Whacky gifts for every occasion

Art is a form that helps express emotions differently. Art has to be told in a special and individualistic way to earn recognition and laurels. Paper craft is what Mounika Koneru chose to set her personality and identity among others. Despite being a microbiologist, Mounika now creates personalised and theme-based paper gift articles in variety forms.Speaking to City Tab, Mounika said, “I was interested in painting and paper craft since childhood.

I used to make creative stuff to decorate my home. When I learned that there could be something more than what usually can be done with paper materials, I started practicing craft by watching online tutorials on craft. I initially started a facebook page to present my artwork and display my products. It is when people started asking me for replicas of the models that I started taking the craft seriously.”

Mounika put in an initial investment of one lakh rupees for purchasing machinery for the paper made personalised gifts.The products Mounika makes ranges from a photo frames to explosion boxes, canvas photo frames, photo books, accordion photo frames, flip cards, mini albums, baby-themed albums and memory books, besides birthday and special anniversary boxes, fridge magnets with space for notes.

“I am trying out new concepts with mixed media in my art. These cannot be made readily for sale; one has order for these and based on the requirement, I will design the gift. Many orders pour in from Vijayawada and Bengaluru,” said Mounika.