journal
BOTANICAL ARCHIVE
A house exists in two worlds, a world that you share with everyone and a world within, just for yourself. As an architect, I have the opportunity to step into both these worlds and help the person (client) explore their journey.
Being a photographer, Amit, wanted to pay homage to the first photography book but wasn’t sure how. This first book Cyanotype Impressions was a botanical documentation put together by Anna Atkins.
The idea slowly yet organically transformed into making ceramic tiles with imprints of the plants around the old house as well as the new, an archive in the form of tiles and not a book, but an archive nonetheless.
This involved, learning to work with clay, making clay tiles and understanding the glazing and firing process and most importantly foraging leaves and flowers.
Thankfully, both the glazing and firing were handled by a professional potter. But everything else, we learnt from scratch and got cracking, literally.
Para as design studio celebrates collaborative design processes where the journey of exploring an idea is as important as the idea itself.
The ups and downs of the trials and arriving at the final outcome are all part of the process of understanding materials and design.
