CHENNAI: We’ve all heard of the unique offshoot of art wherein people take useless scrap and create beautiful structures out of them, with materials from metals and plastics to wood and waste paper. Well, Suresh Pant fits right into that creative class of artisans, with his wooden creations starting out as driftwood or hewn logs in rivers and forests.
A driftwood artisan for the past 25 years, he has made a profession out of scouting for useless pieces of wood, using his mastery of wood carving and shaping to render them as exquisite tabletop decorations, home decor and more.
Hailing from Uttarakhand, Suresh picked up the uncanny knack from his uncle who used to shape pieces of wood for his home. “I learnt it from him and when I became good at it, I decided to follow it as a profession. I specifically search for the wood surrounding my home in my native state, later bringing them back to my workshop and working on them,” says Suresh, who has his own workshop in Delhi.
Suresh collects driftwood from rivers and lakes and uprooted logs in the forests of Uttarakhand. The wood mostly belongs to saal, sirsam and kher trees. “I do not cut down trees to make my creations. These are useless logs that have been uprooted or float on rivers. Once I source them, I polish and shape them depending on their size.”
Suresh says that the time-consuming part of the entire process is visualising what a block of wood can turn out to be. “I have to sit and think about what form I can shape it into. Once that comes to mind, it doesn’t take much time to carve the structure.”
He then shapes the wood using sandpapers of different roughness, and a few tools to carve out the minor details. He even uses a bit of polish to give the wood a shine. The final product, as can be seen, stands out for its earthy appeal. “Initially, it took me an entire year to carve and shape one item,” he says. “I didn’t know what tools or sandpaper to use, or how rough it should be...it took me a long time to visualise as well. I didn’t even know how sharp the tools had to be. But now, I do 4-5 items every day.” He has also shaped tables, photo frames and wall clocks, adding that customised items are hard to make because of the unconventional shapes of the logs.
Suresh used to get travel allowance from the Union Ministry of Textiles —“aana, jaana, rehna,” he says — but these days he doesn’t avail that because he travels to several exhibitions on his own accord. “The government doesn’t organise exhibitions where the sales really are; they just look for less expensive grounds to set up exhibitions,” he says.
Suresh’s driftwood artwork will be on sale at Sapoorn’s Santhe Exhibition at Kalakshetra Foundation, Thiruvanmiyur. Also shop throughFacebook at www.facebook.com/antdriftwoodindia.co.in
For details, call 9891610346