Eeshaan Kashyap is the founder and creative force behind Eeshaan Kashyap & Co. A multidisciplinary talent, Eeshaan uses food, beverage, design, photography, art, styling and social media to tell inspiring stories.

Eeshaan began his journey as a trained chef, graduating from the prestigious Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development in 2011, with specializations in Western Culinary Arts and Indian Coastal Cuisine. He quickly became one of the Oberoi Group’s youngest executive chefs, with residencies at the Oberoi Vrinda and the Trident in Kochi, and then at the Italian specialty restaurant Traventino, at The Oberoi, New Delhi.

During an exciting period of growth for the Indian restaurant industry, Eeshaan joined Pass Code Hospitality as Vice President and Partner, launching and heading operations and branding for award-winning boutique restaurants in Delhi, Goa and Kolkata. These include PCO, India’s first speakeasy-style cocktail bar; PDA, an intimate martini bar; private members’ club À Ta Maison; SAZ, an American brasserie; Ping’s Café Orient serving healthy Asian street food, and regional Indian powerhouse Jamun. Now a non-executive partner in these ventures, Eeshaan has become a much sought after hospitality consultant for others.

As a culinary designer and food stylist, Eeshaan’s style is effortlessly sophisticated while full of delight and surprise. His narrative approach to food and beverage incorporates a unique visual vocabulary and distinctive flair. Whether it’s as a curator of special occasions or as a bar concierge accelerating the diversification of India’s beverage scene, Eeshaan leaves an indelible signature on all his work.

Beyond his culinary curiosity, Eeshaan’s passionate interests in travel, photography, art and design have contributed to his eclectic vision. His own home in New Delhi has been covered in Architectural Digest India, where he is now a contributing editor. As a columnist and an industry consultant, Eeshaan is also emerging as an influencer through his Instagram page (@eeshankas), which captures his myriad interests and unique voice.

Based in New Delhi, Eeshaan is currently working on debut coffee-table book. Among other exciting new ventures. He has launched a limited-edition collection of handmade tableware and objects to share a piece of his tablescape with you.

After completing my schooling in Kolkata, I studied law at National Law University, Jodhpur, one of the premier law institutes of the country. While working as a tax lawyer in renowned law firms of India, I was beginning to feel disconnected from myself and began seeking some form of creative expression. Looking for fresh earth in which to plant my roots, I found clay in 2013.

I like to work at the cusp of function and sculpture. All of my work is hand-built using techniques like pinching, coiling and slabbing. I also incorporate a lot of texture into the clay. I actively engage with contrasts in my work - contrasts between organic and geometric aesthetic and between the high-gloss of glaze vis-à-vis matte unglazed ceramic surfaces. My focus primarily is on the form and everything else organises itself around this.

I’m a self-taught artist, relying on years of trial and error instead of formal training. In pursuance of a career in the arts, I have also done a year-long post graduate course in art history ‘Modern and Contemporary Indian Art and Curatorial Studies’ from Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai in 2018-2019.

I explore my practices in ceramic as well as drawing with ink from my studio in Wadala, Mumbai.

Over the years of working with clay, I have realized that it is not me that molds the clay but it's clay that molds me. Every piece I create takes me closer to the artist I aspire to become. Though that perfect piece is still a far-off dream yet every step of this journey is truly amazing. There has been no better satisfaction than to know that someone somewhere is using a piece that I have created. A part of me has become a part of their world and I thus live vicariously through their life's journeys.

Clay has taken me to distant places and introduced me to so many amazing people. My exhibits in this show are a catalog of these journeys and experiences. Some have been crafted here in India and others during a residency in Denmark. Exploring the medium in different spaces has given me the opportunity to experiment with different types of clays, kilns and ways they are fired.

A common thread that binds my work is - the emphasis on the duality of clay in the forms created. The strength and robustness of the material, juxtaposing the fragility and fluidity of the same… Ying and Yang.
A symphony called 'Life'.

The journey of discovery and form has created a community around me that continues to fuel the search for perfect piece in this ever giving medium…
I feel humbled and proud to be a part of this community and to showcase my work to you and thus become a part of your lives.

