A science student in high school, artist, designer and potter Srishti Dube, always wanted to be a painter through most of her childhood. Her creative pursuits led her to NID, Ahmedabad where she took up ceramic and glass design. She then worked as a design consultant but the endeavour wasn’t fruitful. It didn’t creatively stimulate her enough. Eventually, Srishti decided to set up her own practice which stands at the intersection of design, art and craft, making use of botanical inspiration to transform them into ceramic and glass.
The young artist recalls being introduced to clay during her foundation year at NID and there has been no looking back ever since. Fascinated by the multiplicity of possibilities it presents and the malleability of material, clay helps Srishti not only relax and reflect but also cultivate humility. It’s impressionable. It imitates her own emotions at times. She further explains, “There’s poetry in the thought that eventually it all goes back to the earth. I have grown up collecting seed pods, looking at leaves up close and pressing and dissecting flowers from my mother’s balcony garden. I have always been drawn to nature, and somewhere during my NID days, I started looking at botanical illustrations.”
The evolution of her practice has been natural and she lets us in on it below.
The Practice
Much of my work has nature at the core, with soft organic forms. I am fascinated by the beauty of imperfect objects. I try to make objects that move through time and take a quiet life of their own, much as the viewer. There’s also an underlying quest to understand life as is. Our first collection, Poppy Pods, played on the juxtaposition of glass against driftwood — one made alive and the other once alive, both trying to imitate life. I hope to create objects that are cherished, while focusing on emotional durability. It has to be heartfelt, otherwise it's not worth it. We make limited numbers, and in this fast paced, mass produced world, as an attempt to bring back slow living, we create one object at a time.
Functionality versus Aesthetic
It varies from product to product. In Flowerheads, for example, it’s all about aesthetics and how it makes one feel. But a bowl has to function — have the right profile for intended use, food safe glazes, et cetera. Visual language here differentiates and ensures it is not just another bowl in the crowd. After a while, I think a lot of it stops being a struggle and becomes muscle memory.
The Process
It is a fairly intuitive process. I toy and juggle with an idea in my head till it takes a form which I then try to translate into material form. It is then worked on till it feels somewhat complete in my hands. I use the word ‘somewhat’ because it’s never really finished, is it? Most of my ideas keep sitting on the shelf for a very long time. We also keep working on multiple products and categories at once. I have a short attention span, so that does the trick. It is a small team and we handcraft ceramics at the studio and co-create glass with artisans from Firozabad. The techniques used have been around for hundreds of years, so we try to give them our own spin.
The Future
Many exciting things! A new series called Dreamscapes, full of fresh characters such as Cloud and Star People. For the past year, we have been focusing on colour in clay and developing specialty glazes and a tableware range. We are also collaborating with a lovely furniture studio to create a collection of ceramic lamps. We have also started spreading our wings and exploring other mediums such as embroidery and metal now.
Words Unnati Saini
Photography Megha Baldewa
Date 20-06-2023