 "The jhoola bed from PINAKIN")
THE CRAFTS CUSTODIAN
A dusty service lane in Old Ishwar Nagar, just past New Friends Colony in south Delhi, leads you to the Stainless Gallery where Filo is hosting its maiden design symposium. At this craft studio, skilled artisans from Bulandshahr, parts of Rajasthan, Visakhapatnam and Agra have been working on bespoke furniture for the past 25 years. Some of their products adorn the luxurious spaces of Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad and Umaid Bhawan in Jodhpur. And yet, one hasn't heard much about Filo or its skilled craftsmen. "We were around. We just never told you," laughs Natasha Kohli, founder of Filo who prefers to call herself a crafts custodian. "While we are well known to our patrons, I think it was about time that we exposed our work to the world."
As one walks around the gallery, "The Accidental Skyline" catches the eye. Very fine wood pieces with vibrant colours have been fused together in hairline joints to create the New York skyline. "It is a fine example of English marquetry. We call it 'accidental' as New York was never supposed to look this way," she says. It was a challenge to get the proportions and dimensions right and then miniaturised them to create this work. Eight to 12 months were spent, from ideation to the final finish, for the completing the work. While "The Accidental Skyline" was a private commission for a wall of a study, there are other works, among the 104 masterpieces on show, that have been made especially for the exhibition.
The idea behind Filo is also to do away with the fear of machines in craftsmen. "We can't let the crafts die. I tell the craftsmen that the machines are there only to assist them. They can't replace you. They are just like your other auzaar (tools), the only difference is that they work on electricity," she says.
Another stunning piece of art is the "Ziya Ratsi" from the Caliph series that has a scaled-down version of a monument and is beautifully mounted on a desk. "It has been influenced heavily by architecture in Kashmir. The Ziya Ratsi used to be home to Sufi saints where they would meditate and then die. It is a perfect example of the fact that design can be opulent and yet simple," says Kohli who sources wood veneers from across the world. Some extremely rare veneers, like smoked eucalyptus and ash latte, have been used in Filo's furniture art. The craftsmen are extremely adaptable to change and love to experiment with new veneers and timbers, Kohli says
"Whirling Dervishes" is another striking example of furniture art. The figurines are covered in platinum leaf, while the table has been crafted from Persian walnut. "Babuddin, our master carver, has brought in his philosophical influences in the figurines. The masculine and the feminine have the same form. Maybe I should elevate him to Ustad Babuddin now," laughs Kohli who got the idea of starting Filo in 1990-91 when she was on a hunt for tasteful, well-crafted furniture. Then there is the Plutocrat that shows different kinds of origami, fretwork and marquetry. Each piece shows a special skill, a special traditional technique. Kohli's dream is to start a crafts village where these centuries-old skills can be conserved and sustained.
Art Furniture will be on display at the Stainless Gallery, Old Ishwar Nagar, New Delhi, till April 19
It is with good reason that Lekha Washington calls her brand AJJI the Odd Product Company. An embroidered chair that drops down from the ceiling, a flexible bent light - essentially, a wire, a bulb and plug - that can be positioned any which way you like, a helium and light balloon sculpture, Mumbai-based Washington has been having lots of fun playing with form, materials and ergonomics. A self-taught sculptor, actor and innovator, she believes that a product worth making is not merely decoration of an old concept but an original approach to a situation.
"For instance, the Dot and Drop stem from ideas of creating something that seems impossible to sit on. Who could imagine sitting on a chair that is set in a wall?" she laughs. These days, she is busy creating the ATOM collection, which is essentially soft cubes that stick to one another and can be modified by the user to make any kind of furniture, be it an arm chair, a bed or even a side table. "I am big on user interaction as I believe that our users are intelligent, creative people who like being inspired," she says.
A UNIQUE COLLABORATION
Culture is a distinguishing factor at Wrap, spearheaded by Gunjan Gupta, which specialises in product, interior, event and retail design. The team works with India's unique material palette and heritage of skilled craftsmen. Gupta, who has exhibited at Sotheby's in London, collaborated in special commissions with Droog Design in Amsterdam and curated the India design exhibition at the Experimenta Design Biennale in Lisbon, is exploring the potential of luxury handcraft.
Her sprawling studio in Mehrauli is populated with both the quaint and the classic. For instance, there is the Bicyle Throne, a chair made of assorted bicycle parts. Also impressive is the Bori Chair, which has been inspired by Indian bicycle vendors. Wrap counts Angad Paul, Ted Turner, Lekha Poddar, Frank Cohen, Amanda Gidney, Hari Bhartia, Priya Paul and Feroze Gujral among its collectors. For Gupta, the beauty of intangible meanings present in our history holds great value and she tries to imbue this in her products and spaces. She collaborates not just with a vast network of traditional artisans but also with established and emerging contemporary artists, leading architects, graphic designers and international galleries to create the final product.
SO, WHAT IS FURNITURE ART?
It's a question that confuses many. When does it stop being simply furniture and start being an artwork? Filo's Kohli believes that like in any other form of art, this too is a form of free expression, the only difference being that the language here is not expressed through pastels or water colour but through furniture. Pallavi Choksi, partner with PINAKIN Design LLP, a firm that is known globally for its interior design and accessories, believes that luxury furniture art started off as a modernist obsession to elevate industrial design to an art form, which makes it purely a form of self-expression of the artist. "It's more fluid, more organic and a sculptural transformation of everyday furniture - an interplay of design and art. It is more of a mediator between the functional object and its habitable space," says Choksi. As with any other style of furniture, the main considerations when choosing furniture art are quality and ergonomics.
