Sara, who married Harsha Viji of the TVS family, opens up on her artistic journey
Sara Vetteth
A new bride, Sara Vetteth had the choice of either working or taking a study break, when she was living in New York with her husband, Harsha Viji, who is now the MD of Sundaram Mutual and a part of the TVS family. She chose the latter and while pursuing her Master’s at Parsons School of Design in New York, Sara taught at the school as a faculty member. It was there that Sara decided to work closely with children and initiate them into the vibrant world of art.
An interactive designer, Sara then came back to India and realised that there wasn’t an art curriculum for school children. And, she decided to take things to her own hands and started the Rainbow Fish Studio, which has a structured art curriculum for young minds. Sara says, “When I was teaching middle and high school children there, we used to take the children to the museums. Later, what would emerge would be their version of what they saw at there. There were lots of ways where they saw real art without being patronised. When I came back to India, I saw that it was a completely different scene. It was difficult to have access to art that was packaged to suit children.
Even in schools, the amount of attention given to the once-a-week art class was not much and hence, I started off in a small way,” reminisces Sara, who also runs The Design Cell.
Sara found it ironic that there wasn’t a structured curriculum in a country, where art is all around us. “It’s difficult to find art curriculum that can cater to children but in each street corner there is so much art — be it in the temples or the kolam or the chai glasses kept in a certain way,” says Sara.
This designer, who won a Webby Award for her design for the PBS Kids website, decided to come up with an ‘Art for Kids’ series of books, that were launched nationally and helped create awareness about Indian art. “I worked in close collaboration with senior artists such as Ram Kumar, Ramachandran and K.G. Subramanyan. I was glad that the books came out the way I wanted and were priced reasonable,” she says.
Beyond art and design, Sara loves travelling and her recent passion — running. I have recently started running. “I truly enjoy going for a run. I completed my first half-marathon earlier this year when I ran the Auroville Marathon. It was a great feeling and I had trained hard and followed one of the online programs.” I also enjoy travelling. “I have a 10-year-old son and both of us go trekking to the Himalayas once a year. As a family, we do a lot of outdoor activities. We enjoy going to Puducherry and Kodaikanal and my next trip is to France,” she signs off.
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