Rahul has been in clay for 25 years. He completed his masters from the USA on a Fulbright Scholarship in 2008 and received the Charles Wallace award to study in the UK in 2013. He has had 9 solo shows in the US and India (including with Exhibit320, Threshold Art Gallery, Cymroza Art Gallery, Art Heritage, and Apparao Galleries). His works have been auctioned at Sotheby's London in 2012 and is a three-time recipient of the AIFACS National Award. In 2014 he received the Junior Fellowship for Excellence in the Field of Visual Arts by the Government of India. Published critiques include essays authored by Kristine Michael, Kishore Singh, Roobina Karode, Aman Nath, and Keshav Malik. He collaborated with RAQS Media Collective for a work that was part of their solo show at the NGMA-Delhi. A large-scale ceramic installation, funded by India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) was showcased as a special curated project at the India Art Fair 2015 edition. His works are part of prestigious collections in India and abroad, including India Habitat Centre and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Rahul was selected for the First Indian Ceramics Triennial held at Jaipur in 2018. He was recently named as one of the five-Indian-ceramic-artists-you-need-to-know by the Architecture Digest, the leading international design journal and has been honoured by the Bharat Nirman Foundation for his contributions in the field of art. He is an art journalist with by-lines in various publications. He is an Editor with STIR.



About the series ‘body city’:

My recent works focus on abstract rendition of what may look like the aerial view of a city, with a grid like structure, criss-crossing lines, patches and undulations. On a closer inspection, it also evokes a sense of microscopic vision of veins and muscles, tissues and cells. The body as a city, and the city as a living being, metaphorically, is a concept that intrigues me. I made architectural blocks in clay with a diptych element. The second component in the series for each block is a skeletal frame using welded iron-rods, accentuating the play of light and shadow. The gold gilded portions reference preciousness in an ironical way. The work juxtaposes geometric with organic, the man-made with industrial. It celebrates the 'ghostliness' of human development.

I am Priya Sundaravalli from the International cultural township of Auroville in Tamil Nadu. My professional engagement with ceramics started at a later age. I am a medical doctor by training (MBBS India 1986-1992) and I also have 2 post graduate degrees in Biomedical Engineering (Drexel University 1992-1995) and Industrial & Operations Engineering (University of Michigan Ann Arbor 1995-2002) from the USA. My exposure to ceramics happened during the last year of my studies at the University of Michigan when I signed up for classes at the art school. In 2002, I returned back to India, teaching science at the local schools in Auroville while ceramics remained a hobby. In 2012, I decided to fully plunge into ceramics. I took a sabbatical, returned to the USA to study under my teacher, the late Felipe Ortega, a master craftsman in micaceous pottery of the Jicarilla Apache tribe, in New Mexico USA. Since then, I am a full-time ceramic artist working out of my studio ‘Pottery Sipapu’ in Auroville.

My work is inspired by the poetry and the beauty of Life, as well as life’s qualities of abundance and hope. My creative process relies on spontaneity and serendipity. I work by hand-building and use a variety of techniques for decorative effects. The works undergo multiple firings in an electric or wood fuel kiln.

I have participated in eight solo shows (six in India, and two in S. Korea) and multiple group shows including the one at Taoxichuan in the year 2019. I have participated in ceramic residencies outside India such as at the Clayarch Gimhae Museum, South Korea (2014), the EKWC The Netherlands (2018) and at the Jingdezhen International Studio (2019). In 2020, I received the guest artist fellowship at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan, which has been postponed due to the pandemic.

My ceramic work is in several collections both in India and abroad: the Wistaria Tea house in Taipei, the Jaya He GVK New Museum at the new Mumbai International airport, the Aravind Eye hospital in Chennai, as well as the Busan Domestic Airport (S. Korea).

Since December 2021, I have been elected as member of the International Academy of Ceramics.

Artist Statement

As a Sculpture graduate, clay found me in my very first year at college, and Completed Masters degree in Ceramic Sculpture from Baroda in 1999. It’s been over 2 decades since then and I believe I was very fortunate to have found my passion so early on. Years of working in clay has been a wonderful journey with various milestones. Shows, residencies, collaborations, curatorial projects and student interactions have all been opportunities to express myself through ceramics.

