Lukasha Varshney is a sculptor and ceramic artist based out of Dharamkot Studio, where she teaches sculpting and handbuilding while pursuing her own body of work. She graduated from the College of Art, Delhi University, and has since developed a practice rooted in clay compositions designed for interior spaces.

Nature is her biggest influence, though she also draws from whatever’s currently occupying her mind, a mood, texture and passing phase. Alongside this exploratory work, she has a real love for handbuilt, functional pieces that are as usable as they are expressive. She also takes on custom commissions, shaping pieces around what each client envisions.

Artist Statement: My work begins with sketching, whatever I’m feeling in that moment, those sketches and the emotions behind them fold into each other and slowly, form starts to emerge. I build primarily with clay, using the coil method, letting pieces grow as large as five feet, everything is fired and glazed so the texture and color hold. Metal and fibre often find their way in too.

Across the work, some pieces are one of a kind, quiet sculptural objects made to live in a home as a single piece. Others are made in sets, produced with the intention of being shared more widely and some are large scale abstract forms, each one unrepeatable.

I want my work to feel familiar before it feels abstract. There’s often a feeling of tree bark texture or a bird’s claw or a bird wing. These aren’t literal, but they carry meaning, inspiration comes by nature and the freedom of birds, and I want it to find its way into every home. When someone looks at a piece of mine, I want them to feel that same sense of freedom, and the calm that nature gives.