My nurturing phase of architecture went into understanding this term –creativity.
As students we were made to believe “That creativity is innate and not random”-That some people have a special gene of creativity. Really-?!!
Inspired from Le Corbusier’s messy sketches to Zaha Hadid’s vast paintings, I learnt every skill of drawing by hand. In the last year of my graduation, I wished a zillion times for creativity to strike me, adopt me & transform me!!…… 🙂
Out from college and working as a full time architect for a known firm in Delhi, my early career years went into designing residences for the celebrities and the nouveau riche of Delhi. The kinds seen often in ash grey Armani coat over a linen shirt-accentuated with that black polka dotted silk cravat; Windsor knotted on neck. Kinda reminds me of “The Devil Wears Prada”& “The Page 3” tabloids filled with perfect pictures of them.
Those days made me realise a wall is the best place for a decorator to showcase his creativity.
My walls well blended with its environment and yet stylish to be a statement, Said to me-
Creativity comes- by own experience, memory, observation, and/or imagination. Real creativity crops up from an idea. An idea which is not borrowed from books or is a copy of other artists work; but rather an inspiration from something we see, perceive, observe and absorb. We are drawn into it because something there speaks to our deeper self-“to be shaken and pounded to the level of deconstruction & then stirred, improvised, reengineered, tested to materialize it”.
Further down my career lane I moved onto displaying this creativity on various receptions and rooms of the many boutique hotels I designed.Experimenting with various materials gave me an unbound joy.
It was as if a child is given dough to design its own shapes. I remember when sitting down with my girl and some play dough, I never thought that adding shells to our play would inspire interesting questions and creations. But it did!!
With a wide selection of wall cladding materials to choose from so did my work!- Sometimes using the most popular -Paint and wallpaper- where a quick change was required without spending a lot of money.
Other times decorative panels, wood paneling, decorative stone and brick would replace the ordinary wall. With use of more modern options like 3D textured wall panels etc. slowly and steadily my walls began to speak its own language.
Inert Satisfaction came when my walls became a narrative—and that became my strongest asset.
“some clients had travel experiences that could be read in family pictures, businessmen with success stories that could be seen on certificates/awards, families had art pieces made by children, poems and narratives written by elderlies, and big boys had a collection of signatures/autographs/ pictures of celebrities, enthusiasts had travel artifacts for display, house women had carpets and shawls with embroidery and they become showpieces on my walls”
… something that people could hold onto and talk about. And I thus created a non-disposable and an undisputed design.
Slowly my walls were not hiding imperfections or simply providing a decorative finish they answered a lot to my clients. My clients with their own set of queries-
- Whether they wanted easy-to-install cladding that can be changed in a few years, or something more permanent that could be more complicated to install?
- Is low-maintenance an important consideration?
- Were they looking for wall cladding that will hide imperfections
- is it for a cladding that will provide a decorative finish
- Or will they want a feature wall that narrates.
My search for suppliers and installers & my quest for new materials make me visit exhibitions, do meetings & check sites where they are used. I welcome both the suppliers to talk about their product and the user to discuss his/her experience. If you want to introduce your product kindly post in comment section
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