Pune based craft studio stirs up Twee culture in Konkan
Launched in 2019 as a Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship, Development and Research (CREDAR), the Olee Maatee studio, imparts training to local artisans and showcases terracotta and paper-māché products handmade in the Konkan.
With the noble idea to empower artists by training them,the creative head and founder, Bharti Pitre, 58, imparts training to 15-odd artisans in making tempting handmade collectibles and utility products. At last she gives the finishing touch by painting them herself.
Being an acclaimed paper-māché artist herself, her work had been shown at galleries such as Mumbai’s Jehangir Art Gallery, she is also quite popular with private collectors and strives to imbibe whatever she observed from life in those figurines. From a lively exchange in a chawl to a father telling a bedtime story to his son, or a woman about to take a selfie, the familiar moments and images people tend to overlook and small many details of life.
As kids are stuck within the fourwalls of their homes, Olee Maatee’s School Time figurine is a striking reminder of what we once took for granted: a mother with her son, waiting for the school bus. Pune-based craft studio, has been flooding their Instagram page and fans’ work desks and fridge surfaces with handcrafted collectibles — tiny gunny bags of garlic and onion, a mango crate, kingfisher tableware, rickshaw salt and pepper shakes, a Konkan hamlet even.
A range of collection like Sahayadris Hues and From Konkan with Love are available on its website at ₹500 to ₹13,500. The bamboo and terracotta used is generally locally sourced.
