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Nothing here is machine made.

Hand-repoussé brass artworks, shaped in Lahore.

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02The collection

Drop 001 —
Court & Garden

Three studies drawn from Mughal architecture and its symbols: the window, the screen and the tree. Each is raised from brass by hand, in editions of three, seven and nine. 19 works in total.

01 / 03Jharokha DarshanThe Royal Jharokha
Large · Edition of 3
03The material

Every mark
has a maker.

Look closely. Each indentation in this surface was struck by hand, in sequence, each one depending on the last. The surface is a record of the time spent making it.

i · Hammer marks
ii · Chasing lines
iii · Patina
iv · Edges
04The craft

From sheet
to surface.

Repoussé: the relief is pushed out from the back, then defined from the front. Six stages, all by hand.

  1. 01Sheet

    Every work begins as a flat, unmarked sheet of brass, cut to the size of the finished piece. Nothing about it yet suggests a form.

  2. 02Drawing

    The design is drafted on paper first, studied from the architecture it comes from. Then it is transferred line by line onto the sheet.

  3. 03Hammering

    Working from the back of the sheet, the form is pushed outward with the chasing hammer, the chithrai hathora. This is repoussé: the relief is raised, not carved.

  4. 04Chasing

    Turned over, the surface is defined from the front with punches and chisels, the qalam. Lines are sharpened, edges set, texture struck in.

  5. 05Refinement

    The metal is heated to keep it workable, then reworked. Each stage builds on the marks before it, until every line serves the drawing.

  6. 06The work

    Finally the work is polished, finished and framed. Three to four days of hammering for most pieces; weeks for the most complex.

05 · The artist

The hand
behind WARQ.

Muhammad Sohail has worked brass for eighteen years. He learned the traditional methods from his mentor. Every work in Drop 001 was made by his hands.

“Every strike leaves something behind. The hammer is what joins my hands to the finished piece.”
Years at the hammer
18
Days for a single work
3–4
Workshop
Lahore
Meet the artist →
06 · Lahore

From the court to the sheet.

Each work begins with a building: its windows, screens and gardens. Motifs are studied, redrawn and only then struck into brass.

  1. 01 · Architecture
  2. 02 · Detail
  3. 03 · Pattern
  4. 04 · Drawing
  5. 05 · Brass
07 · The archive

An archive in progress.

WARQ is building a body of work over time. Each drop studies one set of forms from the region’s history.

  1. 001Court & GardenMughal forms · Current
  2. 002In studyPersian-Islamic forms
  3. 003In studyGeometries
  4. 004In studyRegional heritage
08 · Provenance

Every work
is accounted for.

Each work comes with a numbered certificate recording its collection, edition, artist, technique and year. Scan the code on it to see the work’s record on warqstudio.com.

Verify a certificate →

The hand leaves
a history.

Explore the collection →