‘Crating’ artwork

Artistic young minds of the IVS turn crates into creative pieces.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” the author of this phrase probably never realised how true it could turn out to be for the artistic young minds of today who have up-cycled this cliché.

In today’s world of weird yet amazing art, some of the most remarkable pieces can be seen in a work by five energetic IVS’( Indus Valley School of Arts) architecture students, Aasiyah Zaidi, Amun Junejo, Sofia Kamran, Joveria Rahim and Marium Hyder. Using crates, these students have managed to create an inspiring work of art from abandoned refuse and named themselves the ‘Craters’.

As for how they came up with this idea, the Craters say, “Being architecture students, we constantly faced issues of sustainability, environment friendliness, green buildings, and soon realised how big a mess the world has become due to all our wasted materials.” And as it is said, to bring about a big change one needs to work from the grass-root level. “We decided to start making changes, one baby step at a time. The first thing we realised we need to do is to recycle. So we looked around us for materials taken for granted and usually wasted after a couple of uses. We found crates to be one such material. To make these crates everlasting, we decided to make an art piece out of it,” explained the Craters. Their target clientele is the youth, as they believe that they are the ones who have to take a stand to bring about a change. “It is now up to our generation to do whatever is needed to prevent the further deterioration of the environment. Thus, the Craters focus at promoting the idea of recycling in a creative way,” the students added.

Elaborating on their work, the Craters say, “We paint portraits and also take customised orders, whatever our clients want us to paint on the crate. Once you have ordered, you receive your crate from the IVS campus at a given time and date. For getting your portraits painted on the crate, one needs to attach the photograph with the order mail.”  As for the price for every piece of art, the Craters say, “The cost of a crate depends on the size and what one wants on it; however, the basic cost stays the same for our designs as well as for customised ones.  But if one wants more graphics on a smaller size, the cost may vary.”

What ‘The Craters’ are doing is a commendable initiative to promote both recycling and the love of art amongst the youth. Their artwork can also be seen on facebook here.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2011.