Wild Within

The creation and sustenance of life is as much art as it is science. We discover this and more with Shaun D’Sa and his terrariums.

- Kiran Rajani

I MEET SHAUN D’SA at his workplace, as he is putting together a video of his first exhibit of terrariums ‘The Worlds Within’, that took place in Chennai last month. The response has been tremendous, and now his Savage (the moniker for his botanical art) world belongs to many. For the uninitiated, terrariums constitute sealed or open transparent objects, such as glass jars or bowls, within which plants and whole environments thrive. These pieces of living art have done more than capture imaginations; they are now the seeds of a growing list of possibilities and opportunities for the man who made them.

D’Sa is most obviously a creator, a wild one at heart and ever so often, you can catch glimpses of a complicated, burgeoning spirit. Born and brought up in Chennai, he is a graphic artist by skill and trade and Creative Head at Whoa Mama Designs. He is also a passionate motorcyclist and the President of The Power Puff Brigade – a Royal Enfield brotherhood. D’Sa is the kind of restless spirit that always seems to have an endless source of creative energy. As he puts it, “I prefer to be a jack of all trades, and don’t believe in being the master of one, because that way, you will always stumble upon invention.”