Strokes of elegance

You’ve seen those beautifully handwritten scripts inscribed on stone monuments or in religious manuscripts written on palm leaves. Now see scripts come alive through calligraphy on T-shirts, CD covers, wedding cards, mugs, books, fashion wear and even as body art.

The aesthetics of calligraphy, i.e. the art of beautiful handwriting, has transcended into the commercial realm rather than being just confined to sophisticated use.

Achyut Palav, a celebrated city-based calligrapher and alumni of J.J. School of Art has a studio stocked with various products done in calligraphy. Ranging from mugs, glass items to T-shirts and books, the items are worth a buy. Palav is credited to having presented calligraphic prints in a fashion show, designing logos, body painting, home interiors, event invites, wallpapers and book covers etc. “Calligraphy can be done using different techniques and in different media. I have travelled all over India and have noticed that there still exists a lacuna in the execution and utility of calligraphy” he says, adding further that he has plans to open a calligraphy school very soon. 

Says Santosh Kshirsagar, 49, professor at the  J.J. School of Art who has been in the field of calligraphy and typography for 20 years now, the key to popularising calligraphy lies in interacting with the youth and making them not only appreciate calligraphy but also motivate them to take up calligraphy in the indigenous Indian scripts. “Calligraphy is not just about acquiring the skill but it is equally about expressing yourself and adding your interpretation to the art work,” he says.

Kshirsagar also insists that introduction of calligraphy at the school level is vital.
At present though, J.J. School of Art runs a four year degree course in Applied Art with specialisation in photography, typography and illustration among other subjects. Calligraphy is part of the typography course. Calligraphy artists feel the scope for students learning calligraphy nowadays is varied and well paying. Since the demand has grown and commercial requirements are manifold, a student can choose to be part of the professional world in areas like jewellery designing, body art, fashion, advertising and films and begin earning a minimum salary of Rs15,000.

While western calligraphy takes its root from the Roman alphabets, Chinese and Japanese calligraphy are still deeply entrenched in their day-to-day local tradition in the form of artefacts and gifts. Nepalese, Tibetan, Iranian calligraphy have also stood the test of the time. With 10 scripts existing in India, when it comes to Indian calligraphy, there is scope for a lot more work.

Both Kshirsagar and Palav feel that there is a need to give a boost to the Indian scripts and their usage in calligraphic work. Bengali, Devanagari, Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Oriya, Gujarati and Gurumukhi are the 10 Indian scripts. Palav states that Bengali and Devanagari are quite popular.

Kalpesh Gosavi, 22, a third year student from Kshirsagar’s class of typography at J.J. School of Art is happy that he opted for the course. In a class of 18 students, every two students from Kshirsagar’s class have worked extensively on one script and have come up with a manual.

While there are different styles like Gothic, Sharpened Italic, Rustica and  Corolingian, Roman calligraphy is quite popular.

Neetu Saneja, who has been running private calligraphy classes for the last nine years, says that the response has certainly increased over the years and her student profile ranges from kids aged 10 years to elderly people. “The awareness level pertaining to calligraphy is certainly growing and though I teach only English calligraphy as of now, enquiries about calligraphy in other scripts have started coming in,” she says. Kshirsagar cites an incident in the ’90s, when at an international symposium, a foreign calligrapher asked him, “With computer and technology will calligraphy die?” to which he had replied, “Letters are used for some purpose of communication and the purpose of communication will not die even if the device undergoes a change.”