“I first stumbled upon the art of paper quilling about five years ago when I was in my second year of PGDP in Interior Design. A bunch of the first years belonging to another department had made a thank you card for their seniors following the freshers party that was given in order to welcome them into our college. The card was displayed, for everyone to see, on the notice board. I remember being thoroughly amazed at how the beautiful pattern, in front of me, was actually made with strips of paper that gave it a sort of three-dimensional effect. I remember touching it and wondering how one could possibly be so talented as to transform mere strips of paper into such an amazing art. I also concluded that I would never acquire the skill or the patience required to deliver something of that sort. Every time I passed by it, my conclusion on my abilities in this regard only seemed to grow stronger. After about 2 years, one of my best friends happened to re-introduce me to the said art. While accompanying her in shopping for Paper Quilling Material, she managed to convince me into buying a small Paper Quilling set for myself for she firmly believed that I would enjoy the art form. A couple of days later, I tried it out and realised, that I was foolish in having thought of myself as incapable of working with this material because it was so exciting to see how a few simple strips of yellow paper could be converted, with a bit of rolling and pinching and sticking, into a pretty yellow flower. I found out, that more than skill, quilling requires patience, and the very process of quilling felt like meditation to me. The yellow flower found its place on a gift card for a little kid. It was then followed by a small quilled imitation of a blue car and then, a dog and then, a red bike and so on. I soon found myself being extremely drawn to the art form. I learned that it was known as Paper Filigree and was in practice since the 18th century by noble women who used this art form to decorate boxes, baskets, frames etc. It is now very popular among many people and there are a lot of schools. I employed all my spare time in quilling. I have not been able to stop myself ever since. I began experimenting, reproducing works of art and started gifting my close friends and family with framed Quilled artwork. Everyone liked it. It seemed to have that personal touch as it is handmade and it felt like doodling or creating a painting with strips of paper that could be customised according to what would suit the end user. The work complimented the space around it. However, I somehow feel, pictures do not do much justice to the artwork itself. One has to see it and hold it, in order fully understand it. Thus, I started by own brand named “Cartouche” in 2016. It is the result of all that and about four years of practice, and learning and lots of encouragement from close friends and family and support from my cousin. I know, that this form of art would never cease to surprise, mesmerise and amaze me. With every work of Quilling I create, there is something new I learn. That’s the best part about this for me. I took it up as a career after we shifted to a village where we lived for three years. I wanted to do something and since coming to the city and working was a little difficult, I decided to give selling art a try. There are however, few challenges I face through this. Since this is now my full-time job, there are a lot of people who think it is not good enough as one. I find myself doubting my decision too. And it obviously has to help me make as much as I would make if I were going to a regular job. Depending entirely on this is quite scary so I just have to accept any order that comes my way and try and fulfil it on time. That means forgetting about things such as sleep, entertainment etc whenever needed. There are extremely busy months and sometimes there is nothing at all, so this unpredictability makes me feel insecure. And since this is art, these products are mostly customized and the fear of rejection is always there. I get scared every time I send a picture of the completed work for the customer to see it. Sometimes, the person who frames can be busy or my health may act up, I may run out of ideas, or the necessary colour of paper. I cannot always be very regular with updating my social media handles and planning those posts take time too! But I am in here for the experience. It amounts to lots of precious learning and with all the challenges that come with it, the minute the customers say they like it, it all feels worth it. For now, I don’t have a long-term plan as such with this because I like to take things one day at a time. That is what has worked best for me. And I like how this is growing slowly and beautifully and I like where Cartouche is today. I think I will give it my best and would like to see how it grows further.”

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