Abhishek Poddar

Abhishek Poddar is a businessman, who is a Director of Sua Explosives & Accessories Pvt. Ltd.,[1] and other companies with diverse interests ranging from trading and export, to tea, RFID and retail. Along with his wife, he also owns a contemporary design and lifestyle store: Cinnamon,[2] located in Bangalore. He is further a patron of the arts and founder-director of Tasveer, an organisation that is committed to increasing the visibility of photography as art and promoting its status as a collectible in India. Opening in 2006, it now has a network of galleries spread across the country between Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad,[3] and has hosted over a hundred exhibitions both in India and abroad.

Donning many other hats, he is also the Honorary Consul for Poland in Bangalore,[4] and serves on the advisory committees of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA),[5] Bangalore and Foundation Inde-Eurpoe de Nouveaux Dialogues (FIND) or the India-Europe Foundation for New Dialogues,[6] headquartered in Rome, Italy.

Early Life: Education and Career

Born in Calcutta (Kolkata), Poddar first went to the Lamartiniere for Boys and later transferred to The Doon School, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. After completing his studies at St. Xaviers College, Calcutta, he worked initially at Khaitan & Co., and later at the Standard Chartered Bank.

Matheson Bosanquet Enterprises Ltd and Coonoor Tea Estates Company Ltd

Matheson Bosanquet is an 80 year old Company that came into the Poddar family fold in the 1970s. The primary business was tea production, trading and export, and shipping. Abhishek joined the activities of the company in the late 1980s and took over as Managing Director in 1997.[7]

The Conoor Tea Estate company, has two estates and tea manufacturing units in the Nilgiris that caters to seasoned tea buyers and connoisseurs worldwide.[8]

Sua Explosives and Accessories Ltd

Sua Explosives & Accessories Private Limited is a manufacturer and supplier of mining explosives and accessories in India with two manufacturing facilities - one situated at Hosur, Tamil Nadu and the other at Kelzar (near Nagpur) established in 1985 and 1999 respectively - that caters to both the domestic and international market.

Infrovate and Neology Systems Pvt Ltd

Infrovate is an infrastructure solutions company that aims to offer innovative solutions in the ambit of transportation services. It's product suite is powered by Neology - an internationally renowned RFID products company headquartered in San Diego, California.

Cinnamon

In 1999, Poddar along with his wife Radhika, opened a lifestyle and design store called Cinnamon. The store that opened at a prime locality in Walton Road, Bangalore was designed by Andrea Anastasio and stocked a range of merchandise including clothing, home products, jewellery and books.[9] Shifting to its current location in the heart of the city at Gangadhar Chetty Road in March 2014, Cinnamon continues to combine traditional fabrics and artistic practices with contemporary designs.[10]

Alongside their own collection that includes work by designers such as Vivek Narang, Mallika Mathur, Shades of India, Sunita Shanker, Pero, Aavaran, Khoj, Aikeyah, Eka, Amrich and Mukul Goya, the new store also houses various segments featuring other boutique stores, that so far include Artdinox, Jason Cherian, Rasa, Almirah, Sacred Lotus, Sanchita Ajamput, and PUDU.

Art and Private Collection

His interest stoked at an early age, Poddar began to extensively collect art, purchasing works by prominent artists such as Raza and Souza. He credits his close relationship with the artist Manjit Bawa however, as truly cultivating both his deep interest and shaping his early choices in collecting. Over the years Poddar has amassed a sizeable collection that embraces a range of genres from antiquities and vintage photographs, to modernist works, contemporary art and film posters. This eclectic taste can probably be attributed to the fact that his guiding principle as articulated by him has been exemplified not by commercial viability but personal appeal: "I don't know why I collect. But I enjoy doing it. Often, I look at a piece and feel that if I don't have it, there would be something missing in my life".[11]

In 2011, Poddar founded the Tasveer Foundation, a not-for-profit to manage and archive his extensive collection with a desire to use it to increase interest in the visual arts in India. He proposes to expand the collection with the end goal of establishing a museum. Prompted partly by the striking lack of any kind of museum culture in Bangalore, this proposed museum is ideally intended to be a living institution characterised by a dynamic programme that aside from a wide diversity in collection, would also offer multiple avenues for learning and engagement.[12]

Tasveer and Photography

In 2006, Poddar founded Tasveer, an organisation committed to the art of photography.[13] The gallery launched its first season of exhibitions with Raghu Rai's "Nudes and Clouds". Other artists exhibited in this show were Saibal Das, Fawaz Husain, Shahid Datawala, Ryan Paul Lobo and Annu Palakunnathu Matthew.

Tasveer is also involved in a number of initiatives such as its online journal. The Tasveer Journal focuses on the history of photography in India and shows work that the gallery cannot accommodate, especially a number of younger and upcoming artists. It also has ties with academic institutions National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore to help support the education of artistic, and in specific, photographic practice. It has also instituted a TFA Photography Prize, that intends to provide exposure to young artists with an emphasis on conceptual work, with two winners selected by a panel of judges each year since 2008.

Philanthropy

The Tasveer Foundation, founded by Poddar, also conducts a series of public talks, lectures and workshops with the intention of promoting and contributing to education in the arts in India.

References

  1. ↑ "Sua Explosives & Accessories Pvt. Ltd.". Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Cinnamon". Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Tasveer Gallery". Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "Embassy of the Republic of Poland in New Delhi". Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  5. ↑ Narayan, Shoba (1 February 2014). "Emotional ecstasy and those mystic muses". Live Mint. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "Foundation Inde-Eurpoe de Nouveaux Dialogues". Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "Matheson Bosanquet". Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Corporate Directory". Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Ramaswamy, Saggere (13 March 2000). "The Flavour of Shopping". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  10. ↑ Rayirath, Kavita (14 August 2008). "In Conversation: Radhika Poddar, Cinnamon". Indian By Design. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  11. ↑ Sen, Swagata (28 January 2010). "Why I Collect Art". India Today. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  12. ↑ TNN, Times News Network (28 October 2013). "This Museum Will Talk To You". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "The Arts Trust". Retrieved 17 March 2015.

See also