This cultural space keeps the ‘Zaga’ of art, music and creativity alive in Pune
From home-made products to rural weaves, the place will help young new entrepreneurs and artistes collaborate and sell their work. Zaga is open to international as well as local residents.
The word ‘Zaga’ is derived from the Marathi word ‘Zagaa’ and means ‘to wake up’. This is exactly what city-based ‘Zaga’ aims to do by providing a platform for different artistes from all genres. A brain child of young architect Tirtha Satish Misal, it a space divided into six floors where anyone can find space to get connected with the world of art of any kind. Tirtha has dedicated an entire building on Senapati Bapat road where like-minded artists can come together to bring forth different aspects of creativity.
“The building has been designed keeping in mind a human body; with a gut – where food and art is together; vision is the studio space and the co-working space is the brain,” said Tirtha. “The idea is to help artistes connect and come up with different products by working together. Zaga is the midpoint for artistes, manufacturers and clients to come together and work on the same platform.”
From home-made products to rural weaves, the place will help young new entrepreneurs and artistes collaborate and sell their work. Zaga is open to international as well as local residents. For example, a designer from Sri Lanka had an interest in ‘Batik’, a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to a whole cloth, and was looking at a particular type of dye, which she finally got through Zaga.
Art speaks through every floor of the building and each floor dedicated to a variety of things including art of food and music. Two floors are dedicated to home décor, with local and foreign designers showcasing their work, and the top two floors work as a studio space for artistes, dancers and also functions as a co-working space for holding discussions and ideating.
Besides Tirtha, Varun Dayaram, a businessman from Sri Lanka; Siddharth Mehta, who runs the food café at Zaga; entrepreneur Rajsingh Nimbalkar, who takes care of the co-working space; designer Shibani Jadhav from Karad and Nachiket Prakash, who help rural artists create new stylelines, are also a part of the initiative.
Archana Jagtap, who runs a project called ‘Quilt Culture’ with 30 women working on creating and keeping the rural concept of ‘godhadi’ ( traditional quilt) alive, finds Zaga as an ideal location to sell her product. “Before, people from outside Pune and local residents had to come all the way to my home in Kondhwa, but when I was approached to sell my product here, it seemed like a good idea. It has been a great move so far with our products getting a better outreach,” she said.
Nikhil Ravi Parmar and Meghana Rao from Bengaluru are pursuing their Masters in Kathak at the Lalit Kala Kendra in Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). They have been using the space to practice their contemporary moves. “The studio space is really brilliant. From an artiste’s perspective, he/she needs space to work, create and execute their ideas. Such a space makes a big difference and each floor is interestingly curated,” said Nihkil.