The song of the sparrows

Karthik Vaidyanathan hopes to bring light on two entities on the brink of extinction — sparrows and Channapatna toys.

Rachana Ramesh

In this world of ours, the sparrow must live like a hawk if he is to fly at all,” says Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese filmmaker. The common sparrow has a special status in our households, their constant chirping being a reminder of the beauty of nature. Now only found in a few places around Bengaluru, such as the Kempegowda International Airport, the common sparrow has more or less disappeared from Namma Bengaluru City.

Gubbigala Haadu – Song of the Gubbis – at Designuru was an ode to the sparrows that were once the soul of the city but now stand at a dwindling number displayed. As a symbol of ecological balance, sparrows have been an i n - spiration for the 200 year old Channapatna toy craft for decades. As with many Indian crafts, the Channapatna craft is in danger of getting stuck in a time wrap and becoming a prisoner of its own image. Gubbigala Haadu brings both of these on the brink of extinction together.

It celebrates how the craft and the bird can shed their restrictive traditional garb and seamlessly move with the times into newer forms while retaining their essence. It hopes that the work of art brings the focus back to taking pride in our crafts and where they originally come from, to help people reengage with the once popular craft and to bring it back into people’s imagination.

The installation also hopes to bring home the message of working towards taking the Bengaluru city back to its glorious green days and to help bring the Gubbis back. “I do not remember neither the chirping of sparrows nor the playing with Channapatna toys from my childhood. It is scary to imagine such rich parts of our history have the chance to vanish”, says Abhinav, an attendee at Designuru. The artist – Karthik Vaidyanathan – hails from the Chettinad region of South India. Born and brought up in Mumbai he currently resides in Bengaluru. An engineer-MBA by qualification, Karthik has no formal training in design. He has a collective work experience of over 20 years.

“The major factors have been the lack of innovation in terms of design and the Chinese invasion of massmanufactured, cheaper look-alikes. Also, while there have been design interventions in the past, few have ensured sustainable work for these craftspeople. The fact that this craft was primarily used for making toys added to its woes”, says Karthik regarding the reasons for the craft vanishing. “The attempt has been to reorient this craft to the modern context by ensuring that each design has a utilitarian value and an aesthetic that is current. Transformed as cute-sensible products, the glossy toys of Channapatna have now crawled out of the nursery to perk up kitchens and living spaces”, he says about his effort to retain the art -- the Varnam Craft Collective.

Varnam Craft Collective was born in late 2011 during Karthik’s trip to Mysore enroute Channapatna. The colourful toys of Channapatna left him fascinated and created an urge to know more about the craft. Being in a full-time job, he would travel to Channapatna over weekends and holidays. A few visits later, the first few designs of Varnam saw the light of day. Varnam has not looked back since. Varnam has been working with artisans in Channapatna since 2012. The result is a series of designs interpreting this 200 year old toy-making craft in the home & lifestyle space that includes lighting, kitchen, dining & bar accessories , kids room decor/toys and jewellery. In an industry where more than 90% of the artisans are men, many of Varnam’s creations have been deftly hand-crafted by women artisans. “One of the biggest worries plaguing Channapatna is the use of toxic colours in many products to keep the costs low. Thankfully, we have always stuck to the traditional colouring process and ensured that the colours used are safe. Getting the colours right is essential to giving the products the right finish. The quality of lac and colours used, determines the final finish and sheen of the product,” he adds.

Along with running Varnam Craft collective, he also heads internal communication design for ACT Fibernet, an internet service provider.