In his most candid self, full of enthusiasm and avant-garde notions, the mastermind behind Anibrain and lead artist of Advanced Nature, Jesh Krishnamurthy, sits down for an exclusive interview with India Design ID. Krishnamurthy established Advanced Nature in 2020 with a core initiative of creating something inspiring during the pandemic. His newest collection, Aphorism, which was displayed at ID Mumbai 2024, is the focal point of our interview. While answering our questions, Krishnamurthy catechises some brilliant ideas on sustainability, raising awareness, and sharing anecdotes on basic practices. “Only what is simple is sustainable.” is our author’s admired takeaway from this interview. 

ID: Jesh, you are recognised as the mastermind behind Anibrain, a VFX studio. During the pandemic, you initiated your creative practice, Advanced Nature, with the initiative to do something good for the planet. What drove you to this practice?

JK: I think multiple things happened at that point. I think I’d been in the land of pixels for 30-35 years, just looking at pixels and working on film. So, I wanted to create an art practice just for me. I found this really interesting space in Pune. I wanted to explore furniture. I wanted to explore art, I wanted to explore different ideas, and then Covid happened. Then the whole crisis occurred, so many of India’s workers had to return home. I think it was very heartbreaking to watch that. In a way, I would say that Advanced Nature became a response to that.

ID: Advanced Nature is based on the premise of the chemistry of waste—I wonder if I should use this word discarded resources. What led you to choose these materials? 

JK: During the crisis, I wondered how we could bring waste into material making? How could we bring waste into form-making? And how could we embrace waste – or byproducts, rather? We don’t need to call it waste anymore. It has value; it has energy. The main thing is that it has energy, which lies dormant. So, I became interested in the chemistry of the ancient past, as our old structures yet remain. I realised that simple ideas could be quickly drawn from nature, right? So the use of things like molasses or urad dal, and, then, I started to combine that with the waste around us, whether it was agricultural, cellulose paper, textile, so that’s how the journey started with the material that was very Indian. One (artist) was looking at the old Indian ideas; the other was looking at modern materials. Then, I looked at modern waste, significant waste, things like slag, fly ash, etc. And then we looked at the chemistry of that. So, it just very organically expanded. We developed a form, a style, a colour palette, a philosophy, and a drying methodology because we avoided any external heat during the drying process. We just focused on what’s easy and what naturally comes to us, created a design language, and did not philosophise it, just directly, from heart to hand. It has to be easy because only what is simple is sustainable.

ID: This collection, Aphorism, amalgamates creativity, sustainability, and practical solutions to address environmental changes. What inspires the team to stay committed to this goal?

JK: (Pointing at Nikhil Pandey) You must ask the team. I don’t know; I think that we have this precise purpose. We are a practice. We come here to learn. We come there to find the next step. We are still determining the next step. It is a voyage of discovery because no one knows the future. So we come together wholly unqualified to do this. Nikhil is the most appropriately qualified human. And he is very, very skilled. 

Nikhil Pandey: (laughs) I want to object to this.

JK: But the core ethos is that everyone is an artist, and every artist is equal.

ID: Your team uses hazardous resources sometimes, like industrial waste. How do you practise caution?

JK: One is that we have a fully open space and use basic machinery, which avoids a dusty environment. From a toxicity perspective, the materials are non-toxic (within modern permissible levels) at the end of the day. The toxicology report happens for all wastes. Even conventional concrete and cement go through that. Ultimately, this is the same as working with cement or concrete.

ID: Turning scrap materials into new artworks is essentially infusing renewed life into one, which was something else. This reminds me of the story of the ship of Theseus, which asks if an object is broken and remade with the same materials, does it fundamentally remain the same or change? Is this something you think about when you work on the essence of an object and stay true to its core identity even after its transformation?

JK: Yeah. It’s an interesting question, and the idea applies even at the level we work on because of our work on the molecular level. When you look at any waste or byproduct, there is a chemistry there and that chemistry could potentially be harvested. There are two ways to answer your question. I’m not a philosopher, but if you look at it from the Western point of view, where we deal only with materiality, it’s a new kind of thing. The ship stays the same, but it is more in the sense of a reincarnation rather. 

ID: It makes sense when you speak about reincarnation because this (controversial) theory also applies to the human body. 

JK: Absolutely. The beautiful thing about these ideas is that they don’t have a singular fixed viewpoint. For us, we are not looking at waste. We are looking at something we “unlabel” and ask, what is the potential? One can only discover true potential until you have given it a name. The minute you define and say, “Hey, you are this”, a boundary gets created. So, at the core of a design philosophy, thought, or art practice is the question, how do you do this? Then ask, what is it?

ID: Jesh, your team has around twenty-eight craftspeople, and about eighteen products that were displayed at ID Mumbai. Would you like to take us through and tell us more? 

JK: It is truly a look at the imagination and the possibilities. One of the things that you will notice about the show is the diversity of ideas there–it can be small objects, significant, or more. And, of course, I think the pieces are beautiful, fun, and diverse. More than anything else, I believe that it will be just a place to walk in and say, “I’ve not seen that before.” or “Why is that made of waste?” or “How?” It is just a place where we can share the possibilities that exist. It may inspire somebody else to look at materiality differently or be more conscious of waste. It opens up the possibility of envisioning Indian handicrafts entirely differently. As for the show, are we showing the final object? Are we showing the philosophy or the process? The entire concept of what comes into our workshop does not resemble what goes out. I mean, it’s a bit of an exciting space, it’s a melting pot.

ID: For the final question, possibly the most cliche question before every interview ends: We get a lot of young designers, a lot of emerging artists, and product designers on our platform. Do you have any words of inspiration for them?

JK: Have fun, experiment, and play. You can play with a thought, you can play with an idea, you can play with waste, you can play with the most unsustainable material, you can play with robotics, you can play with AI, you can play. Play is a constant state of learning. Be open to the ideas floating today. It’s an amazing time. What is the barrier anyway?

ID: That is really insightful, Jesh. Thank you so much for doing this interview with us.

JK: Thank you. Our pleasure.

The collection, Aphorism by Advanced Nature was displayed at ID Special Project at India Design ID Mumbai 2024.