A conscious artist

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 incomegeneration for differentlyabled personsartinhills InstagramFrom EP to ebookChirag TodiAhmedabadbased 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 ebook Panodrama A visual journey through the making of the EP with all his songs as he feels ldquothe messaging gets lost on social mediardquo The ebook includes song lyrics collaborations song links details of the process and experience behind each song and what they mean Emerchandise with minimal investment appealed to Todi ldquoWe have to find innovative ways to monetise thingsrdquo he says while admitting that he has also always wanted to write a book The ebook is priced at Rs 150chiragtodicomFlaunt your bra strapsSneha PrabeenCalicutbased 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 postgraduation 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 PrabeenSo after a lot of trial and error and around six to seven prototypes she came up with her unique handcrafted beaded bra straps ldquoPeople 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 strapsrdquo 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 399yuvantacomGodrsquos own bookmarksBindu NairStarted by 41yearold 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 Nairrsquos personal desire to explore an alternative to big city living a decision she made in mid2017 when she chose to quit her job as a journalist and move out of Mumbai ldquoIrsquod always been fascinated by the idea of building something of value from a small townAs a Malayalee who had grown up outside Kerala I felt like this was a homecoming of sortsrdquo she says Elarsquos primary collection consists of readytowear separates made of handloom cotton They source their fabric from weaver collectives in Telangana Maheshwar and Kerala Ela has also launched a collection of Keralathemed bookmarks ldquoI 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 aboutrdquo They have also played on two common colloquial Malayalam expressionsmdashOh Pinne meaning as if is an expression mostly used by Malayalee mothers while arguing while Onnu Podo is a rather polite way of saying ldquoget lostrdquo in MalayalamelalabelcomWhat does baking and paintmaking have in commonBengalurubased 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 realtime 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 artistgrade watercolours with earthy and sensory tonesPatil holds a diploma in Patisserie from Lavonne Academy of Pastry Arts and Baking Science and finds similarities between baking and paint making ldquoFrom 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 preindustrialisation way of doing things Plus theyrsquore both messy endeavours and I love themrdquotanyapatil108storesinstamojocom