A small workshop in Pune.

Timber Trace makes engraved wooden pieces to order, keychains, festive décor and keepsakes, from a workshop in Hingane Khurd, Pune.

We use a laser because it does two things a hand can’t: cut a line thinner than a hair, and burn a photograph into the grain at three hundred dots to the inch. Everything after the laser is done by hand: sanding, oiling, fitting, packing.

Nothing is stocked. Each piece is cut when it’s ordered, which is why it takes a few days and why it’s yours and no one else’s.