Editor's Note.
This issue may not be true, but its definitely real. These existential questions of truth and reality are ones that trouble us most in our late teens, when we are being transformed most rapidly, both physiologically as well as psychologically. Truth was always deduced by a process of logic: If a is more than b and b is more c, then a is more than c. That is true, and therefore a kind of axiom. Then, as we grew older, we learnt about the 'paradoxes'. If a is a liar and claims that this sentence is false, is it true?
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By Astha Butail, Issue 13, The Fiction Issue, October 2012
Astha Butail, an artist with a sharp sense of design shares some of her creations from her wardrobe. She utilizes unlikely materials and transforms them into ornament. The greatest stories have also the greatest arcs, wherein a character and his setting changes so dramatically from his initial self, that the reader too undergoes a self-discovery. And just as all great stories have running thematics, so do her creations have common lines, colors, materials and cuts.
In 2008, on a visit to my hometown, Shimla, I spotted a white umbrella, speckless and beautiful and literally fell for it! I not only purchased a few but converted them into fashion umbrellas with many quirky embellishments. I've always had an umbrella fetish, full in its protection and shiny synthetic stretch.
By 2009 I began using this umbrella material to make my clothes and accessories and even some home furnishings.The inspiration was so strong that without a real plan my clothes were becoming dramatically influenced by the round and robust umbrella form! People ask me all the time: can I touch your dress? What material is this. Will it tear? Is it real?
By 2009 I began using this umbrella material to make my clothes and accessories and even some home furnishings.The inspiration was so strong that without a real plan my clothes were becoming dramatically influenced by the round and robust umbrella form! People ask me all the time: can I touch your dress? What material is this. Will it tear? Is it real?
The illusion of the appearance of my garments and the reality with which I wear them makes for the best kind of fiction: an art of deception, design that is both conceptual and functional.
I love bags, big and small, and started designing bags since 2007 onwards. The newest material I have been using is wood, and the latest bags are wooden felt clutch bags, the shapes are not static yet very structural and appear as different objects to different people depending on the angle and height with which they view the bag.
Small things inspire me, such as a deep breath or a breeze or the sound of rain or rain swirls or drops or echoes or a child's giggle perfume infusions or even an ants' trail!
You want to guess what this is made of?
Pipes and felt. I just felt pipes.
A monks hat? A snail? A box of valentines?
Astha Butail was born in Amritsar and brought up in Shimla. She studied fashion, but has also been deeply influenced by her study of the Rig Veda in Vedic Sanskrit in Auroville.
Also in this issue
Illusion: Seeing Beyond Seeing
Meaning: In Search of Significance.
Melody: A Different Tune
Rhythm: Ordering Time