Accessorising your home with wrought iron
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A sprig of flowers, potholders, or towel holders, Surekha Sekhar turns them into elegant works of art, discovers PANKAJA SRINIVASAN
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PHOTOS: K. ANANTHAN
PLAN REDEFINED: From towel rings and rods, cheery red spoon stands to furniture and murals, every piece is an imaginative work of art.
WROUGHT IRON — "Oh you mean the garden furniture stuff!" That is the usual response. Forgivable, considering one sees them in plenty all around.
Wrought iron dining tables, chairs, centre tables and shelves and cots are not hard to come by. And if `exclusive' is the label you are looking for to describe your style, may be wrought iron is not what you would want.
However, there is a person in Coimbatore who has brought her artistic talent to use and she fashions pieces out of wrought iron that could well be the conversation piece of the next party you host.
Surekha Sekhar got fed up with the sort of mass made, ugly, badly finished wrought iron furniture that was being sold. At a loose end after having given up a garment export business, she decided that she would give wrought iron a fighting chance by designing something different.
And she did that right at home under a tree with the help of two fabricators, Rajesh and Babu. She would draw her creations to scale on paper, cut them out, fold them and show them to her team, and they would reproduce them with the metal. She started with candle stands, bookends, and curtain rods and gradually progressed to bathroom fittings, kitchen accessories, furniture and murals. Today, Ms. Surekha's creations have added elegance and style to homes and boutiques in several cities.
Says a city interior decorator, Ms. Sriddha: "My clients often want something different and exclusive for their homes and I can always count on Surekha to supply me with something original. Say I am designing a bathroom for kids, Surekha sketches her ideas and shows them to me. I explain them to my clients and once they clear it, she goes ahead and makes the fittings."
Ms. Surekha specialises in unusual bathroom mirror frames and matching accessories such as wall brackets for glass shelves to keep the soaps and shampoos, towel rings and towel rods. "I find out what colours are being used in the room, and I design accordingly. Bathroom fittings come anything upward of Rs. 3,000, depending on the design, size, colour, etc.," she says.
What about the rust factor? There have been instances where wrought iron fittings in bathrooms have disintegrated into rust. "That happens when the metal has not been treated properly or has been hand-painted. My creations are always processed and cleaned thoroughly with chemical baths before work is done on it. They are vapour cured and powder coated. That prevents rusting," explains Ms. Surekha. She, however, adds that it would help wipe dry the bathroom fittings if they get too wet. She also makes attractive centre tables with the granite left over from the counter tops in the bathrooms. "The granite piece cut out of the counter top to fit in the sink is perfect for coffee tables," she says.
A couple of kitchen accessories can make all the difference between a run-of-the-mill kitchen and one that is stylish without being unusable. Spoon stands shaped such as forks, knives and spoons, mug stands, plate holders and, of course, brackets for shelves all painted in cheery reds or any other colour you may want, can spice up the cooking area. Ms. Surekha admits that her pieces may be more expensive than what you get, say in Delhi. "That is because each piece of mine is handcrafted." And custom made. Ms. Sriddha echoes this. She gives an example of a bunch of flowers Ms. Surekha made for one of her clients. "The client was taken aback at the cost and thought it was too much and she told me so. But, when her friends began asking her where she got them from and that they wanted some too, she realised that they were worth the money she had paid," she recalls.
In fact, Ms. Surekha enjoys making these works of art. She recently designed a mural with a combination of MS sheet, brass and copper. The mural had a hazy backdrop with a sun made of brass and a Vilvam tree made of copper with brass peacocks on its branches. Some Warli figures nearby do the Suryanamaskaaram.
If you have a design in mind, chances are Ms. Surekha can execute it. You can contact her at 93631 48183. If you want help with ideas, interior decorator Ms. Sriddha is available at 98943 40169.
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