Her muse might be centuries old, having lived and survived long enough to label it ordinary. But paper is central to designer Jenny Pinto’s life and keeps her enthralled, excited by what one can do with it. Right now, she is busy in designing a structured light in veneer and paper to be fit into a pitched ceiling for a client in Chennai. A few months ago, the Bengaluru-based artist had a particularly good showing at ‘The Amethyst’ in Chennai where she showcased her art in all its uniqueness, especially the hand-made elegant lamps in all shapes and sizes. Pinto puts to good use this meaningful, tactile and versatile medium as she dubs it by fashioning life-size book sculptures as well as quirky paper art.
Pinto’s sense of design goes back to the time she was a successful ad film-maker based in Mumbai. “Ad film-making requires one to have a wider design sense involving musical, visual and art direction. But it is different from a craft which is about materiality, form and function,” says Pinto, who moved to Bengaluru in 1996 to pursue a different career path.
Papers may have served as her vehicle of creative discovery but to explain the connection is not easy, says she, insisting that one cannot pin down the why of any artform or craft which is individualistic. Also, she is delighted by what one can achieve through this medium, as her art found an outlet in the products she designed, ranging from lights to home accessories and stationery including paper and sculptures.
The lighting designs—be it the flame of the forest table lamp, the oyster mushroom wall lamp or the sea urchin ceiling lights, blending in both aesthetics and functionality—seem to find their inspiration from nature. “I feel everything a person does is inspired by nature in essence, which is very wide and all-encompassing. It is about form, colour, light and randomness,” she says. As she takes us through the designs, she points to her favourite one, the passion flower chandelier inspired by dried flowers on a wild creeper. “I love the randomness of a creeper. It goes towards the light with the flowers usually lasting a day or two only for the creeper to have dried and fresh flowers to have bloomed at the same time,” says Pinto.
Sustainability is a key component of Pinto’s art. She makes her own paper using only natural fibres that are waste from agriculture like banana, sisal, mulberry, pineapple, kora grass and jute, preferring banana fibres over the rest. Her studio located off Sharjapur Road is an example of sustainable architecture. “All the paper is made in the studio which has been built from mud blocks. It recycles all water, grey water and the water from paper making,” reveals Pinto.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Sunita Raghu / February 20th, 2016