Lockwood de Forest, a landscape painter and designer with an early interest in India and the Middle East, introduced Indian aesthetics to the United States in the late nineteenth century. During his honeymoon in India, de Forest met Muggeunbhai Hutheesing. Together, they opened the Ahmedabad Woodcarving Company, which produced Indian architectural elements, furniture, and jewelry. De Forest decorated both his showroom and personal home in New York City with intricate teak designs inspired by his travels.