Vipin Joe of Chacko weighs in on the collectibles vs limited edition debate, and believes good design will always be the ultimate game-changer

It’s an unforgiving summer day in the suburbs as I make my way to the heart of the industrial hub in Mumbai. The smell of fresh ink from the printing press and that of freshly shaved plywood from a workshop across fight for dominance while the slow hum of the machines and pitched voices of the workers handling them create a canvas, now signature to what one knows as a gala. Further down, a brass nameplate reads Chacko. The workshop is spread across two galas, across each other. “We have just got the other one, it’s still being set up,” says Vipin Joe of his studio cum workshop. The workshop is on the ground floor on the left, and is buzzing with activity. On the floor, a version of the King of Spades triptych mirror is in various stages of build. “I wanted to work with a friend of mine, Ashwin Mallya, the piece was just a bahaana,” laughs Vipin. The King of Spades brings Ashwin’s expertise in heritage tile design and research into historical ornamentation to the fore, marrying linework with precise machining and hand craft. The piece is a study in Art Deco, “I knew it was going to be an opulent statement, but we decided to just go hard at it,” says Vipin.

The past year was intense at Chacko and at the centre of it were some insanely creative collaborations where chaos and craft found a harmonious balance. Vipin says, “I love seeing where, what and how someone or I can join the dots, and sometimes finding that dot means going to the core of what that person might be good at. It’s a pursuit I love — de-layering and discovering.” Having collaborated with people that view their practice as craft has given him a new perspective. “Some of the work they are doing is stunning, it's love, and I know how many pieces must have got spoiled to get to this point, there were no shortcuts,” he says sounding equal parts elated and impressed. Mehfil is a piece like that. What started off as a conversation between him, Italian fine artist, Gaia Cairo and Joe of Sampige and Co went on to become this exquisite, laborious and complicated piece of work. Her captivating illustration of the lion-tailed macaque was brought to life by Sampige and Co with intricate marquetry using 10 different species of wood from different parts of the timber with no stains to match the watercolour gradients.

Despite the spotlight on his studio for these exquisitely crafted pieces, Vipin is clear, “We are not making art, we are making pieces that are beautiful and have artwork embedded in them. We are a young practice that is probably making editioned pieces and not collectibles. That needs time and provenance, and we are not there yet.”

Curious, perceptive, and unafraid of speaking his mind, he says, “I want to understand how the relationship between craft and commerce works from a deeper lens, because this craft-saviour idea that is happening today is whole lot of smoke. Nobody is actually the maker. I admit, neither am I. But I'm close because I am working it (the details) out in the workshop and not in a remote studio. If you say you're a perfectionist, that drive for perfection should cost you. Is it something that you would sacrifice for or not,” says Vipin objectively, “It would be interesting to know if all these craftsmen are not there anymore, what would designers design?”

He’s acutely aware that as a small studio, working in the ever-evolving design landscape while keeping an eye on the market demands is critical to business. “But there's also a risk in getting carried away by that. You might just end up feeding in to it. It is important that we don’t end up shaping our design narrative as just a ritual.” This is where his experience as an industrial designer acts as a catalyst. He believes one can build influence in two ways, “One is - can you distribute? And for that, you'll have to be a manufacturer - less price but everywhere. Or two - can you be that cool in what you do and create that amount of beauty that makes the piece desirable?” he elaborates.

As an industrial designer, he loves seeing things made in large numbers, in batches. “There’s a certain amount of engineering that goes into making something cost-effective and material efficient. I would love to see my practice trickle down into a mass manufacturing language as well where some can be single edition pieces while ideas and concepts from it can trickle down to larger numbers, the idea is to eventually make good design accessible for everybody.”