A Craft Journey with Ashiesh Shah

It’s only been about six years since Ashiesh Shah opened his Atelier, the product design arm of his practice that works exclusively with regional crafts, but the list of crafts he has worked with is already extensive, spanning from Channapatna in Karnataka to longpi in Manipur.

- MALLIKA DALAL

Working with craft clusters was an obvious evolution for Ashiesh who, when asked to design a piece to complement one of his interiors, naturally turned to India’s rich artistic heritage.

“That’s when I started deeply exploring an already intrinsic interest in craft revival and the in-depth artisanal resources we have,” he tells us. With such a wealth of craft villages across the country, we ask Ashiesh how he decides which to work with. His very first piece, the Lingam Bench, was made by marble carvers in Rajasthan, a decision informed by the smooth contours of the design.

From there, Ashiesh has added the crafts of bidri, dhokra, terracotta, Naga weaving and paper mache - to name a few - to his repertoire. Although his work borrows from the craft in focus, it redevelops it in a more contemporary language for the present age. Take the Atelier’s Longpi Totem, which dares the ancient black stone pottery of the Ukhrul district of Manipur to scale new heights. Because longpi is generally used for cookware, typical vessels and dishes never rose beyond 10 inches in height - requiring a total reengineering of the technique to build a totem six feet tall. But, rather than play to a craft’s traditions, the Atelier aims to transcend them.