to be pulled to the same tension as the one before it, so the finished pattern reads as one continuous shape rather than a set of separate lines.

There is no shortcut. Every piece is made by hand, nail by nail, thread by thread.

From One Ceiling to a Village Practice

After the Swadesh installation, Suresh Bhai kept working with the medium. His brother, Dilip Bhai, joined him, and together they began developing new compositions: local birds, landscapes and patterns drawn from the region around Gir.

Over the past decade, this has grown into a working craft practice based in Borvaav village. More than 15 families are now involved in some part of it, from making pieces to teaching newer artisans. What began as one collaboration is now a shared trade.

Live Demonstrations at Swadesh

Suresh Bhai and Dilip Bhai still visit Swadesh for live nail and thread demonstrations.

For guests, this is a chance to see how the ceiling installation, and pieces like it, actually get made: the placement of each nail, the tension in each thread, and the time it takes to build a single pattern. It turns a piece of decor into a conversation with the people who made it.

A New Installation for Diu Airport

The craft has since moved beyond Sasan Gir. For an installation created for the beautification of Diu Airport, we combined two regional references: the Zampa Gateway, the historic gate to the old city of Diu, and the nail and thread practice that has grown in Borvaav over the last decade.

The goal was not to copy either one. It was to bring a historic form and a living craft together in a new piece, made by the same hands that started with a lotus above a restaurant ceiling.

Why We Keep Investing in This

This is what we mean when we talk about regenerative hospitality at Woods at Sasan. It is not only about sourcing local materials. It is about building work that stays connected to the place and the people it comes from.

The nail and thread practice did not arrive with us. We found it in Borvaav, worked with one artisan to make something for our restaurant, and watched it grow into a livelihood for a village. That is the kind of growth we want to be part of: ours tied to the region's, not separate from it.

To see the installation in person, visit Swadesh during your stay, where Suresh Bhai and Dilip Bhai's work still hangs above the tables. Our craft and design story has more on how local artisans shape the rest of the property.