Pope Francis to use handmade chairs by Indian-origin carpenter during Singapore visit

SINGAPORE: During his visit to Singapore next week, Pope Francis will use two handmade chairs crafted by an Indian-origin carpenter here for his inter-religious dialogue sessions.

The chairs are made by 44-year-old Govindharaj Muthiah, who took his passion for woodworking full-time in 2019, according to a Channel News Asia report last week.

Muthiah said when he received the fortuitous call from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore around end-July, he did not expect to be presented with the coolest addition to his CV to date.

Even though he completed both "100 per cent handmade" chairs within a whirlwind month, Muthiah said the news of being assigned to do the chairs still had not sunk in.

“When I got the call, the first question was: ‘Hi, we knew you do furniture. We were introduced by someone.’ And they asked if I could make a chair. I was like, ‘Okay, do yThe chairs are made by 44-year-old Govindharaj Muthiah, who took his passion for woodworking full-time in 2019, according to a Channel News Asia report last week.ou have the dimensions? I’ll work on it,’” he told CNA.

“Then (the caller) said, ‘No it’s more than that, there’s a lot of specific details.’ And I said, ‘Okay, send me the drawing.’ Usually what I tell customers is, if you can draw it and show me, I will build it for you. So likewise, I said that, thinking he’s on the same page. He paused for a while and said, ‘It’s for the Pope.’ I was like, ‘Sorry? Who?’ He (repeated himself): ‘For the Pope',” Muthiah recalled.

Pope Francis will be in the city-state from Sep 11 to 13, in the last leg of his 12-day four-nation Asia-Pacific tour to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore. It is his longest trip away from the Vatican since he became head of the worldwide Catholic Church in 2013.

In Singapore, the 87-year-old Pope's itinerary includes meeting President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, presiding over mass at the National Stadium, and holding an interreligious dialogue session with youth at Catholic Junior College.

The chairs will be used during the interreligious dialogue. So, it is perhaps fitting that Muthiah, a practising Hindu, approached temples and mosques that had just undergone renovation for leftover lumber he could repurpose.

Muthiah said when he eventually put pencil to paper, he wanted the final design to be “very vintage”, inspired by furniture from the 18th century. A "normal chair" was a no-go.

The headboard of one chair was inspired by the distinctive frontage of the old Novena Church here, also known as Church of St Alphonsus. The base of the other chair was inspired by the facade of Basilica of San José de Flores, a catholic church located in Pope Francis’ birthplace of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This chair also has a B-shaped armrest – an homage to Pope Francis’ family name, Bergoglio.

And while Pope Francis has a tight schedule, Muthiah is keeping his fingers crossed that he gets to meet the man himself. He said should he get the chance, he plans to present the Pope with a miniature model of the chair.