Skip to main content
Design Products (MA)

Shivangi Gupta

Series of baskets made with various materials and techniques by craftspeople from Moradabad.

Shivangi Gupta b.1996 is an interdisciplinary designer, maker and curator. Currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Design Products at the Royal College of Art (RCA), London; she received a BFA in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence in 2018. 

Gupta has most recently worked as a Curator at Nature Morte, a contemporary art gallery based in New Delhi.

Growing up in Moradabad, commonly known as the ‘pital nagri’ literally meaning abode of brass. She has fond memories of visiting factories/Karkhanas, looking at different vernacular crafts such as sand casting, metal etching, and aluminium weaving and seeing industrial machines and techniques in effect side by side. This has left her with a keen interest in the processes with which objects are made and the wider systems within which they sit. Within a trend-based industry and design-first mentality, what happens to vernacular craft? How do we balance the space between sustainability, technology and craft? Through her work, she wants to explore “The New Handmade”.

Degree Details

School of DesignDesign Products (MA)RCA2023 at Battersea and Kensington

RCA Battersea, Studio Building, Third floor

Screenshot of a basket for sale from the WBC website

My work attempts to materialise a concept of practice or the idea of working that places collaboration with artisans and craftspersons at its heart. It builds on the idea of lore and craft having been fascinated with craft as a landscape - of habitation, livelihood, and politics. It is at once an investigation into the chain of communication and execution between a designer and a maker, the socio-political landscape of such an exchange as well as an ethnographical study into the self as an embodiment of culture and as a repository of embodied knowledge passed down through generations. 

‘Language of Tools’ and ‘Second Nature’ both delve deeply into the craft of weaving together baskets. Making a basket is a way to understand important cultural teachings. As an object, it is immediate and versatile in material, form, and function. It becomes an interesting reflection on the cultural, environmental, economic, and social environment that these objects have been created within. For example, the paper mache baskets from India give a glimpse into its history as a migratory art form that travelled from Persia to Kashmir and then to the rest of India through its patrons and the composition of these baskets gives one an insight into the composition of local plantlife whereas the function and decorations give away the social ecosystems it exists within. Contrasting this with the importance of plaited baskets in the history of the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala can be traced to the abundance of palms in their respective ecosystems. Basketry is one of the first expressions of human culture, humans have been weaving pliable materials into three-dimensional shapes for nearly 10,000 years and as such it became a simple, direct everyday object with immediate recall to work with.


Image on the left: Screenshot of a basket for sale from the WBC website

 

The Language of Tools

2022-23

In ‘Language of Tools’, the primary area of investigation was the advent of mass manufacturing of ‘crafted’ objects, especially seen through my lens growing up in Moradabad, how it has affected the fabric of the city. Specifically, I was interested in the way that the local makers and processes of making have adapted to the tools and the speed that these new tools offer and what they are doing with them. To this effect I set out to recreate a mass-produced basket I spotted here in London that was made in India and reminded me of the handmade baskets woven by artisans back home using different materials and production methods available to me here in London and RCA. 

Series of baskets made from various materials
Series of baskets made from various materials

From left to right

Plastic Basket, 2022, PETG Plastic - Vaccum Forming

Silicone Basket, 2022, Brown Silicone Sealent, Corn Starch - Press Moulding

Clay Basket, 2022, Earthenware Clay - Press Moulding

Digital Basket, 2022, .obj - 3D Scanning

Powder Printed Basket, 2022, Polyamide. PA12. PA11 - 3D Printing

Paper Basket, 2022, Digital Print on 300gsm paper - 3D Modeling, Laser Printing, Laser cutting, Paper Craft 

Mild Steel Basket, 2023, 1mm Mild Steel - 3D Modelling, Metal Fiber Laser Cutting, Sand Blasting, TIG Welding

