Proving a point

Yash Soni remembers watching Russian artist, Salavat Fidai, carve out mini-sculptures out of a pencil and being in complete awe. Little did he know that the video would inspire him to make art of his own. “I follow a lot of art pages on Instagram, and Salavat’s is one of them. When I watched one of his videos, I was so fascinated!” he recalls. The video, which is a timelapse of the mini-sculptor carving out two entangled hearts, put Yash in a daze. And, without wasting any time, Yash grabbed a pencil and carved out his first piece. “It was something that didn’t even require me to do any research — my motivation was all I needed,” he recalls.

That was two years ago. Today, the 26-year-old has developed a skill to carve intricate pieces. “I used to sketch people a long time, but now, I concentrate on carving,” he says.

Being an event manager leaves Yash with only the weekends to carve pencils. However, he manages to find a balance between his full-time job and his passion. For him, it all boils down to priorities. “I do try to balance these two things out. To be honest, carving comes more naturally to me now. When I’m sculpting pencils, I end up meditating on it. The process throws me into a trance and I don’t even keep track of how many hours a piece requires,” he explains adding, “It is almost therapeutic.”

Recently Yash has also turned his passion into a business and started selling his artwork through his Facebook page. The most expensive one yet has been sold for a solid '8,000, which is a dangling heart. He admits that people are little taken aback when he quotes the amount that he does. “People cannot fathom the price I ask. They think that a pencil shouldn’t cost so much. What they don’t know is that this art is so tricky that it takes me hours to make one mini sculpture,” he says.  Like every artist, Yash has his favourites. The needle and the spool carving  (to the left) that took a lot of effort is one piece that he holds close to his heart. Apart from that, he holds dear his carving of a granth (book) and the tiniest one —  a stilleto — both carved out of a pencil again.

Following the traction he got on his Facebook page, Yash started hosting workshops and seminars for his art. He understands that his art is required practice and patience and isn’t for everyone.

“In workshops, I carve out pencils live and keep talking to the attendees. My aim it to not teach them, but to inspire them. If they pick up one pencil once they go back, that’s enough for me. I’ll consider my work done,” he concludes.