A conscious artist

Representational pic

Documentary photographer Ayan Biswas lives and teaches in Ladakh. In the villages of Turtuk, Dah and the Suru Valley, he teaches children to recycle plastic and glass bottles into solar lights and paint over them, and use oil pastel colours for shading. His idea of mixed media art techniques include finding cheaper ways of decoupage and making people aware of renewable energy for everyday life. The aim, he feels, is to work in remote areas and help people understand these different kinds of mixed media art and in turn, help recycle plastic. He has also collaborated with PAGIR, an organisation in Ladakh, which helps in creating socially responsible employments and income-generation for differently-abled persons.
@artinhills, Instagram

From EP to e-book

Chirag Todi

Ahmedabad-based songwriter, composer, guitarist and founding member of band Heat Sink, Chirag Todi, who has worked with maestros like AR Rahman and Clinton Cerejo, released his debut EP Panodrama in August. He has now come out with a cumulative e-book, Panodrama: A visual journey through the making of the EP, with all his songs as he feels "the messaging gets lost on social media." The e-book includes song lyrics, collaborations, song links, details of the process and experience behind each song and what they mean. E-merchandise with minimal investment appealed to Todi. "We have to find innovative ways to monetise things," he says, while admitting that he has also always wanted to write a book. The e-book is priced at Rs 150.
chiragtodi.com

Flaunt your bra straps!

Sneha Prabeen

Calicut-based Sneha Prabeen has always loved the texture and colours of beads and started making jewellery out of them in 2012. Two years later, after completing her post-graduation in HR and Marketing, she started Yuvanta, which offers beaded jewellery and bookmarks. Their most popular product, however, are their beaded bra straps. The transparent plastic straps which most women have worn are an eyesore for Prabeen.

So after a lot of trial and error and around six to seven prototypes, she came up with her unique, handcrafted beaded bra straps. "People had a certain kind of emotion attached to the product because in India, most women have gone through a stage where they were told to hide their bra straps," she says. With her product, Prabeen aims to normalise the idea of showing bra straps while adding a fashion element to them. She offers customisation and also has traditional designs as part of her bridal collection. Her beaded bra straps start at Rs 399.
yuvanta.com

God's own bookmarks

Bindu Nair

Started by 41-year-old Bindu Nair, in Palakkad, Kerala, Ela is a label that has been promoting sustainable fashion since 2018. The idea for launching Ela India coincided with Nair's personal desire to explore an alternative to big city living, a decision she made in mid-2017 when she chose to quit her job as a journalist and move out of Mumbai. "I'd always been fascinated by the idea of building something of value from a small town.

As a Malayalee who had grown up outside Kerala, I felt like this was a homecoming of sorts," she says. Ela's primary collection consists of ready-to-wear separates made of handloom cotton. They source their fabric from weaver collectives in Telangana, Maheshwar and Kerala. Ela has also launched a collection of Kerala-themed bookmarks. "I illustrate on the side and have created most of the illustrations for the packaging. I was fascinated by the banana leaf [Vaazha ela in Malayalam] as a starting point to explore what Ela was all about." They have also played on two common colloquial Malayalam expressions - Oh Pinne (meaning as if) is an expression mostly used by Malayalee mothers while arguing, while Onnu Podo is a rather polite way of saying "get lost!" in Malayalam.
elalabel.com

What does baking and paintmaking have in common?

Bengaluru-based Tanya Patil came across a community that discusses watercolours on Instagram and soon decided to try her hand at making some from Holi colours. On her Instagram, Patil talks about raw materials, atmospheric factors, tools, and making vegan colours, and conducts real-time experiments with shades to encourage more artists towards paintmaking. She sells small batches of handmade soaps and candles and has recently introduced a Nostalgia Palette, her first proper set of artist-grade watercolours with earthy and sensory tones.

Patil holds a diploma in Patisserie from Lavonne Academy of Pastry Arts and Baking Science, and finds similarities between baking and paint making. "From the tools used to the processes and the precision, innovation and documentation required in both fields, I saw a lot of overlap. In olden times artists made their own paint for their artwork and people baked their own bread at home, so it feels like going back to a more traditional pre-industrialisation way of doing things. Plus, they're both messy endeavours and I love them."
tanyapatil108.stores.instamojo.com