Practical Art

Product designer Aashka Shah, of young and emerging design company Artis, takes ordinary materials and turns them into one-of-a-kind furniture and wall installations.

- Manasi Tahalani

Product designer Aashka Shah spent her childhood pursuing an array of creative activities, from dancing to glass painting. Today she counts herself among the lucky few who have been able to turn their passion into a profession — that of crafting furniture and wall installations. “Since my teen years, I tried and enjoyed all sorts of extracurricular activities. But finding my calling wasn’t a realization that happened at a single point. I think it was at every step and different phases of life when I’d sit back and think — Hey, I really enjoyed making that or I love what I’m doing right now, why not do more of that?” she says. After studying graphic design at Symbiosis Institute of Design, she took up a course in luxury product design at NIFT where she got the opportunity to explore various materials and eventually found love for metals like brass, copper and paint.