artnlight

In these days of instant communication with whatsapp, skype, google duo and many such similar technologies that make our lives so much easier, we've all but forgotten the charms of receiving a handwritten postcard, from another state, from a different country, from a pen-pal, from a cousin, a friend, a lover, a parent. How we waited for the postman and how much excitement an inland or a handwritten letter brought. I remember when I was studying here in Bombay, during my school and college days, I used to write to my family almost everyday, little anecdotes, what happened in class, what the teacher said, my latest sketch or skit, the idiosyncrasies of a close friend, everything described vividly, and at the end of the week, I would staple it all and mail it to my family. I imagined them laughing over it. I come from a generation when I was given a small amount of pocket money and an std call across states was not something to be indulged in daily. So after a week of posting my latest "mini book" the next call was about cracking up about the written letter and its contents. Always with one eye on the little meter in the booth that told you how much your call is costing you.

This design is dedicated to all those letters and postcards and slow mail which we lovingly wrote to our loved ones. It is dedicated to all those letters that will remain unwritten, it is dedicated to the act of handwriting and to the craft of writing, it is dedicated to the lovers of long hand and old school and fountain pens. It is dedicated to a time when communication merited the time and effort taken to write, then stamp and post, to the long lines in post offices, to the lost red postboxes.

Welcome to the Art&Light Post Card Crockery Series.

 Snack platters

 Dinner Plates

 Snack Platter

 Coffee Mugs, green tea mugs, whatever you choose to call it

For the longest time now there has been a silent love affair going on between me and ceramics. My work till date has been all about colour and design. I love chroma and maximalism and that has been my comfort zone in a way. While exploring executable possibilities of how i could extend Art&Light's range of products to include ceramics, it became clear early on, due to technicalities of the medium that I will need to think differently to work with ceramics. Simplicity in design and colour would be necessity. No layering, textures, all the things that I normally love would not work here. People who have been following my work might know of my love for typography. So got back to the drawing board and after many rounds of sampling between 2 states and improvisations,  here is the 1st  of the two designs. 

What I especially love about this series is that nothing is perfect. There are irregularities. Little specs scattered on the plates and crockery, not evenly.  The edge of the plate has an hand-drawn outline. It is irregular. Because the products are handmade - there are slight variations and imperfections piece to piece.

  "Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things." ~ Chaim Potok

 “It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.”

― Malcolm X

 

 "There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."~ Henry James

 ""There is no sincerer love than the love of food."~ George Bernard Shaw

I'm not hugely into ceramics. I just don't know enough. But this is the unadulterated kind of eyecandy I can't ignore. When i saw Liz Kinder's gorgeous creations on the very talented Diana Srinati Baur's blog, I knew I had to feature her here. I've seen studio pottery in dignified deep blues, sedate browns, and earthy greens, but I've never seen this kind of exuberance in ceramic. So brace yourself for a splash of glaze, grace and colour.

happy swirls mix purple and yellow