Bharti Pitre and her team of artisans highlight these daily exchanges through these pieces
Bharti Pitre and her team of artisans highlight these daily exchanges through these pieces
How soon will our children return to offline learning? As parents debate it over our calendar, Olee Maatee’s School Time figurine is a charming reminder of what we once took for granted: a mother with her son, waiting for the school bus. Olee Maatee, a Pune-based craft studio, has filled its Instagram page and its fans’ work desks and fridge surfaces with handcrafted collectibles – tiny burlap sacks of garlic and garlic. onion, a crate of mango, kingfisher dishes, rickshaw salt and pepper shakes, a Konkan hamlet even.
Bharti Pitre
Launched in 2019 as a Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, Development and Research (CREDAR) and showcase of handcrafted Konkan products, the studio aims to empower artists by training them. Creative head and founder Bharti Pitre, 58, guides the 15 or so craftsmen, but does the final painting herself. “I try to immerse myself in all that I observe of life in my papier-mâché figurines. From a lively exchange in a
chawl to a father telling his son a bedtime story, or a woman about to take a selfie, familiar moments and images we tend to overlook are my muse,” says the famed artist in paper mache.
Olee Matee
Having exhibited in galleries such as the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, she is also popular with private collectors. The 15cm School Time Figure (₹11,500) effectively conveys the love and protection of a terracotta mother. The bamboo and terracotta used are of local origin.
Collections like Sahayadris Hues and From Konkan with Love are available at onoleemaatee.com; ₹500 to ₹13,500.