In the high valleys of Kafiristan, before the 1896 conversion, anonymous Kafir master carvers covered deodar-cedar columns, doors, and granary chests in deep-relief rosettes, solar discs, chevrons, and ibex-head finials. The wood was never painted — its only color is the warm brown patina of smoke-darkened cedar, with worn highlights catching the raised carving and near-black shadow pooling in the recesses.

This system translates that monochrome woodcraft into a dark, tactile interface: a smoke-aged cedar ground, mid-brown carved surfaces, and chiseled raised-panel borders that read as door and chest frames — depth and grain instead of pigment and gloss.