My work has been rooted in the coexistence of the old and the new; the conflict of leaving behind the familiar while stepping into unknown territories. Exploring that quiet space between comfort and discomfort and constantly trying to strike a balance.

My art is a reflection of my training. I have never felt bound by any one medium, and as a result I have no boundaries of form and technique. My art is my reaction to my space and surroundings, each piece mirrors a certain moment of my existence.

I respond best to the theme of space, be it the open sky or, microcosmically, the inner spaces of my mind. I enjoy the containment of two dimensional pieces, as well as the challenge of multidimensional forms. Clay is my medium and I need look no further to be in touch with my inner core. My works are often spontaneous, always intuitive, and very often a reaction to an architectural language or an organic form.

I am particularly interested in Geo-Sociological Conditions, architectural spaces geological references and imprints or fragments that contain within them a sense of nostalgia. Memories, Current affairs and impressions are central to my thought process and the visuals I like to play with.


Artist Bio

Falguni Bhatt a Sculptor, ceramist and installation artist is hailed from Baroda, Gujarat. With her heart set on a creative journey she completed her Bachelors and Masters degree in Fine Arts with specialisation in Ceramic Sculpture from the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda in 1999. Falguni's art is all about deconstructing stereotypes of thought and practice reflecting an intense and deeply sensitive relationship with her surroundings as well as her state of mind at any given point in time.

Credited with a number of distinguished solo shows at home and abroad. She has received Awards among them the IAFACS award, All India mini sculpture award, national scholarship and junior fellowship from ministry of culture, India. Have curated Several International Ceramic Residencies at Art Ichol Maihar, at Rann of Kutch under Global Art Festival Event. Participated in many Residency programs, among them Jingdezhen International Studio, Solo Show at Taoxichuan Art Avenue Museum 2019, International Ceramic Studio kecskemet, Hungary.

She is a member of AIC-IAC International Academy Of Ceramics, Founder member of ICAF - Indian Ceramic Art Foundation & “Afsa Fired Art” Kolkata.
She lives and works in Kolkata.


Concept Note

The humble values of the everyday objects can show us the meaning & value of life.

It is not ‘some - where else’ in some transcendent realm made secure by absolute knowledge, but in ordinary everydayness.

My work represents some common everyday objects like a vase in a different way..., more playful and spontaneous.

Shreya Alok completed her undergraduate ceramic design course at Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur in 2014. She has exhibited at Lalit Kala Akadamie and Samanvai gallery, Jaipur amongst others. Drawing inspiration from the various craft clusters in India, she has recieved a fellowship from CEPT to work with the pottery clusters in Kutch, Gujarat.
After being an artist-in-residence at The Cold Mountain Studio, now she takes her ceramic journey forward by setting up her own 'Studio Karamica' in the lower Himalayas of Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh.

BIO
Élodie Alexandre is an artist based in the village of Andretta in Himachal Pradesh, India. Originally from France, she lived in the UK for ten years and joined Cardiff School of Art and Design in Wales in 2008. She holds a BA and an MA in Ceramics from Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK. Her work was selected for the British Ceramics Biennial in 2011 and for the Biennial of Ceramics in Belgium in 2015. She was artist in residence at the Jakarta Contemporary Ceramics Biennale, Indonesia, in 2016. In 2018, she was selected to participate in the first edition of the Indian Ceramics Triennale in Jaipur. She is co-founder of Atelier Lālmitti, a clay centre in Andretta.

ARTIST STATEMENT
This series of work investigates relations between inside and outside spaces by exploring the functional form of the cup and saucer set. The pieces are flat-back ornamental objects telling stories inspired by thoughts which occurred in the mind of the artist while she lived in Delhi. The decorations on the cups reference relationships to the domestic space and the outside world, mapping moods (such as ‘Rainy day’) as well as a longing for nature (‘Looking for birds’). The juxtaposition of pieces allows layers to be created and visual conversations to emerge, engaging viewers in an intriguing, poetic world of personal images which mix the familiar and the unfamiliar, the personal and the universal.

