KOCHI: When college mates and friends Adithya Lakshmi and Arjun Prem embarked on their tour of India in 2019 as part of their degree course at College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram, little did they expect to be bowled over by the expertise of artisans they came across and the exceptional quality of the handicrafts they made. However, amid the unmatched skill of a craftsman’s deft hands passed down through generations, the two also came face to face with the stark reality of their lives riddled with poverty, complete contrast with the gilded beauty of their wares.
“Most artisans we met did not know the true value of what they made. What they earned was substantially less compared to the rate for which their crafts were sold. So we decided to start a venture through which we could market their products and sell them at the right price,” says Kottayam native Adithya Lakshmi who is currently pursuing MFA from Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan.
However, the outbreak of Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown meant the two could not travel to collaborate with and procure from the artisans. Howevr, that didn’t stop the young artists. Determined to get their venture started, Adithya and Arjun developed a self-sustainable model to launch Hobo. Envisioned as an online art store and community, Hobo is currently a two-person project that offers embroidered recreations of iconic paintings on garments and accessories made from organic cotton.
For the artistically inclined, it is an avenue to carry their most beloved renditions of Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Edvard Munch and other masters on their clothes, bags and even bookmarks.“Adithya showed me an embroidery patch she had made. That was when the idea to recreate famous artworks on thread dawned on us and we decided to make it the mainstay of the line for now. We can recreate a poster or artwork according to our customer’s demand.
Adithya does the embroidery while her mother tailors the garment or accessory on to which the embroidered art patch is attached. We only use handloom cotton,” says 24-year-old Arjun who is presently working for a creative agency in Bengaluru. As the name suggests, Hobo espouses a bohemian aesthetic of unconventionality and nomadic existence rejecting machine production. “We researched about textile art that comes from Africa as well as the fabric that is indigenous to India.
Since we are both from an art background, it was an obvious choice for us to embroider art,” says Adithya.
The duo is working towards creating original designs which can be transferred onto wearable pieces. Ardent to materialise their original plan, they hoping to work with artisans once things get back to normal.
Find Hobo on Instagram @hobo.in