Daily Archives: February 21, 2015

Raising the glass

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy
Latha Ajith at Krish Glass House
Latha Ajith at Krish Glass House

Latha Ajith works with glass to great effect, producing traditional stained windows to designer pieces

Nothing about the building just off the Container Terminal road at Cheranellore suggests Krish Glass and Glazing. It is only when, inside the building, Latha Ajith points in the direction of her office we get an idea of the work she does. Each wall is made of glass panels each showcasing a different technique of glass work – painted, stained, embossed – one very different from the other.

Glass is an unusual choice of material to work with, for a woman and on this scale. “The closest I came to working with glass was at my husband’s steel storage units making plant where glass is bent for storage units such as the ones used in bakeries. I saw bent-glass so I had no clue about how it was done.” A visit to a trade show in Mumbai opened her eyes to the wonders of glass. She was struck by the creative options it offered. Glass made her curious and she started asking questions about it. At every trade show she attended with her husband she asked questions at the glass stalls. “After I finished asking questions about techniques in one stall I would move to the next and then to the next. Finally I would quiz myself on what each technique was and virtually learnt the process by myself.”

Latha is one among very few women in India who have glass as their business. “Even at trade fairs there aren’t too many women.”

Her passion for glass grew to such an extent that she set up a unit to fashion glass – stained glass, treated with acid, mixing processes, etching, colouring, fusing glass and fabric or glass and glass – Krish Glass and Glazing in 2004 and a showroom Krish Glass House in 2010. “Whatever I learnt, I learnt on the job.” Her initial plan was to start a dealership but she gave up considering the risks involved which included breakage during transportation.

A trip to Ghaziabad, known for its glassmaking units, got her the equipment and the workers with the know-how.

Latha’s manufacturing unit has huge, hulking machines which bend, mould and shape glass; in one part workers go about cutting glass while elsewhere in the compound is a huge China-made machine which laminates fabric with glass to stunning effect.

On the first floor an artist meticulously puts together a stained glass picture, glass by glass using Belgian glass. A huge flex print of a Ganesha seems to oversee the process. “Flexes are made in order to replicate them in glass, based on which a ceramic mould is made for embossing,” Latha says.

Glass is a popular option with interior designers and architects since it is cheap and aesthetic. Churches, from various parts of the State, comprise a major chunk of her clientele requiring stained glass panes, windows and backgrounds for altars.

Recently she got involved in the restoration of aged glass too. In a square basin lies a stained glass panel soaking in what looks like water. “The stained glass panels are more than 200 years old, from a church in Kottayam. They tried getting it cleaned at many places before finally coming here. I asked them to leave it here. It took some experimentation but it is working. We will get the panels clean.”

When there is a ‘project’, she works in the unit till the piece is packed, loaded and transported. There have been times like when the Last Supper scene on glass shattered while being packed for transportation. “It was the day before Easter and the client wanted it that day but he understood when I called and told him what happened. Within a few days I got it redone and had it delivered.”

GlassKERALA21feb2015

At times such as these she stays back late and works along with her team. “Whatever we have done has been a team effort.” Although she has a creative team she is involved in the designing and innovations.

Krish Glass House near Edappally Toll is a testimony to her effort. Glass embossing is her pride as she shows each piece – a Ganesha, a pair of horses, abstracts – “there is so much that can be done with glass and the different ways in which it can be used.”

According to Latha, artistically worked on glass has many takers, it being a cheaper option and aesthetically appealing. Some of the other options , she says are cladding, flooring, partition, as wall pieces, tiles and even fabricating entire walls in the material. “There is so much one can do with glass,” she says. Latha, it appears, is not done with innovating.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Shilpa Nair Anand / February 18th, 2015

LIVING SPACES – Framed by heritage

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence
Theatre House inside the New Theatre complex. Photo: Nita Sathyendran / The Hindu
Theatre House inside the New Theatre complex. Photo: Nita Sathyendran / The Hindu

Theatre House in Thampanoor, which is over 80 years old, retains much of its original features

Those who have been to New Theatre would, perhaps, be familiar with the quaint old house, tucked away in a corner of the expansive compound, to the right of the iconic building. Known simply as ‘Theatre House’, this one-storied building in traditional Kerala style architecture with Tamil influences, was once home to the late P. Subramoniam, pioneering director and producer of the Malayalam film industry. By virtue of Subramonian’s and his Merryland studios’ association with the industry, Theatre House could well have played a role in the story of Malayalam cinema itself.

