Art is translation of imagination into tangible experiences. Location matters. Period matters. Space matters. Raseel Gujral Ansal, Creative Director of Raseel at Casa Pop, saw her imagination flowering in enforced seclusion. But, splendid isloation. A tangible embodiment of her experience is ‘Inscape:
A Lucid Dream’, a wallpaper collection that captures the 58-year-old architect and interior designer’s emotionally riveting inner journey. Says the Delhi-based Ansal, who is the legendary artist Satish Gujral’s daughter and former prime minsiter IK Gujral’s niece: “The unstructured format of days and nights felt like a dreamscape. And, I enjoyed the freedom to indulge in it without tugs of guilt.” The result was a pouring of all that she had imbibed through years of exposure to modern and contemporary art, and her affinity towards the jugalbandi between the animal and human form—a language she deeply resonates with, much like the artistic vocabulary of her father.
The wallpapers aren’t mere background embellishments; they become the protagonists of the space they inhabit. “I look at each piece as ‘art by the meter’, something that sets the mood for a room,” says Ansal, describing the essence of the new collection. “They encompass themes that depict the architecture of our times, in addition to the cultural influences that are an intrinsic part of Delhi, whether Hindustani music, the Ram Lila, film, literature... so many stimuli, so much porosity,” she adds.
‘Call After Eight: Please call later, I’m intoxicated’ is a bedroom wallpaper named after her tendency to avoid calls unless necessary. When Ansal asks somebody to call them after 8 pm, it usually means she’s ready for a conversation, and the best time for that is after dusk. “The piece shows emotive monkeys riding the back of elegant black sable antelopes through a sea of radiant blossoms with birds returning home at night. It’s one of my favourite times of the day,” she says.
The process of creating these unique designs was eccentrically organic. “They took time to come together. For the past few years I did nothing but work on the wallpapers. The images were collected first and I would put them where I thought they belong.” The pigeons on the gumbad are unusually positioned, challenging conventional spatial dimensions. Walls become history in her hands; a collage of a royal hunt, or is it a frolic, or both is a sign of her sene of humour. She spins a striking visual story in ‘Sauvage: If fish could fly and leopards could swim’. The wallpaper is a whimsical portrayal of nature bending its rules—leopards are sitting on the sea floor, while zebras graze around them and fish happily fly. Then, there is ‘Tea for Two: It’s romance, but I wouldn’t call it love’, a display depicting the strength of the woman who is self-assured, and asserts an equal voice at the table. The storytelling continues with one of the most distinct pieces titled, ‘His Master’s Voice: I hate being told what to do’, a tongue-in-cheek piece that holds up the mirror to India’s colonial climate. Impossible to miss is the intricacies of ‘Eyes Right: I want to see what you see’, with its detailed impressions of a man, objects and creatures existing cohesively in one frame.
The mediums on which these have been rendered are as unique as the art. There’s gauze, which feels like textured linen paper; there’s shantung, a material that Casa Pop introduced in India; and luster, a non-woven paper resembling scratched metal with a subtle sheen.
Ansal, who began Casa Pop with the idea of democratising luxury and make valuable products in accessible formats, takes her son Imaan’s advice for unique perspectives. With him joining the business, the company has “rebooted, recalibrated, reaffirmed and redefined our core values and strengthened us as a value-based sustainable artistic living brand,” she says.
For someone who has achieved nearly everything she set out to accomplish, one aspiration still remains out of Ansal’s reach: music. Despite her profound love for singing and remarkable talent, she doesn’t have enough time to practice. Perhaps one day, she will hit the high note in music, just like in her career in art and design.