Pillars Of Indian Craft

CELESTIAL STAMBHS DESIGNED BY ATELIER ASHIESH SHAH STAND TALL AS PART OF THE EXHIBITION, SUSTAIN: THE CRAFT IDIOM, CELEBRATING 21 INDIGENOUS CRAFT PRACTICES ACROSS INDIA

- PRAGNYA RAO

Restrained in his work as an architect,  Ashiesh Shah has built his reputation on creating sublime spaces, almost sculptural, often in muted monochrome. His atelier, which he started around nine years ago, as an extension of his architectural practice, is a continuation of his carefully crafted design vocabulary, which began as an exploration of crafts before deliberating on its development. “Once you have form and sculptural figurations, the next thing is to bring in is materiality, and the only way I wanted to do it is to be Indian about it — look at it from an India inwards point of view,” says Ashiesh, throwing light on his experimentation with crafts in the early years of the atelier.