‘Small is beautiful’ and it is in sync with nature at the ‘Artisans Fair’, where a variety of products celebrate clay, fibre, wood, palm leaf, sea shell, seed, marble, metal and more.
The charm of miniaturised craft can be seen in Manas Sharma’s exquisitely detailed panchaloka gods and goddesses; in Munna’s brilliantly coloured clay jewellery, Vishnu Prasad Mishra’s miniature palm leaf items and Arumugam’s tiny clay deepams. Perfect gifts for Christmas and New Year. The tiny polished Etikopakka birds and Kondapalli mobiles can be used to dress up Christmas trees.
Creativity seems to be the driving force here. Sridhar Babu’s line of colourful seed jewellery is a case in point. Holding up an orange neckpiece strung up with beads, which mimic corals, he says “All my jewellery are made from botanical seeds”.
How did he get this unusual idea? “From a friend who makes dry flowers. In fact he helped me make pendants of paddy, which are popular. I get the seeds from a seed export company and from tribals.
His collection comprises lovely earrings, floral pendants of paddy, Acacia auriculiformis, ‘kasturi vendai’ chains and so on. “Every colour is natural to the seed, we do not colour them,” says the artisan.
The tiny panchaloka figurines of deities include one inch Ganeshas in his many avatars, Lakshmi, Parvati, Radhakrishna and Gopala Krishna.
Arumugam is a sculptor and potter from Puducherry, whose natural, red-tinged yellow clay masks, lamps and cutwork vases compel attention. His Radha-Krishna seated on a jhula, which has a lyrical peacock seat is a beauty. Part of the collection are his 6” Lakshmi and Saraswati and Rama-Sita-Lakshman tableau in white clay.
Marble artefacts inlaid with turquoise, malachite coral and lapis lazuli bring a whiff of Agra’s famous work of stone inlay on marble, Abdul being the artisan.
Sculptor M. Raju showcases art on canvas with gesso work done by hand and painted in mellow gold. The two-headed peacock with its plumage spread out is the highlight. Equally striking is Vishnu Prasad Mishra’s elephant in blue. ‘Artisans Fair’ is on at Sri Sankara Hall , TTK Road till November 22.