At their creative best

The refreshing thing was that they were not so keen on selling their pieces but using them a means to explore their creative side and work with mediums like  paper in different forms and techniques.

Abhimanyu Nohwar, a product designer from NID, Ahmedabad has worked in various industries ranging from aeronautical equipment and automobile design to software and interaction design and has now set up his own design studio in Delhi. “I work with local craft talent to aid in promotion and livelihood development whenever possible and a particular project on the Rajpath lawns near India Gate, in 2007 especially inspired me,” he says. Abhimanyu has created light installations that were made from paper, bamboo and fabric and through the clever use of design and lighting techniques manages to convey an effect that is funky and original. An amardillo like structure in sunflower yellow, an elephant made of multi-coloured panels reflecting a stained glass effect, rows of blue shark like teeth emerging out of a whitewashed wall. “I do this because I enjoy working with a medium that looks so deceptively fragile and yet can withstand a surprising amount of wear and tear. It is versatile and eco-friendly adapting itself nicely to a creative flow of ideas,” he adds.

Shankar Chandra, cinematographer, producer and photographer likes to express himself in clay, paper, canvas, photography and film. His minimalist pieces of art installation and still life photographs were a comment on the objectification of the female form. “The free standing, headless busts clad in silver represent the way sex is used to sell anything without reason or logic. Bootylicious, a word favoured by most print media publications is used freely to describe any woman whether she is a visiting dignitary or a catwalk model,” he says.

Sharwari Tilloo’s Papier mâché sculptures could be described as funky, interesting and even downright weird but not boring or banal. Essentially made from cut up pieces of paper, soaked in water and mixed together with some glue to make a pulp, she has old newspapers and used glass bottles to make faces and forms that are distinct in character and shape. Shivaram Narayanan, the youngest of the group has developed his childhood fascination for ‘Origami’, the Japanese Art of Paper-folding into an adult art form. He created a whole series on swans from tiny ones, a couple of centimetres long, to large ones with their wings and feathers meticulously folded and shaped.  “Origami is highly scientific in its principles and one can virtually create anything through it with a bit of imagination,” he says.