Manik Wandrekar’s recycled furniture speaks of legends, moments of inspiration and an intriguing personal journey, discovers Rachna Virdi

 
Manik Wandrekar has redefined the phrase ‘take a seat’. What she means is, take a seat, pause a while and let the chair tell you its story!

At her recent exhibition Installation Furniture at The Art Hub in Mumbai’s Atria Mall, the veteran interior designer takes you on a very personal journey. Most of her chairs and sofas have been made of recycled material but, more important, every work of art, quite literally, tells a story.

Wandrekar guides you to her favourite installation: a thaki, a wooden chair made of rubber tyres and covered with colourful fabrics. If you listen carefully, this chair will tell you of the legends associated with thaki, a genre of wooden dolls in rural India. Explaining that the dolls used to be dressed in fabric just like the kind she has used for her chairs, Wandrekar remarks, “I have seen thaki [the dolls], when I was a child at my grandfather’s house in Miraj, Sangli.” Next, she escorts you to the ‘Parmeshwar chair’. Designed in bright colours inspired by pop artist Andy Warhol, the sofa sports the face of the late Parmeshwar Godrej on one side (inset). “I have dedicated this to the memory of my first client, the late Parmeshwar Godrej,” she shares, inviting you to ‘listen’ to her next chair, centred on the theme that “people have taken the beautiful city of Mumbai for granted and ruined it with concretisation”.

“Some of these pieces will talk to you and even amuse you,” says the 75 year-old designer. “Not a single one is static or dumb. I’ve taken inspiration from the works of great artists and converted them into a threedimensional installation. I’ve tried to cut the distance between art and self. I want people to touch, caress, hold and feel it and not have a distant relationship with it.” Wandrekar’s unique collection of 60 thought-provoking pieces is divided into three series: Emotional, Recycle and Art-Based Furniture. For the recycled series, materials like old tyres, cloth, wood and chains have been used. “I hope it will challenge people’s thinking,” she says. Even the invitation card to her exhibition resembles a piece of paper torn from a fancy magazine. Her humble message to all: ‘Do not discard old furniture; redesign, remodel and recycle it.’

With her 47-year journey in design, a vast repertoire and VIP clientele, Wandrekar has worked tirelessly for a year to put together this exhibition. She has dedicated it to Prof S H Wandrekar, her late husband, guru and founder of Rachana Sansad, a leading school of art in Mumbai. “My husband died in 2014 and, after grieving for two years, I engrossed myself in this show. It helped me fill the vacuum in my life and keep my sanity.”

Photo courtesy: Manik Wandrekar
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
May 2017