“If I remember correctly, the house was built in 1935-36, around about the time the theatre itself came up,” recalls octogenarian Leela S. Pillai, only daughter of Subramoniam. “I was barely two or three years old, when we moved from my grandmother’s home in Chala to Theatre House. My youngest brother was born after we set up home here. It was actually great fun to grow up here given that the theatre is just across the yard. I remember how we children used to hop across to watch the action on screen, particularly whenever the songs came on. Of course, we had to surreptitiously crouch inside the door, in case father caught us at it!” she says with a laugh.

Leela, her parents and brothers lived at Theatre House for almost a decade, before moving home once again and she says that it has been in continuous occupation since then. “It was for a while occupied by my eldest brother and his family and then given on rent for a few years. At one point of time, the artistes who acted in Merryland Studio productions were also put up here,” says Leela, who has been living in Theatre House with her family, on and off, since the mid 1970s. Presently, her daughter Krishna and grandson Vignesh stay with her in the well-kept house.

Lord Krishna carved on one of the gables of the house. Photo: Nita Sathyendran / The Hindu
Lord Krishna carved on one of the gables of the house. Photo: Nita Sathyendran / The Hindu

As it was then, a beautiful statue of Lord Krishna made of clay – said to be as old as the house itself –welcomes visitors to Theatre House. Inlaid front of the statue and behind it are Chettinad tiles, arranged in the pattern of kolams. Although weathered by rain and shine and the many footsteps that have traipsed over it over the decades, the tiles, still retain the signature red hue of the clay found in the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu.

A kolam made of Chettinad tiles. Photo: Nita Sathyendran / The Hindu
A kolam made of Chettinad tiles. Photo: Nita Sathyendran / The Hindu

The front façade too hasn’t changed much since the house was built 80 years ago. The tiled roof still has two gables on each side, inside which figurines of Lord Krishna and Lord Murugan have been carved on wood; the carving of Murugan on the right side of the building is obscured by the branches of the stately, old jackfruit tree that grows in the garden. “The gables had carved wooden borders too but they have since fallen off,” explains Leela.

Up the unpolished granite steps to the veranda and you’ll immediately feel like you are in an island of calm amid all the hullaballoo outside. The mosaic flooring (that was laid over the original cement flooring sometime in the 60s) and the timber ceiling polished with age offers an immediate respite from the heat outside. The family has also kept the original wooden windows and doors intact; each window frame, inside and outside, has glass panels painted with a flower and leaf pattern.

The living room with it high wooden ceiling is the centre of attraction of the house and is neatly arranged with a mix of original and colonial art deco furniture. Gracing the walls are several paintings of religious iconography such as a Tanjore painting of Lord Murugan [“embossed in Germany”] and a pencil and charcoal drawing of Lord Krishna, both of which Leela believes have been hanging in the same place since the beginning. There are also a couple of portraits on the walls, including a large one of a young Leela with her parents.

The living room leads off to bedrooms on either side, the prayer room and the dining room, which are more or less its miniature versions, high ceilings, mosaic floors, wooden widow frames et al.

It seems that the only part of the house that has been renovated is the kitchen and dining area and that too only a couple of years ago. “It had a beautiful sloping jali made of wood. We had to tear it down because the slats were infested with mice and were a haven for marapatti [Asian palm civet],” explains Leela. “The dining table came much later. Initially, the entire family used to take our meals sitting on the cement floor,” she recalls, as we make our way back to the small garden in front.

“There used to be a deep rivulet which ran in front of the garden. My father was afraid that we kids would fall into it, so he had it diverted to the back of the property,” says Leela.

(A fortnightly column on houses in and around the city that are more than 50 years old.)

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Nita Sathyendran / Thiruvananthapuram – February 20th, 2015