BENGALURU: As a child, Navakanth Karide used to write his sisters’ names in their school notebooks in a colourful and attractive way. Little did he know then that he would turn this hobby into a full-time profession. Today, this city-based lettering artist designs creative works used in a variety of sectors.
Asked about his moment of inspiration, Navakanth says, “When I was a child, I didn’t know that the art I was creating was called calligraphy. After completing my BTech, I chanced upon a book Aksharakruti by renowned calligrapher Achyut Palav, who was based in Mumbai. Inspired by the book, I travelled all the way to Mumbai and took training under him for four months. After coming back to Hyderabad, I devoted myself completely to this field.”
Navakanth’s artworks have been exhibited at The Cheongju Jikji International Calligraphy Exhibition, Cheongju Arts Center, South Korea in November 2019, The YYWN Artxchange ‘Omkaar’ exhibition at Eindhoven, Netherlands in December 2019, ‘Ka cha ta tha pa’, a national calligraphy festival at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in December 2019, among others.
A few of his crafts include artefacts with Telugu letters inscribed on them, such as a tea kettle, a pen stand, paper cups, among others. His designs include letters of the alphabet in Telugu, Hindi and English, numbers, motivational quotes, hourglass, the National Anthem, Hanuman Chalisa, Shiva Sutras, Bhagavad Gita summary, etc. He is also planning to create works quoting the Quran, the Bible, and other religious texts.
Navakanth says he is interested in setting up an exhibition of his creations, and says, “If the state government provides support in promoting the Telugu letter art, it would be immensely beneficial in keeping alive the tradition and taking it to the masses on a large scale.”