CHENNAI: D o you want to document a special occasion in a single frame? Looking for a unique medium to preserve these moments? Try 3D casting and pyrography…says artist Saravanan Rathnavel of Aks-haya Craaft.
Saravanan is a Chemistry graduate working at an IT firm in the city…but, art and craft has always been his passion he shares. “Even as a child, I had the ability to admire and replicate the things that I saw around me. I was always involved in crafts. But, coming from a middle-class family, the first choice of a career was engineering. So I took chemistry, completed Masters and started on an IT job like most people,” he recalls as he cleans one of the casting frames.
But, a craving to follow his dreams and the passion to do something unique led him to 3D casting and pyrography in 2010. “Most people ask me why I didn’t get into painting or sculpting. I didn’t want to do what everyone does. I wanted to create an identity for myself,” shares the artist who was recently part of the Madras Flea Market, Kalakshetra.
Through his pyrography works, an art which is done by burning a design on the wood surface with a heated metallic point, he can replicate any image. “My first pyrography work was of my daughter…people who saw that were impressed and that’s how I started getting orders,” he says pointing to other pyrography works which include the images of leaders like APJ Abdul Kalam and Kamaraj.
Talking about 3D casting, Saravanan says that most orders are for special occasions like birth anniversary, wedding anniversary and so on. “Parents want to preserve the tiny feet and palms of their new born…so that’s done through casting. This art preserves everything from the wrinkles to the thumb prints. Similarly couples ask for clasp casting too…I do it all!” he smiles and points at a frame, which contains the 3D feet cast of an eight-month-old baby.
Saravanan delivers these casting as a package by adding a few more trinkets to the frame. The name tags of the mother and the child from the time of birth, the bangle, ankles used by the baby, the ‘birth place sand’, date, time, weight and the height of the baby are also included in the frame to give it a personal touch. “This frame will be a great gift for the baby once he/she grows up! Everyone wants a personalised gift these days,” he opines.
With most of his orders being through word-of-mouth, Saravanan says that he dreams of venturing into the art full-time, someday. “I am working and I do this during weekends and late nights. But, someday I want to be a full time artist and my family is supportive about this idea too!” he adds.
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