Can parts from an obsolete machine have any beauty? Artist and designer Abhishek Basak certainly seems to think so. An alumnus of the National Institute of Fashion and Technology, Hyderabad, Abhishek is among the few ambassadors of “steampunk” fashion in India, using machine parts, particularly those from vintage watches, to create functional objets d’art.
“My love for watches goes back to my childhood,” says Abhishek. “I love the mechanism, I love things that are vintage and antique. There used to be a certain amount of craftsmanship, skill and artistry to those things. They weren’t just functional objects — there were a lot of aesthetic elements put into Victorian designs. So I had a natural inclination towards designs and the art of that era.”
With recognition for his work on the rise, Abhishek quit a well-paying job last year to plunge into design full-time. All of his creative energy has been poured into his label Absynthe Design.
But would people in India actually invest in jewellery made out of scrap machine parts when they can buy it in gold? Abhishek admits that it is indeed a challenge to make his designs aesthetically appealing and desirable. However, he qualifies: “Even when watches were invented, their purpose was just to tell time accurately. But since they were so expensive, and only kings and the nobilities could afford them, they were made as pieces of jewellery pieces and not just as functional objects. It was a perfect culmination of technology and aesthetic art. My intention is to preserve and showcase that. Also, I feel that the beauty of the watch lies inside it. I wanted to bring that out and showcase it to people.”
Abhishek was also very clear on not merely creating avant-garde art that would be showcased in a gallery, but on creating something people would wear/use. Therefore, wearability, aesthetic appeal, user-friendliness and durability are all important criteria for his designs. “I want them not just to lie in someone’s showcase, but to be worn and become a conversation piece.
So apart from being steampunk and unique, the pieces need to have a feminine touch as well. It was very challenging to find that balance where they don’t look too mechanical for women (or men for that matter) to not like them. On the other hand, they can’t be so feminine that the watch mechanism itself starts looking out of place,” he says.
To achieve that balance, Abhishek works with stories, and each of his creations has a history that at least one person can identify with. “After all, with each piece being unique, I need only one person to identify with it. While sometimes, the watches came with their own stories and histories, at other times I had to use my imagination to create a story for them. But you will find that each and every piece of my work has a story. And that’s why I never give a serial number to my works, I give them names,” Abhishek tells us.
With a design journey that began when he crafted a pendant for a friend, using his mother’s old watch., Abhishek now creates everything from pens, cufflinks, table lamps, and even music systems, videogames and USB drives from his vintage material.
He says there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing. “While working for a multi-national company on packaging design, I missed creating things with my own hands. And now that I have got that back, I don’t want to do anything else,” he says. “My dream is to design everything in the world, and do it in my own style — even if I design only one piece of each.”
