Kunemechi A Home Carved in Ancestry
“Kunemechi” is the story of the relationship between people and the space they call home. It captures how a structure made with patience and craftsmanship becomes the most enduring heirloom a family can pass down, a living archive built log by log, carrying memories forward long after the hands that shaped it are gone.
Deep inside Dimapur, surrounded by hills, Phesao began building a house with nothing but his hands, his tools, and a lifetime of inherited and acquired skills. For him, a true home is not defined by walls alone, but by the love and truth with which it is made and it belongs to those who live with kindness.
Wood carving had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember, passed down through his tribe. Over time, it grew from inheritance into passion. He knew this was his calling, and that instinct led him beyond tradition and into formal training at the JJ School of Arts to train his hands and to open his mind. Formal education only strengthened his commitment to his art.
Traditional Nagamese construction values clarity and strength, clean lines, and natural textures. Phesao’s house carries these principles with confidence. It reflects a community that builds not only for the present, but with an understanding of what will remain long after them.
His children have grown up observing their father’s hands at work, learning rhythm, discipline, and respect for material. Stories are shared at the centre of the home; old songs drift through its rooms. But most importantly, Phesao has passed his knowledge on to his children. He has been teaching them not just technique, but also responsibility, to work with patience, and to create with care. Objects may be lost, broken, or forgotten. But a home built with care holds everything – the past, the present, and the future waiting quietly within its timber. For Phesao’s family, this house is their inheritance, their identity, and a living record of a craft, a calling, and a promise passed down through generations.