Cultivate seems to be cogent. Well, the credit goes to the three ebullient women behind the venture — Aparajita Jain, Gunjan Gupta and Feroze Gujral. After showing in Delhi, the trio recently launched their first exhibition organised by Chhaya Momaya in Mumbai over lunch.
The ‘Thaali Lunch’ curated by Janice Blackburn that presents the award-winning Dinner Stacks by Gunjan Gupta which were showcased at Sotheby’s London this summer. Aparajita explains the idea between the venture, “The birth of the idea took place about one year ago, when Gunjan, Feroze and I wanted to work to represent Indian art and culture internationally and back home in India. We saw there was a gaping hole whilst representing our culture abroad, also our Indian crafts were dying and stagnating. We decided it was important to contemporise the crafts. It is not only about the art but also about the packaging.”
Apart from their common interest for the arts, the three women also come from a similar background, all of them hail from a business background. Aparajita says, “If I can’t give money to the craftsmen to revive his art form then even before I have started I have failed. We want the craftsmen to teach their work to their children and grandchildren. We don’t want them to take up jobs in the cities such as a rickshaw driver or other tasks for survival.”