MDF Basket, 2023, 6mm MDF, Metalware - 3D Modelling, Laser Cutting

Wood Basket, 2023, Lime Wood - CNC Fabrication using a Robotic Kuka Arm

Ceramic Basket, 2023, Stoneware - 3D Modelling, 3D Printing, Linear Mould Making, Slip Casting

gif
process gif
gif of baskets in places they were made

Second Nature: Vessels of Habitation, Livelihood and Politics

2023

Throughout ‘Second Nature: Vessels of habitation, livelihood, and politics’, I worked with 8 craftsmen from Moradabad who work with different materials and processes ranging from traditional to contemporary. The process I set out to implement unfolded in 3-4 stages where the first and second stages were instigations without any design contribution from my end wherein the craftsperson brings to the table his understanding of the word ‘basket’ along with the material, form, and production method he chose to employ giving me an insight into what he (and his family/community) generally use baskets for and the environment he is surrounded by which influenced his decisions. The next step is where I step into the process and through dialogue and suggestions resulting in another basket that builds on the first two. For the last stage, I brought together two teams of craftsmen working with two different materials (and as a result different forms and processes) and together with them worked on creating a basket that borrows from both these sets of know-how and expertise resulting in an other basket that was born from this collaborative effort.

The aspiration is be “…a sober investigation into those values and qualities that Indians hold important to a good life” as the Eames once recommended the Indian Government to do and to find ways to engage with other cultural and geographical contexts while keeping those values and qualities intact in short our attitude is to be the “lota” of today’s world.

Baskets are one of the most important objects that also function as embodiments of culture.

nirmal glass blowing
glass
glass

I . Glass Baskets

titled from left to right

Nirmal Kumar, 1.1 – 1.7, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Glass

Nirmal Kumar & Riyasat Husain, 1.8 – 1.12/ 3.6 – 3.10, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Glass and Metal Wire


sheet metal bending
sheet metal
sheet metal

2 . Sheet Metal Baskets

titled from left to right

Md. Usman, 2.1 – 2.3, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Galvanised Steel Sheet

Md. Usman, 2.4 – 2.5, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Mild Steel Laser Cutting Scraps

Md. Usman & Md. Faheem, 2.6 – 2.7/ 8.5 – 8.6 2023, Dimensions Variable, Steel Sheet and Mango Wood


metal wire work
wire
wire

3 . Metal Wire Baskets

titled from left to right

Riyasat Husain, 3.1 – 3.5, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Aluminium Wire

Nirmal Kumar & Riyasat Husain, 1.8 – 1.12/ 3.6 – 3.10, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Glass and Metal Wire


casting
casting
casting

4 . Casted Metal Baskets

titled from left to right

Md. Ali, Asad Ali & Md. Yaseen, 4.1 – 4.6, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Casted Aluminium

Md. Ali, Asad Ali & Md. Yaseen, 4.7, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Casted Brass

Md. Ali, Asad Ali, Md. Yaseen & Md. Mobin, 4.8, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Casted Aluminium

Md. Ali, Asad Ali, Md. Yaseen & Md. Islam, 4.9 – 4.10/ 7.4 – 7.5, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Casted Aluminium


lacquer
lacquer

5 . Lacquered Baskets

titled from left to right

Md. Imtiyaz, 5.1 – 5.5, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Scrap Metal and Lacquer

Md. Imtiyaz & Vinod Kumar, 5.6/ 6.4, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Spun Aluminium and Spray Lacquer



spinning
spinning

6 . Spun Metal Baskets

titled from left to right

Vinod Kumar, 6.1 – 6.2, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Spun Aluminum

Vinod Kumar & Riyasat Husain, 6.3, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Spun Aluminum and Wire

Md. Imtiyaz & Vinod Kumar, 5.6/ 6.4, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Spun Aluminium and Spray Lacquer


carving
carving

7 . Carved Baskets

titled from left to right

Md. Islam, 7.1 – 7.3, 2023, Carved Mango Wood and Finish

Md. Ali, Asad Ali, Md. Yaseen & Md. Islam, 4.9 – 4.10/ 7.4 – 7.5, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Casted Aluminium


wood
wood

8 . Wooden Baskets

titled from left to right

Md. Faheem, 8.1 – 8.4, 2023, Mango Wood and Finish

Md. Usman & Md. Faheem, 8.5 – 8.6, 2023, Dimensions Variable, Steel Sheet and Mango Wood



Previous StudentNext Student

Social

About

Royal College of Art

Registered Office: Royal College of Art,
Kensington Gore, South Kensington,
London SW7 2EU