JOIN USHaving an interest in arts and crafts is usual. Having an interest in arts and crafts that runs in the family for over three generations is remarkable.
Remin Shamir says that she picked up her passion for creative activity from her mother and she is delighted that the bug seems to have bitten her daughter too.
“My mother had an inclination towards the world of crafts since early on and she used to make handpainted saris. Now my daughter is also a big crafter. I have started getting complaints from teachers that when they take classes, she is more interested in making some paper craft (laughs). So now I have to control that now.”
Remin came to Bengaluru after her marriage. She worked in a recruitment firm for some time but got bored of the monotonous work soon. During a maternity break and then afterwards, while working from home, she decided to pick up an old pastime from her school and college days.
“I started off with glass bottle art. We had huge bottles of olives at home since my husband loved olives and used to eat a lot at that time. I decorated these with sequins, plastic and satin work, hand painting and so on. Some of my friends who saw these loved them and got them for themselves as well as to gift others.”
“Then decided to try some new ideas. I used to go with my daughter for her bharathanatyam class. The academy wanted some unique gifts for some special performers. I agreed to do it and transformed normal glass bottles with painting and sequinned work. It was very personalised with the performer’s and academy’s name.”
Remin has come a long way after that and taught herself decoupage work, mostly by watching YouTube tutorials and videos.
“My favourite is a blue decoupage jewellery box with a ethnic Rajasthani motif. I had gifted it to one of my friends. As crafters, we would like to experiment with colours and designs but we have to keep in mind the wishes and desires of the person at the other end. But since this is my friend, I made it completely according to my choice. I knew she would like it. So I used my favourite colour - teal blue.”
She loves adding a personal touch to all her creations and confesses that her greatest happiness lies in watching the delighted reactions of people when they get these handcrafted treasures. A good sprinkling of this adoration can be seen online on her Facebook page ‘Color Genie’.
“The wooden jewellery boxes make for good gifts for women. I include a personalised message or their name with wooden alphabets inside and this absolutely thrills them.”
Raw materials are mostly sourced from ‘Itsy Bitsy’ though she admits that it is somewhat expensive to shop at on aregular basis. But a strong community of crafters in her area helps her out with recommendations too.
Asked about future plans, Remin says with a laugh, “I want people to think of me whenever they want to gift something to someone. It sounds really ambitious but there is no harm in dreaming.”
Rajitha Menon
(Remin can be contacted on remin_shamir@yahoo.co.in)