Dots. Lines. Checks
KAASH presented three bodies of work, each an exploration of the relationship between designers and crafts-persons, and of design with material. Plastic, metal, and leather were reimagined and handcrafted into lighting, seating, and artworks for KAASH’s first exhibition of 2025. The works expanded the lexicon of certain crafts and investigated the possibilities of both everyday and rarefied materials. Three different mediums with very different temperaments were patterned very simply — just dots, lines, and checks. The KASERA seating collection presents the vivid personality of Chettinad’s tape basket weaving practice. The checkered patterns are framed in a family of methodically simple structures that highlight their unique colour partnerships. Untanned leather from Dharmavaram stands as tall enigmatic light sculptures, AKASHA and SURYA. The works represent the technical essence of Tholu Bommalata leather puppetry, where the punctures and perforations through the skin of the material are key to light-play. Both works are new iterations of KAASH’s line of lightworks.
The many artistic possibilities of Bidri are highlighted through three sets of works: the TARA, so called because its gentle spray of silver and brass shows off on the black copper-zinc alloy like a galaxy of stars. The TANMATRAS are small wall sculptures that appear like the five senses of the human body. Then there’s BOWIE, a trio of Bidri figures embedded with flowing silver lines that may remind you of a pop-cultural icon.
