Hello everybody and welcome to Masala Mango Mantra's First Friday Feature!
What got you started
Image source: kavitakriti
Kavita Gandhi of KavitaKriti has graciously accepted to be featured on this blog. She is a Canadian artist who designs some beautiful luxury silk scarves, taking inspiratin from Indian art and bollywood. You can find her wonderful creations on her online studio RIGHT HERE
Some Beautiful KavitaKriti Scarves are presented here. These are simply OOAK and I love the paisley prints that she has designed on them. A riot of colours...
Some recent KavitaKriti creations
In her own words....
Describe your work, your style
I love Indian ethnic designs and wanted to incorporate them into the scarves I paint. India is a melting pot and each state offers something exquisite and unique from the types of clothes worn by the people of the region, to their language, and their arts and crafts. Even if I wanted to I would not be able to represent all Indian art forms because they are infinite in number but I want to try and the scarves I paint are my way of doing that. Each scarf comes with a hang tag describing my inspiration source so you can learn a little bit more about the art, tradition or trend I am inspired by. Not only do I want to offer women a new choice in their most treasured accessory but I also want to promote the gorgeous work done by the artisans of India, most of which may not have gained exposure outside the Indian subcontinent.
Currently I am focusing on painting indian motifs like peacocks, paisleys, elephants, mandalas and henna designs as well as painting indian textile, indian embroidery and sari border designs.
I am currently using ChromaColour silk dyes manufactured in Calgary itself. These dyes are an iron-fix dye and produce bright, vivid colors after the silk is set by ironing. ChromaColour dyes are non-toxic and very easy to work with. When I design a scarf I have a vague idea of the color combinations I want to work with but I follow where creativity guides me. Often you will find that I produce several pieces in the same style but in different colors. I do this to showcase the art form I am interpreting in several different hues as well as to add color variety to my shop.
I like giving my finished pieces a name and generally I pick a name based on the emotion the scarf brings out in me or the image it invokes . As you can see, I paint with my heart and the designs, colors, techniques that I use along with the name and description that I give to the scarf are simply a manifestation of my creative spirit.
My initial ideas all revolved around wanting to paint something with an Indian design but I did not have the knowledge or know-how to proceed. I learnt silk painting by reading books on the subject and experimenting. It took me over a year to get to where I am today and in that time I wrote down ideas and painting techniques that I wanted to try. When it came down to the painting, I let inspiration guide me and often inspiration came, and still does, from a desire to promote a particular style of Indian art. I grew up wearing gorgeous Indian clothes with intricate and breathtaking chikankari (white thread embroidery), block print, kalamkari (bamboo pen art) and textile design work so it was natural I would want to turn to that for inspiration. Furthermore, India is a land painted in color and I am completely influenced by that. Even today, in modern India, Indian ethnic designs and color still have a stronghold in the market despite growing influences from international designs.
Any sources of inspiration
Indian textiles and regional embroidery styles, Indian art, Bollywood.
5 Facts about you
- I often dream of visiting a paint factory where I can breathe in the colors (not the fumes :)).
- I have lived in 5 countries but am still Indian at heart.
- I love all things ethnic.
- I admire people who have forged their dreams into reality.
- I never say never!
Anything else you would like to share
If you have an idea, don't be afraid to pursue it. You have only one life and you certainly should not spend it in regret for fear of not trying what you wanted to try or doing what you wanted to do. Just go ahead and do it! I have no doubt in my mind that success will follow you...
Kavita Gandhi can be contacted at
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Image source: kavitakriti
Beautiful feature.
ReplyDeleteThank you Dyche Designs! The artist Kavita Gandhi is indeed very talented!
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