Podushka Chetki - Wood Editions

Posushka Chetki - Wood Editions

Delving deeper into a hobby often means exploring the roots, and thereby gaining a deep appreciation for traditional forms. Our Podushka chetki exemplify this, with design cues taken from traditional Eastern European chetki. The Pudushka chetki feature rounder, chunkier feeling beads compared to our sportier Remeshoks. The name translates to “pillow” in reference to the comfortably rounded plumpness of the bead shape. The character of this design is similar in spirit to our tradcore begleri series. They have a much more traditional look and feel than our other models, and while they are not as nimble as more contemporary designs, they pay homage to the roots and will give players a chance to appreciate the features that have made chetki a daily companion for so many across Eastern Europe over the years. And as we do, we've put our own special touches into the design, making it recognizably Aroundsquare, while still channeling some traditional design language.

This design, in fact, was purpose built for a handmade manufacturing process. Most of our products are produced by precision CNC machining, with the results being highly uniform. For this project, we wanted to return to a more manual approach that would both honour the traditional roots of the craft, while at the same time highlighting the organic beauty of the natural materials we're using. We have always had a deep respect and appreciation for genuine hand-work, and we took opportunity to design a thicker and more forgiving shape that would embrace the slight irregularities that occur during hand work. The results are beautiful, and the slight differences in the individual beads fits very nicely with the natural grain and feel of the material. 

The beads themselves are generously rounded for easy movement and high comfort during play, including bead counting. In addition, we've sized up the thickness of the lengthy end beads a little bit in order to give them a bit more heft, and a bit more "catch" on the fingers, in order to keep them anchored in the hand during play. And of course, with longevity and easy maintenance in mind, we've strung these up on our 1.2mm kevlar cord.

Green Sandlewood

The green sandalwood edition of the Podushkas has pronounced grain patterns and colour variation, with zig zagging grain along the middle pieces. The weight of a set of green sandlewood Podushka Chetki is around 30.9g.

NOTE: Other models of Podushka (black and white ebony, and sheep horn) featured in this month's drop preview video are not quite ready, but should be ready in time for next month's product launch. 

Details: 

• Material: 
  • Green Sandlewood (~30.9g)
    
• Components:
  • 13x middle stripe beads; 2x end plates
  • strung up on 1.2mm Kevlar Cord

Our August 2024 Launch Preview video below dives deep on these guys, and provides some ideas for the types of usage and manipulations possible with them