TIHG PEOPLE

With nature as a growing trend, these artists from all over the world use innovative ways to integrate it as theme into their beautiful creative pursuits

Integrating nature effortlessly through innovative ways

ÈMERIC CHANTIER

Talking about art, the incredible French artist Èmeric Chantier says, “it is the perfect marriage between the beautiful and the useful.” And his art is truly reflective of the same as in it he endeavours to question the relationship we have with nature and how we perceive ourselves as living, by drawing inspiration from everyday city life and scientific conferences. The work lends itself to introspection and meditation, without any moralistic preaching. And the artist optimistically looks forward to just continuing to question man, and developing his sculpture in the future as well. Èmeric acknowledges that sustainability is a trend as it is the need of the hour and thus sees continued development of high techniques in the future but by rediscovering more noble materials.

AMY GROSS

A fiber sculptor whose works depict small environments where plant life, spores, birds and insects interact with the microscopic world we can’t see with our own eyes is how Amy Gross sees herself. She creates masterpieces by using accessible materials as she believes that it links her with centuries of craft and handiwork, and skills that are still considered women’s work. For Amy, design is anything that challenges your imagination, makes you see something in a new way and in the process changes you a little. And it is in this capacity that she wants to use her art to be more interactive in order to protect what we can lose of our natural world.

PAUL STANKARD

In 1972, Paul Stankard left the glass industry to devote full-time to developing a body of work that celebrates native flowers that bring fresh visual information to coloured glass encapsulated in clear glass. He was drawn to these flowers due to his childhood in the country side where he remembers the joys of picking bouquets of flowers for his mother. In his work he utilises a process called flameworking glass in which he melts and sculpts coloured and clear glass rods into components that are then encapsulated in clear glass. With his experience, Paul sees building on traditions in the craft art world with quality and originality as the future. And cites how ultimately good design has a halo hovering over it that engages the viewer into a visual dialogue. And Paul’s work definitely has that halo all over it!

PRIYANKA SHAH

“Design can be functional, aesthetics to me, is pure communication,” says Priyanka Shah who started Studio Lalala in 2019. And what her art communicates is truly mesmerising! Priyanka describes herself as a mumbai based graphic designer, stylist and visual artist whose love for nature and fear of the unknown has lead to the evolving series of ‘Fantasy Botanicals,’ where she designs her own plants. And these incredible pieces of art often exist for only a fleeting moment before they biodegrade, to be preserved only as photographs. Priyanka’s love for nature, as evident in her artwork and its components, is a gift passed on from her family and thus even as a studio now she endeavors to work with brands that promote sustainable living.