So, I’m sitting here trying to think of a way to explain what India born, Sydney based paper artist Gunjan Aylawadi does… but in all honesty I really have no idea how she does what she does. Let’s just say there is a lot of paper, woven to look like intricate/patterned tapestries. Yes. She makes paper do this?! But don’t worry, she’s going to tell us how. Listen right up there under that insane “work in progress”, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, this is the original she recently sent to me. Mind. Blown…

Yeah, that’s in my house!? The photographs are fantastic, but I wish I could explain what it looks like in person. So, so, so good.

We talked about her love of geometry {perhaps a holdover from her computer science degree… computer science?!}, and I thought this piece, and the making of this piece, was a beautiful example to show how these perfect geometrics come to life:

Cra. Zy. Have I mentioned yet that she’s completely self-taught, and in fact, invented this technique? Yes. She did. Again, my mind is blown. And while we’re on that topic, I’ll show you this beauty:

It’s paper. I dunno. What I find even funnier, is that Gunjan claims she’s “not a very patient person”… UM, what!? She told me that in day-to-day life she is very impatient, but once she found this work, and while she’s immersed in it she becomes another person. She said it feels like someone else takes over, almost like a form of meditation. Here she is in action working on two HUGE “carpet” pieces:

Yeah. Not very patient. Right.

And now, on to the text pieces we were talking about… love it!

As if her technique isn’t brilliant enough, Gunjan’s reason for doing these text pieces just adds to the awesome-ness of this work. Such a smarty-pants.

Now, as usual, the speed round produced a few gems. Turns out she refuses to eat Vegemite, but claims to be a huge fan of anything dairy. Well, according to her Instagram feed, she wasn’t kidding:

Yep! Ice cream from around the world! Paris, Sydney, and Japan {and there are a lot more where these came from!}. If I make it to Sydney next year, I’m so making her take me to wherever that blue ice cream came from! Oh, another speed round tidbit – she would love to show her very analog work in Silicon Valley, so if you’re listening Facebook, Twitter, Google etc… CALL HER.

Ok, thanks so much to Gunjan for sharing her insanely inspiring story with us, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and thanks to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend. xo

Other links:

1. Elizabeth Gilbert TED Talk
2. Japanese Paper Place, Toronto
3. Broken Hill, Australia
4. Munga Park, Australia