Anupama Rao - Talent of the week

 I mentioned in an earlier post that I do not have to look far while scouting for talent. How true!! This weeks talent is Anupama Rao, who is family. Anupama is a jewelry designer based in New Jersey.

  Anupama has been designing jewelry as a hobby since a long time. However she started designing for personal and commercial purposes about three years ago.  To improve her craft and to master the finer techniques used in stringing, beadwork & beadweaving, all Anupama needed was a week's training.

 She says she is inspired by the environmental conditions around her and sometimes even by the feedback of her friends and customers about her pieces. Not all her work stems from inspiration, some pieces just come to life in her hands or some fun with colours may turn out a into a beautiful piece.

Anupama's favourite style to work with is stringing/beadwork mainly using beading wire or artistic craft wire & chains. She says she is not a fan of beadweaving but does use the technique when the piece calls for it.

 Anupama extensively uses Crystals (Swarovski, Czech & Celestial) & Pearls (Swarovski, Czech & Cultured Freshwater) in her work as she loves these kind of beads. Below is one of her creations with this material

 

 

Till today Anupama has created necklaces, earrings, bracelets, bookmarks, anklets, watches, and eyeglass holders. Her pieces are customized based on what her clients want.

When we asked Anupama about her plans for the future she said "I'm not looking at my jewelry-making expertise as my source of income in the long run, but mostly as a medium of sharing my creativity with others around me & as a de-stresser, besides being busy with my other day jobs & chores."

If you want to get customised jewelry, now you know where to go :)

Talent of the week - Swapna koganti

 When I started looking for talent to introduce on my page every Thursday, I realised I did not have to look too far. I'm surrounded by such wonderful and talented people.

Today's talent is Swapna Koganti. She is a dear friend and a published author. Her first telugu book, named 'gajugayi' was released in 2010. Swapna is a software engineer by profession and a writer at heart.

 Gajugayi is the story of Swapna's maternal grandmother Anasuya. The story captures her journey from an innocent little girl to a determined woman. I will mention more about the book in one of my book reviews.

 

The cover page of Gajugayi

Swapna believes todays generation though talented has no time to understand and follow the values and ideals of the past and we barely know about many traditions. She wanted the world to read about her grandmothers life, so they would know the importance of education and sticking to values in one's life.

 Swapna is a voracious reader and loves to write. She hopes to run a magazine of her own someday. She is a keen observer and we can notice this in her writing style. Let's hope this multi talented writer comes up with more such wonderful books. Here's wishing her all the best.

P.S - I know I did not do justice to Gajugayi. I am saving it for the book review :)

Talent of the week - Ramamani

 When I started this blog, I thought I would introduce new talent. But, the talent I am going to introduce is not new at all :).
She has been a music teacher for more than 30 years , having trained more than a 100 students. Our talent for this week is Ramamani Gujjari - My mom :).

 Ramamani was trained in south Indian classical music at the Maharaja college in Vizianagaram dist, Andhra Pradesh, India. She is proficient in playing the Veena as well.

 Being raised in a family that has a strong affnity towards arts, she also decided to learn painting and machine embroidery. Over the years she has mastered quite a few crafts and teaches them to young students at her art school, Toolika Institute of Arts, in Hyderabad.

A Machine Embroidered picture

 She was well known for her 'bommala koluvu' in the town of Kakinada where she lived for about 10 years. Every year was a new theme , and the settings and the dolls were all hand made.

 She believes there is no end to learning and never tires experimenting or learning new crafts. Some of the classes she takes at her institute are, Fabric/ Oil /water colour painting, Glass painting, Quilling, craft classes for kids, Hand Embroidery, pot painting, Decoupage, Pencil sketching. Embossed painting, Satin ribbon work, Faux Tanjore painting, Tie n Dye, Acrylic painting. This is apart from the Vocal and Veena classes.

Some of her works