You got served

The traditional handi just got a quirky new twist

In 2013, two young graphic design students from Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune, decided to celebrate their graduation by exploring the landscape of Ladakh. During the trip, they were enamoured by the beautiful metal cups in which the local people served traditional butter tea.

"We wanted to buy the cups, but couldn't find them anywhere," says Surkhi Matharu. She and her friend, Malika Budhiraj, soon realised that the traditional serving ware, unique to diverse cultures across India, was slowly dying out. A year later, they set up Baarique with the aim to revive the time-honoured dining ware, but with modern aesthetics.

Vibrant peacocks, kettuvallams floating languorously in the Kerala backwaters, the majestic palaces of Rajasthan, age-old folk tales, all come to life on shot glasses, platters, mugs, bowls and a host of other serving and tableware crafted from copper, kansa and brass. "We mostly customise the ware, but since we started retailing on Jaypore, we have started doing small collections as well," says Matharu, 26.

The utensils are specially created by traditional metalsmiths and then handpainted by Rajasthani artists based on the duo's designs. "Kansa utensils come from Sirohi, copper ones from Pune and the rest from Yamunanagar," she says. The painting workshop is in Udaipur, Matharu's hometown, where artists specialising in miniature painting work on the designs. "It's a perfect match as our artwork is intricate and fine, hence the name Baarique," says Matharu. These handpainted utensils then make their way to Delhi where the artwork gets a transparent lacquer coating to make it food-safe and for longevity.

Today, Baarique products can be found on the tables of fine-dine restaurants. The Bombay Canteen was its first customer. "The team there experiments a lot and that gives ample scope to our creativity as well," says Matharu. At the restaurant, you will find a kutchi dabeli, bada pao sandwich served in a platter with exquisite lotuses painted on it or a chatpati karari gobhi coming in a plate adorned with intricately-drawn birds.

The reason the restaurant gravitated towards Baarique is because at heart their ethos is the same - old meets new. "What Baarique is doing with tableware is exactly what we are doing with food and drink," says Sameer Seth, co-founder, The Bombay Canteen. Baarique customised a set of small plates, platters and bowls for the restaurant.

Blue kansa bowls (price on request, customised order); brass lota with lid and lotus motifs (price on request, customised order)

"Our signature dish is the punch, which not many are aware originated in India. Baarique created small handis with 'punch' written on them in Devanagari," he says.

For Zorawar Kalra's Made in Punjab, in Cyber Hub, Gurgaon, Matharu and Budhiraj created a Punjab-inspired set, complete with motifs of pagdis, jootis and phulkari. Similarly, for Indian Street Food Co, a restaurant in Toronto focusing on Indian and West Asian flavours, the duo did bowls and big handis adorned with elephants and faces with big nose rings.

Malika Budhiraj (left) and Surkhi Matharu

In July, this year, when celebrity pastry chef Pooja Dhingra organised a charity food event inspired by Japanese flavours, the two worked on designs featuring the sakura blossom.

Baarique is now in demand for customised gifts. It recently created a Kerala-inspired set as a wedding gift. "Someone else asked us to do a set around a yellow tree. The themes are theirs but the designs are ours," says Matharu.

The existing online collection starts at around Rs 1,400 for a brass plate with basic artwork. But when it comes to customisation, "the cost depends on the theme, artwork, budget and the time required to create the piece," says Matharu. The starting price for a small set of two glasses and a tray, for example, is Rs 10,000.