Making a point: Pencils inspire artist into making furniture

Bilal Asif showed the 10,365 pencils he has collected from 16 different countries

KARACHI:

After his success with jewellery made from pencils, the young artist Bilal Asif has expanded his talents to bigger woodworks and is now making furniture.

Asif, 21, is using his house in North Karachi as his studio where he keeps his new collection of chairs, tables, chandeliers, embroidered shirts, etc.

“After collecting several pencils from schools, friends and even from the streets I came up with the idea of recycling them and make something interesting out of it,” Asif told The Express Tribune as he showed the 10,365 pencils that he has collected from 16 different countries.

His collection of pencil-inspired jewellery was quite successful and now Asif has taken a step forward to make entire furniture from pencils. “I have a dream to build a pencil house for the pencil furniture I am making,” he said. The young artist eventually wants to build a pencil museum where people from across the world will come to see his talent.

Since the young man is also doing his BSc, it took him eight months to build the table and four chairs. The bed is still incomplete, he added. “I have yet to make a swing, a sofa, photo frames, a cupboard and clocks,” he said. He spends an average of six hours a day on this hobby.

Designing the table to look like a pencil was easier for Asif but it took him time to perfect the look. “To give it a proper pencil look, I used laminate sheet and aluminium in place of the eraser,” he explained.

Asif pointed out that he does not use any paint or colours in his art. “I use original lead when using different colours,” he said, adding that it is not a simple process. “Just the inner part of the table design took me more than two months because each corner was made separately.”

The artist also uses eyeliner and lip pencils for his works as he feels they are more colourful. “The chairs are stronger and more reliable than others because I have kept in mind their weight and balance quotient,” he said, adding that he has used good quality wood.

Since he learned to use pencils on his own, Asif is not keen on selling his works to make profit. “I just wanted to make something unique to depict a better and positive picture of our country,” he said. Asif received a shield from the president of Pakistan on International Youth Day last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2015.