Craft Beton: Where concrete meets art

This is not an ordinary piece of jewellery. Is it a piece of art you could ask. A figment of imagination? Stone work with diamonds? In reality this is a piece of concrete. Literally.

Craft Beton, Piece Of Jewellery

Yes it's made of stuff that we normally see getting mixed in concrete trucks. Yes made of stuff that we come across on construction sites. But the beauty about it is that it's a binder. It keeps things together. And therein lies its art. These are beautiful installations, made of cement. Yes that unsexy lump has a story to tell. And it's own way of weaving into other peoples story.

A bunch of artists were huddled up in a farm outside of Delhi and given a truck load of cement to play with. What they came up with were minimalist designs in cement with reflections and art that have been never been expressed before. As an effort of a company, in this case Dalmia Bharat, in the unsexy cement business this was thinking out of the box. For everyone who attended the evening, almost none knew what they were in for.

Giving an opportunity to the usual to look avant garde is a daring new experiment but one that must be done. Interpretations in art, allowing for the creation of a new language could unlock the unimportant to the important. The concrete to the creative.

Among artists on display one was a dynamic lady - Iti Tyagi who is the founder of craft village and a believer of sustainability and art. Some of her work was on display. Tyagi said, “Initially unimaginable, working in cement as a medium of fine art was an intense experience. It was challenging, engaging, exciting and very enriching in terms of outcome. The sheer range of possibilities the material lends itself to, is truly impressive. Cement is now a material of choice.”

Puneet Dalmia, Managing Director, Dalmia Bharat Group said, “We are delighted and very excited to introduce Craft Béton. This is not just a product line. It reflects a paradigm shift in the perception, use, and application of cement. By demonstrating the sheer versatility of this material, Craft Béton has demonstrated that cement can be very aesthetic, practical and even aspirational.”

Craft Beton, is a journey into experiment. From crude to cool and new. The name wasn't a giveaway to those who came to expect the usual. Beton is a type of concrete prepared in France. From what might be termed brutal as a way of describing cement's inherent nature, here we saw feelings and emotions and relevance being injected into the art forms.