The motivation behind the design – the path

After a couple nights in a bad hotel in Pune, India, I rented a flat—four powdery, light green-washed cement walls with a lone, bare, unfrosted light bulb sticking out of one at a strange angle.

Surprisingly, the bulb lit. The room was attacked by daggers of harsh light.

I made a pilgrimage to Mahatma Gandhi Road:
part medieval strip mall,
part maze,
all noise and smell and chaos,
with back alleys not unlike the basement of my childhood.

I found strips of rosewood,
handmade paper,
twine,
some paste (presumably not made from cows' hooves),
and a cheap gent's saw.

I squeezed into a rickshaw with my treasures and careened back to my new home.

The path of lamp making had stumbled onto me.

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