Vijay Soni were apprenticed when he was small boys. He was reluctant to enter the vocation which their ancestors had practised and refined for 350 years in Mathura, home of the god Krishna. Before that the family were gold and silver smiths for creating decorations for their temple. For the Vijay Soni, his parents were gurus. “Until you practise and play with with your craft you can never master it. You have to learn to make it your own.” He also makes stencils for use on furniture and for borders on walls. The cut-work patterns have a playful aesthetic, ethereal as snowflakes and with a formal symmetry more usually seen in Islamic stonework, but this craft is very much Hindu in origin and content. Creating a wonder out of paper needs a zen-like stillness and tranquillity which is a kind of meditation, if not worship. He has stencils in traditional patterns for sale and will post them to anywhere in the world.
Medium - Hand cut work on paper
30''X20''
Medium - Hand cut work on paper
25''X15.5''
Medium - Hand cut work on paper
74''X31''
Medium - Hand cut work on paper
38''X36''
