'Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time'
-Thomas Merton
‘Mansha’ means desire and Artmansha stems from a desire to bring art into everyday living- to elevate our ‘everyday’, to surround ourselves with more positivity and creativity in everything around us and to infuse more life in the mundane.
Anywhere I would travel in India, I’d be enamoured by what the local markets had on offer – beautiful everyday things but crafted with such finesse by local artisans that an otherwise ordinary object like a set of coasters or even a small basket seemed like something to carry back and put on display at home. And rightly so - these products are a culmination of art forms practised over centuries in those areas and techniques passed down by generations.
Yet, I would often find myself wondering – why then are these products not in every home?
India is home to more than 7 million artisans but they continue to struggle because of the market being largely unorganized and these products still being sold primarily in the local markets.
On one hand, materials like plastic find their way to your neighbourhood store quite easily and on the other hand, these pieces of fine craftsmanship made of natural materials like wood, clay, bamboo, marble etc have still not made their way into every corner of our home.
Artmansha is a step in this direction. It’s a curation of beautiful handpicked products made by artisans from different corners of our country. I truly hope that these products bring more beauty into your life as they’ve brought to mine.
Disha Anand
(Founder, Artmansha)
'The principle of true art is not to portray but to evoke.'
- Jerzy Kosinski