CHENNAI: India has a variety of art, architecture, colours and cultures. Havelis and Jharokas in Rajasthan, the Theyyam and Kathakali of Kerala, gopurams and sculptures of Tamil Nadu — we’ve seen them all in photographs and if we’re lucky, in person too! But have you ever worn them?
A quintessential Shekawati painting around your neck, a Theyyam dancer on your fingers and a temple sculpture hanging from your ears — art that you can wear is Razia Kunj’s beautiful and unique creation. “What I do is condensing the essence of our art and culture into the small frame of a wearable accessory,” she says, speaking from her studio in Mumbai, ahead of her exhibition in Chennai this Friday.
The birth story of such a simple yet stunning idea has a similarly simple beginning. “My six-year-old daughter had a dandiya dance to attend — and in the last minute, we couldn’t find jewellery for her. I just picked up a few pieces of wood the carpenters had left over, filed and coloured it, attached a few sequins from my craft cupboard — and she liked it!” Razia recalls.
But that was over 10 years ago. While cleaning up the cupboards two years back, Razia found the piece, rediscovering a part of herself who loved creating things. “I remembered the sheer happiness I felt while making the piece — and thought I should do more of this,” she says, admitting she was a tad bored as an advertising professional, which she says was like “creating something to meet another person’s requirements”.
Creating a few pieces and setting up an exhibition in early 2015, Razia tested out the jewellery design market. Her works were called ‘unique’, ‘stunning’ and ‘beautiful’ — and thus was born Arts and Facts.
For the collection, she collects seeds, leaves, memories, and frames, wandering around India. Seated in her studio, sometimes till midnight, she sketches away, making several prototypes. Her first collection, ‘Theyyam’ was inspired by the traditional dance form of Kerala. “I was so mesmerised by the dance form, and I realised that many people don’t know much about it and I wanted to rectify that!” she says. “I could have gone on and on with this collection. There are over 108 varieties of Theyyam, and I could only capture a few.”
Her temple collection is a ‘Jugalbandi of gods and temples’, the Jharokha collection is inspired from Rajasthani portal art around doors and windows, and the Deviya collection is a highly stylized, graphic portrayal of feminity. “Each collection took me around five months from research to prototyping and final production,” Razia shares.
Necklaces, earrings, rings and bangles — each piece is hand painted, crafted on layered wood and embellished with gold finish brass and silver foiled crystals. Strung together by glass beads by the traditional community of Patwas, every piece in Razia Kunj’s collection is a heady celebration of art.
Not officially learning the art of jewellery making is both an advantage and disadvantage, she notes. “I was able to do whatever I wanted to with no restrictions and learn every day! I’m not a conventional jewellery designer,” she smiles.
What are her future projects? “I’m planning to incorporate metals in my work. My next collection will debut in February,” she shares.This time in the city, she will also be showing her Chennai-inspired temple collection. “The malli poo and the temple gopuarms inspired me,” she smiles.