Namuna Large Mango Wood Tray - Natural

The Namuna is a round mango wood tray, 55cm across and 2.5cm high, cut with a raised rim round the edge. The whole face is etched by hand. A small ring at the dead centre throws out a fan of fine straight lines, and beyond that the pattern runs in concentric bands, each separated from the next by a plain incised ring: triangles, then chevrons, then a row of short dashes, then chevrons again, and finally a band of hatched triangles under the rim. The cuts are shallow and the wood inside them is paler than the surface, so the pattern reads as light on light rather than as carving in relief.

55cm is a large tray. It covers most of a coffee table top, which is the point of it there: jars, candles, a vase and a stack of books stop being loose objects on the table and become one group. In a kitchen it holds the breakfast things or a run of dried-goods jars in a single lift, and the raised rim stops a glass walking off the edge when it is carried. It is food safe, so nibbles and bread can go straight on to the wood.

The tray is mango wood, which is cut only once the trees have stopped bearing fruit. Every pattern is etched by hand, one band at a time, so the spacing of the rings and the run of the chevrons differ on every tray and the grain shows through the cuts differently. The Namuna tray is made in two sizes.

How big is it?

55cm across and 2.5cm high, and it weighs 1.831kg.

Can food go straight on to it?

Yes. It is food safe.

Is the pattern the same on every tray?

No. It is etched by hand, so the bands sit at different spacings and the grain takes the cuts differently on each one.

What other size is there?

The Namuna tray is made in two sizes, this one and a smaller one.

How do I look after it?

Wash it in warm soapy water, then rinse and dry it straight away. To feed the wood, rub in an edible oil such as olive or walnut with a soft cloth, though be aware that oiling darkens the tone. Mango wood shifts in colour over the years in any case.