This woman carpenter is having the biggest manufacturing unit in India

Anupriya Sahu: India’s Queen of Carpentry

Sometimes, a piece of furniture isn't just a chair or a table. It’s a reflection of thought, care, and a story that began somewhere deeper. For Anupriya Sahu, that story began long before Alankaram was born. Before the big factory and the elegant showrooms, there was just an architect with a restless heart—and a quiet determination to do something different.

She studied at the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi. Like many architects, she started with structures and blueprints.

But somewhere along the way, her attention shifted from buildings to something more intimate—furniture. The kind that people live with, grow old with. She noticed a gap—beautifully made Indian furniture that felt truly Indian, but with a modern soul, was hard to come by. And that was the beginning.

Starting a furniture brand wasn’t easy. And being a woman in an industry that’s filled with machines, heavy woodwork, and male workers didn’t make it any easier. But she didn’t let that stop her. She got into the workshops, worked with the tools, understood the grain of the wood, and slowly began to put her ideas into form. Real form.

What she’s built today with Alankaram is something few have managed—a 200,000 square foot facility where design, craftsmanship, and precision come together every single day. But it’s not just about the size. It’s about how it works. Here, many of the carpenters and operators are women—yes, women using the machines, doing the finishing, crafting the pieces. That didn’t happen by chance. Anupriya made it happen, one hire at a time, one training session at a time.

And when you look at the furniture itself, you can see that same personal touch. These are not mass-produced, soulless items. Each piece tells a story—through the grain of the wood, the curve of a leg, the subtle detail in a joint. She has a soft corner for teak, a wood that is both strong and graceful, just like the women she mentors. Her pieces mix traditional forms with cleaner, minimal lines. You’ll find chairs that feel sculptural but are surprisingly comfortable, or conference tables that look more like statement pieces than office furniture.

Alankaram has found its way into celebrity homes, corporate boardrooms, hotels, and private spaces all over the country. But that’s not something Anupriya likes to show off. For her, it’s not about whose house the chair is in—it’s about whether it makes someone pause and appreciate the detail. The texture. The thought.

Outside work, she’s a mother to twins. That side of her life has shaped her as much as any professional milestone. She talks about balance not in grand philosophical terms, but in everyday things—managing a team while making it to a school event, squeezing in a design sketch between two back-to-back calls. It’s not perfect, but it’s real.

And maybe that’s the word that best describes her journey—real. Nothing about it has been for show. No shortcuts, no borrowed ideas. Just a woman who stayed true to what she believed in, even when the path was unfamiliar.

Anupriya Sahu isn’t just making furniture. She’s creating stories. And in doing that, she’s also changing who gets to be at the table—in the workshop, in leadership, and in the bigger conversation about design in India.