D E S I G N D I A L O G U E S - I
We at OTDB have been featuring works of designers and entrepreneurs on our blog. To take this association a step further, we are starting a new column - 'Design Dialogues'. This is a platform through which we bring you up close and personal with Designers.
Our aim is to introduce design ideologies, what shapes them and how they influence design thoughts. We also hope that such interactions will inspire the reader to give wings to dreams long forgotten...
J A P N E E T K E I T H, R E D M U G
in conversation with Hina Nitesh
'Pottery is a LANGUAGE.
A language that you not only speak with the material but one you take yourself through a journey with. As you learn to be with clay there is a bit of magic in that interaction.'
On becoming a potter
During my graduation days I was a student of sculpture. Ceramic and glass were my specialization materials at NID. I always had a vision to have my own studio. After working with ADIPA, Pune I knew for sure I had to be back in Chandigarh and have a set up there.
Being
on your own brings with it a certain set of challenges; the prime one being
sustenance. I started as a glass designer. It was around 2007 that the
market was being stocked with Chinese glass platters which were being sold for as
less as Rs 200. I had no way to sustain the studio and thus ceramics gradually entered
into my working.
It is not only pottery that attracted me it was the joy to work
with ceramics. The material is much more technical and challenging especially
while one is trying to establish a studio. So
while I worked with ceramics doing tiles… I gifted myself a pottery wheel from
the money I earned from a workshop. And soon I was building my studio in bits
and pieces from income generated through the work I did at the studio.
“Customise”
for the joy/need of others/clients was always my intention. With people
asking what they desired the gradual inflow of people to learn pottery
increased. That’s how I realized my passion with clay.
On working with clay
Not
only while I work on the pottery wheel but the moment I start kneading clay I
know what is the inert desire of the material. Sometimes its slab work and
sometimes its coiling. When my hearts had had enough of imprints on clay
I switch to the pottery wheel which helps me make bowls to jars to utility ware
- customizing some of my thoughts.
Pottery
is a language that builds within you a certain connection. And perhaps I have
been unfolding its essence while designing, creating, throwing, glazing, doing
the kilns and finally placing a product that someone finds a connection to.
On setting up RED MUG
RED
MUG came about being in 2012 when my husband asked me to create a
brand name. I started the studio in 2007 after NID, but I worked as an
independent designer- perhaps the all in one employee. As an industrial
designer I always believed in team work. The inter-dependence among a team is
something that I value the most. RED MUG came into being as a space where each
one prospers, where the passion for design and material is not only through me
but is a connection through various resources pooled in together.
My studio is
open to people from any field or any part of the world who shares the same
passion for clay. Recently I had Gary Hambleton from W.Australia for almost 4
months who did some amazing porcelain products at the studio. RED MUG is an extension of my feelings to share and nurture in a
very conscious manner.
On the design process
There
is a thought and that thought is put through numerous visualization. Some are
rendered in my mind and some are rendered while I sketch or do my doodles. I am
also reminded of what my faculty at NID. Ms Neelima Hasija used to say. As any
student I was struggling through the transition from an artist to a designer. She
said, “ Today this design process feels like a task…. tomorrow it will be a
part of you and your design thinking. Go watch a movie or have a tea and then
get back to writing the design brief”
So while I work with clay I do let the
material do its own creative work with my fingers but at the same time the
Being in me is in constant conversation to achieve that refined form that my
senses appreciate and my client needs.
On what inspires her
The earth inspires me the most. My connection to – The Earth. And through that it comes to the various textures I find in my environment. From the deep veins on a frangipani leaf to the form of lotus.
My latest work Dhvani is art
through a narrative where the artist and the observer are bound together within
the magic of a story. When we set out to create a new kind of art which
captures the vibrancy of India, we turned to the most elemental substance,
terracotta- the sacred mud formed from all five elements - earth, water, fire,
air and ether.
In Dhvani, we wanted to arrest motion, which is life itself, and
hold it so fixed that later when you, the observer, look at it, it starts
moving again since it’s life. And out of this sacred mud, emerges the lotus. It
has a vibrant core that opens up when connected. You have to be silent and
listen closely to hear the sound of this ghungroo as the beauty here is
entwined with a story. It’s silence is more musical than any song. Listen with
your soul.
On balancing functionality and creativity
When a product at studio Red Mug is designed as a customised object it finds its own set of rules. For some it’s the bowl/ tea cup for everyday use with functionality and for some it’s the attraction for the glazes/ textures to go for tiles or wall pieces for being creative artifacts in their spaces.
For me
the happiness and balance is when one finds the product from our studio shelves
as to what they have been looking for.
Text & creative layout copyrights: On the Design Boat
Images copyright: Japneet Keith, RedMug
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