The craft

Repoussé,
by hand.

Repoussé is one of the oldest ways of working metal. The relief is pushed outward from the back of a sheet, then defined from the front by chasing. Nothing is cast, pressed or cut by machine.

A craft once common across the subcontinent is slowly disappearing.

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.
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.
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.
04Chasing
Turned over, the surface is defined from the front with punches and chisels, the qalam. Lines are sharpened, edges set, texture struck in.
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.
06The work
Finally the work is polished, finished and framed. Three to four days of hammering for most pieces; weeks for the most complex.

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.
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.
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.
04Chasing
Turned over, the surface is defined from the front with punches and chisels, the qalam. Lines are sharpened, edges set, texture struck in.
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.
06The work
Finally the work is polished, finished and framed. Three to four days of hammering for most pieces; weeks for the most complex.

The tools

The bench.

Four things on the table, and eighteen years of knowing how to use them.

Chithrai hathora: The chasing hammer. Every strike that shapes the metal comes from it.
Qalam: Punches and chisels, each with its own tip, used to draw lines, set edges and strike texture.
Wax bed: Supports the sheet while it is worked, so the metal can move without tearing.
Fire: Heat keeps the brass workable between stages of hammering.

Close detail of hammered leaves and flowers in a finished relief

Chasing tools resting on a raised brass surface

Macro detail of aged patina on brass

Corner of a finished relief set in a dark wooden frame

Every mark was
made by hand.

Meet the artist →See Drop 001 →