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So what do you make of a floor-lamp that has an inverted tawa as its base, an exhaust pipe as its main body and a coarse cane basket for lampshade? Like they say: you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
If it’s Arun Verma’s signature furniture you are gawking at, then chances are that you’ll be staring at centre tables made from mini cycle tyres and lamps twisted out of cycle chains and wires. Basically, bits of metal that have been discarded are swiftly transformed into Verma’s raw materials.
As word has spread about Verma’s quirky lifestyle accessory designs, his clientele has multiplied and is taking into its fold NRIs and countless private homes across the country. Now he can no longer sustain his creativity on metal that his friends and relatives helpfully discard when they spring clean. So, it’s not an unusual sight to find Verma browsing in mechanic shops, flea markets and junkyards.
Having literally hand-picked the metal in myriad shapes and sizes, the 35-year-old production engineer then gets down to the task of fashioning lifestyle accessories from this scrap metal. He calls his technique ‘assemblage art’ because he says he simply assembles objects without destroying their original character.
The basis of his design sensibility is to retain the natural form or look of scrap/discards and to fashion them into unique new objects. “I don’t like to spoil anything even though it’s a discard that I’ve picked up. I retain every piece in whatever state it is in and try to enhance its appeal,” he says. And that could be any old odds and ends: an old pressure cooker, an exhaust pipe or even a cycle chain. No wonder then that Verma’s workshop is full of pleasant surprises.
The better part of Verma’s day is spent designing sculpture and home accessories at his workshop in Noida on the fringes of Delhi. These later find their way into his showroom in Shahpurjat in south Delhi.
But the other part of him is a cutting-edge corporate who runs Arun Verma Design Studio, a one-stop-creative-shop for marketing communications, graphic design, advertising, lighting design and installations. His consultancy projects in these fields are spread across the country and even far away US. So some 40 per cent of Verma’s products are commissioned. “An increasing number of people want exclusive products,” he says.
Verma dons yet another hat. Creativegarh, a firm that he founded a while ago represents a worldwide community of creative people from all walks of life. It’s here that Shalini, his wife, lends him a helping hand.
It all began for Verma when as a child he was completely fascinated with wires, nuts and bolts. Growing up in Shimla, Verma admits to being quite fidgety and curious and always searching for ways to recycle discarded objects.
“I was the handyman at home who fixed everything from the iron to the washing machine that was broken,” he says. Everything from discarded egg trays to broken utensils became his tools.
After his schooling at St Edward’s School in Shimla, his father persuaded him to take up engineering at Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College in Aurangabad. His father’s decision, according to Verma, was prompted not by his creative inclination but rather by the conventional demands of society to get into a professional field. “In a small town it was a natural thing to get into a career.”
After graduating, Verma arrived in Delhi in 1994 to embark on what he calls a creative journey.
trends
Verma says that this is the age of functional designs with attitude and his work is rooted in this philosophy. “People are demanding cutting-edge designs that are also high on the utility factor,” he points out. For instance, his range of lamps is defined by high functionality.
In terms of the look and feel of the furniture, Verma says that people are looking for designs with elements of raw metallic work in them. According to him contemporary designs sell best but he finds that the highly- polished end-products tend to lose some of their character. “Even contemporary products must exude something of the original elements of the materials used,” he says.
Since Verma mostly works with scrap metal, most of his products be it heavy-duty furniture or home accessories have a rustic look which makes the pieces exclusive. “One factor that ensures exclusivity is that no two pieces of scrap metal are identical,” he says.
His designs are also determined by the material he can lay his hands. “Sometimes I have specific designs in my mind but at other times I just have to come up with something entirely different depending on the shape and size of the material,” he says.
Verma’s designs are therefore sought after by his clients as they can be sure that the products are exclusive and that the same piece will not be found in another home.
Scrap metal may be the material after his heart, but Verma also teams wood, glass and other metal alloys with scrap. “This enhances the looks of the scrap metal,” Verma says.
designs
His eclectic range of products comes in an equally eclectic price range and you could be paying anywhere from Rs 750 to under Rs 1 lakh at his store. His collection of sculpture again sells for varying prices and retails for anywhere between Rs 750 and 70,000. The lamp series is pegged between Rs 750 and 40,000, and the range of furniture comes at between Rs 6,000 and Rs 25,000.
Verma lovingly names each and every piece. Like the Chain Tower which is a lamp made of old cycle chains and topped with a neat cotton shade. Contentment, is a metal figure of a man reclining with a book. The Idea Chair is a chair designed from old iron rods that have been wielded together.
In between, Verma has also found time to write two books. But currently, he’s very excited about designing his first-ever chandelier from scrap metal. “The design is right there in my head and I am extremely inspired at the moment,’’ he says. And going by his designs, Verma never seems to be short on inspiration. |
