For the love of art
Art and artisans are all around us.
Sometimes, all you need to do is look up from your device and look into the eyes of a storyteller.
At Wari Art & Culture, we respect all art and artists.
Here you will find a few gems we discovered on our journey.
Story of Kundan
What will a person do for his family? The answer is simple. Everything. This simple anecdote has governed Kundan’s life. He always put his family first and did everything he can, to provide for them. He shouldered responsibility at an age that was meant to shoulder school bags.
He started working in a leather factory at a tender age while going to school to make sure he contributed to his family’s needs. After completing his high school, he learnt how to install an EPABX system on the job, as he soon realized that he would need to be an adult in life, before he was one on paper.
His quest to take care of his family continued with a series of jobs where all he wanted to do was make ends meet. He went from being a security guard, working at a Yarn mill, to a computer training institute as an office boy.
When you mix raw talent with a will to succeed, the result is unpredictably remarkable. Kundan realized his love for computers, starting with assembling and repairing. While looking for better opportunities he met another kind soul in the proprietor of The Collage Communications who took him in as support staff under the condition that he continued with his love for computers. He went from fixing them to designing on them. He leapfrogged from learning to install photoshop software to designing with it. The two of them inspired each other. Niyam met Kundan before starting Wari Art and Culture and has seen the meteoric rise of a schoolboy who worked in a leather factory to skilled designer and computer expert. He still loves his family. He is still as strong willed as he was as a kid. He never gives up. His strength of character and sheer willpower gained him the trust of the entire Wari Art and Culture team.
The team fondly calls him the one-man army of Wari Art and Culture. Today, Wari Art and Culture is proud to have Kundan as a full-time design and development assistant enjoying designing and discovering his own artistic identity. Today, Wari Art and Culture is proud to be a part of his family.
Story of Pradeep
Pradeep started his life in a tribal village of Aarey, living and learning amongst the wilderness. His life was immersed in caring for animals both wild and domestic, respecting nature, and understanding the importance of balance in our ecosystem.
This initial love for animals and nature led to him being an expert in wildlife and rescuing animals expecting nothing in return. All the while nurturing his latent love for Warli art – the artform that’s native to his tribe. Passion unfortunately wasn’t paying Pradeep’s bills. Life started demanding more from him and started drawing him away from his love of art.
He took up driving an auto rickshaw to support himself and his family. At WARI, we found him at life’s crossroads, gave him a new canvas, and the long-forgotten artisan in him blossomed within a month. He’s created fabulous stories and captured them on the canvas of coconut shells. He wants to continue to explore Warli Art – an ancient artform used by the tribals of Warli culture. He wants to showcase the beauty and uniqueness of their rural life in a rustic artform. One of his favourites is the Warli tribal dance called “Tarpa nritya” that he has beautifully captured on a coconut shell.
Story of Chitra and Aruni
In a country full of undiscovered talents and a lost sense of self, we have the story of two sisters who travelled two different paths to the same destination. Finding themselves, and their love for art.
Crafty from early on, Chitra loved macramé weaving technique and used to create interesting designs on purses, wall-hangings, and tabletops as it made her happy. Soon what she started as a hobby started getting attention from friends and family as they started picking up her designs. Soon after some tiresome elements misused her talent without paying her any dues for the work. While her tenacity got her a day job in IT, she was still stumbling with the question of how to make her artistic voice heard. That’s when she met the Wari team. Deciding to trust us, she set out on the task of creating threaded hangers for our coconut shell planters. We received intricate weaving and beautiful designs from her and were more than happy to clear her dues – as any artist deserves.
The simple act of doing what is right, came as a surprise to her and her family. Getting finally paid for her work, her passion. Her inspired work led to an unprecedented work order which brought in an unusual predicament. Fulfilling the order, while managing her day job was becoming difficult.
Meet Aruni, Chitra’s sister, a housewife, who was going through a difficult time wrestling with her inner self-doubts. This was causing her to stumble upon herself, placing a self-inflicted barrier to her own growth.
Chitra and Wari Art and Culture together decided to approach Aruni with a proposition – help them (help her). After fervently disagreeing, out of fear of not being up to the task, and raising questions of her inability ruining raw materials, the team was successful is planning the seed of, “What if…”.
They removed the pressure of success and requested her to just express herself. The team wanted her to succeed and break the barriers she put on herself. They simply let time be the guide and kept in touch with Chitra.
One day a proud and beaming Chitra, walked into the Wari Art and Culture workshop with a sparkle in her eye and a spring in her step. Aruni has finally let go and crafted some fine macramé weaves. More than Aruni, it was her mother’s joy in both her daughters embracing their love for art that made the team proud.
Today, both the crafty Chitra and shy Aruni have started their own product-lines and are on the way to weaving their own journey. For Wari Art and Culture this achievement is more valuable than any other profit in the world.
