A note of Folding and Materiality

This is a first person account. The technique of folding came to me as an un-self-conscious gift, an act of serendipity from Mother Nature, while learning to design gardens and observing nature closely. Leaves, flowers, stems, roots have folds in them (folds help to save energy and give structural strength to weak materials).

Our bodies are made of millions of folds - our eyelids to our brains, our intestines, the joints in the bones of our fingers, arms, legs and spines. The DNA from which we are made is all folded. Rivers, ocean coastlines and mountain systems are made by processes of folding, as rocks, water, soil and wind interact and fracture. Sea shells have folds inside them, as do sound and light waves when they move through space. Even gravitational space-time is made up of folds (Einstein proved this a 100 years ago!). Folding is one of the fundamental building techniques in the cosmos. My sculptural inspirations come from this treasure trove of folds (all around us and even inside of us)! Folding is my spiritual cord with the universe, my anchorage, and the act of folding is my prayer.

I experiment with a lot of materials - soft materials for interior projects like leather, plastic, wood veneer and hard robust materials for exteriors like copper, brass, stainless steel, mild steel, wood, glass, concrete, stone and ceramics for exteriors. This is the architect in me learning about materials by working with them hands-on. If not materially faithful, I stay faithful to the language of folds. There are two specific techniques in all my sculptures - Origami (folds only) and Kirigami (cuts + folds).