A blooming idea

A nine-to-five job never appealed to Akanksha Joshi, she knew she wanted to do something different. She wanted to work on something that she was passionate about. “I didn’t like the idea of a regular job as we are a nuclear family and being there for my kids was important,” she says.

Crafting is something that came to her naturally — ever since she was a child, she has been interested in the arts. Something that started as a hobby soon, turned into a full time career for the budding entrepreneur. ‘Two Little Blossoms’ was started two years back and since then, she has tried her hands at various crafting and art techniques.

“Initially, I used to work on upcycling and recycling. It wasn’t a conscious decision to craft although I’ve always enjoyed it, I just wanted to use some material that I had lying around at home.” She began making hair accessories out of old cloth and upcycled used jars and bottles to make lamps.

Intricate designs and colourful patterns primarily make her collection. Along with crafting, Akanksha also took a liking to painting portraits, something she wasn’t very confident of. A self-taught artist, she credits the internet for giving her the right tutelage. “I never had time for classes because I had kids running about the house,” she explains.

At the moment, her portraits are in high demand although she has no formal training in it. “People are very encouraging and they love what I do. Portraits take time to make and I have orders pending, but people really appreciate the work done.” She also hopes to teach her children some techniques as it has enriched her life.

After recycled art, she moved on to techniques like decoupage, crochet, jewellery making and more.

Her decoupage art is a bit different from what you see everyday because, “Instead of tissue I use old cloth and crochet work. This isn’t a technique that is very popular yet.”
Talking about why she likes crafting, Akanksha says, “It’s an endless process. You can create anything from anything. There aren’t any hard and fast rules that you have to follow, so you can mix and match different materials and techniques to make something of your own. There isn’t a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ so you can be as imaginative as possible.”

   These endless possibilities keep her entangled in the process so she sees herself doing it for the rest of her life. With sufficient freedom to move and experiment, she doesn’t feel claustrophobic. And as she is a quick learner, she picks up new techniques with ease. “I love to learn and adapt to situations,” she explains.