Born and brought up in New Delhi. Pondicherry in South India has been home to Indrani for almost 2 decades. She has been working in Ceramics since 22 years. Her works are organic and strong forms. She is in the forefront of Anagama firing in Indian Ceramics. After building her own Anagama Kiln, she holds workshops to share her firing techniques at her studio Phoenix Potteries & Sculptures, Auroville – Pondicherry. She has participated in various National and International shows, workshops and symposiums held in India, UK, Italy, Croatia, Japan, China.

Nandini Chandavarkar is a ceramic artist and visual designer currently living in India. She is a graduate of Visual Communication from Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore, India. She attended a 2-month advanced pottery programme at Atelier Lālmitti, Himachal Pradesh, under the guidance of Élodie Alexandre and Reyaz Badaruddin, which marked the starting point of a dedicated and sustained practice in ceramics. She will be completing a one-year mentorship under them. She is looking to bridge her graphic design background and her clay practice and create a substantial body of work addressing personal narratives. Recently, she was featured in Verve Magazine India and Kinship+Craft’s instagram.

Artist Statement
How can one discern the personal and political through ceramics?
My sculptural objects are an ongoing exploration of unpacking my shame & insecurities, focussing on unsolicited comments I have received about my body to this day– bent nose, chicken legs and perky breasts. At the same time, I feel compelled to address my own beauty standards by challenging the body politics surrounding it and understanding the importance of the personal and shared human experience.

My narrative is a slight departure from 'home' being a place where I find ease and comfort because, personally, it is where it all started. What resonates with me about clay as a material is that it records my lived experience, the body's fragility when perceived as an object.

Writer’s CV reads like a travel retrospective. Wander-lust is what he says takes him across the world for invited residencies, workshops and exhibitions. Adil is an architect with a Master’s degree in architecture from the University of Houston, Texas. He worked in Bombay as an architect before reaching Pondicherry to learn ceramics at the iconic Golden Bridge Pottery. Since 2000, he is a partner at Mandala Pottery in Auroville, an international community tucked away in the forests of south India where he strikes a fine balance between making functional tableware and his own studio ceramics and large-scaled unfired clay paintings.

Writer’s ceramics and large scale paintings have been showcased at several solo and group exhibitions in Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Australia, Estonia, France, Taiwan and USA. Writer has been instrumental in arranging a residency for eighteen Indian ceramists to Fuping for the proposed Museum of Contemporary Indian Ceramics in China.

At Shigaraki, one of the oldest kiln-sites in Japan, Adil culminated his three-month invited residency with a solo show titled “Himitsu Te Uso”. He also featured in, “Six by Six: Interpreting Craft in Gondwana”, a path-breaking collaborative Indo-Australian show at the Australian Triennial in Canberra which was subsequently also shown in Yingge, Taiwan in 2018. This spirit of dialogue led to “In Collaboration” with the celebrated artist Laxma Goud, at Pundole Art Gallery in Mumbai. His curatorial exhibitions include ‘Table Manners’ 1 & 2, ‘Porcelain’ and ‘Clay Off the Wall’. The pandemic years he spent co-curating www.QuartzInversion.com with American artist Janet Adams, a project that has become a mini encyclopedia of pandemic art in the ceramic field.

Writer is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics, Geneva.

I am Jigisha Patel, a Ceramic Artist, born and bought up in Mumbai. Started Tiny Clay exactly 2 years ago. It was something that came out of sheer passion before I started my career aspiring to be a Chartered Account. And somewhere in the middle I saved myself.

Changing 8 jobs before I got here wasn’t an easy journey. Because people around thought I was not serious about anything I ever did. Nothing ever clicked very honestly (until of course I was introduced to pottery). I’d always ask myself every morning that do I really need this job? And the answer to it was ‘NO’. I still kept going thinking that maybe someday I’ll fall in love with my job.

During my very first 10 session course I told to myself that pottery isn’t for you. But destiny has its own plans. Lockdown made me discover so many new things; about pottery - about myself!

Reyaz Badaruddin is a contemporary Indian artist and teacher who lives and works from Himachal Pradesh. He graduated in ceramic and design from Banaras Hindu University and went to Cardiff School of Art and Design, UK on Charles Wallace Fellowship for his further studies in ceramics. His works are in the collections of various national and international museums and private collections. He has several awards to his name including national awards and fellowship from the Government of India.