A Rare Talent

A rare talent Artist, designer and maker is how Revati Jayakrishnan describes herself, and her work is a stunning testimony to all three.

- Revati Jayakrishnan

What led you to design?

RJ: I always loved making things, and engaged in a lot of extra-curricular activities throughout my time at school. I used to design and make things for my home and also school projects. My first experience of working with clay was a 10-day pottery workshop I attended in one of the malls in Gurgaon. This was when I was in class 10. Later I also took up Fine Arts-Painting as a subject in classes 11 and 12.

I knew for sure that I did not want to be an engineer or a doctor even though I scored well in academics. I pursued a Professional Undergraduate Diploma In Craft Designing at the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur, where I majored in fired material application (ceramics, glass, metal casting).

The four years at IICD, Jaipur proved to be a wholesome experience. We worked in craft clusters, factories, artist studios and even a museum, and it all gave me a much deeper understanding of crafts, culture and people. I went on to do an MA in Contemporary Crafts at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK. There I majored in ceramics, glass, and jewelry. I was able to work and develop my own project over an entire year and experience a completely different country and culture.

Tell us something about Rare Studios.

RJ: Long before we got into anything creative, my mother came up with the name Rare Studios, which is an acronym of my name and my brother’s name! It’s now the name of my Gurgaon-based venture.