Art attack: Stressed-out IT crowd in Bengaluru taking to easel and brush to unwind

BENGALURU: Nithya Krishnan, 31, a software engineer from Hebbal, goes through Facebook event listings with a hawk eye, picking out art and craft workshops and classes. Mandala paintings are a favourite. “Every other weekend, I sign up for some DIY painting or decoupage class. It’s very relaxing,” she says.

Like her, many young people working round the clock in IT City are looking at arts and crafts as way to de-stress. And employers seem to have taken note.

Several companies have started tying up with studios, arts and crafts startups and artists for this.


Veena Nanda, a bonsai and landscaping artist, has been conducting workshops for several corporates in the city. “Several companies like Ascendas and HP have roped me in for one-day bonsai workshops on campus for employees. Promoting creativity at the workplace is always a good thing. And, people who do these workshops reach out for regular classes, too,” Nanda says.

Apart from this, her landscaping and gardening classes at her home in Indiranagar also draws a lot of corporate crowd. “The number of men and women from IT companies who register for these classes has increased manifold in the last few years. It goes to show how much stress there is in the work culture these days. Being involved with plants is very therapeutic,” she says.

Harish Closepet, founder of arts and crafts supply company Itsy Bitsy, agrees. The company, over the last few months, has organised several ‘craft buffets’ at their store and at company campuses for DIY workshops.

“Our customer base is the IT crowd. They are open to testing new products and ideas. We did a workshop with TCS, where we invited not only employees but also their families to get their hands dirty and make something creative and fun,” he notes.

Itsy Bitsy has been conducting similar workshops with several banks and smaller IT companies in South Bangalore. “A recent one we did was with Social Panga. Everyone is doing monotonous jobs, so doing something like this gets their creative juices flowing,” says Closepet.

The startup is putting a team together to conduct workshops twice a week from next month. People think painting is destressing, but working with materials is even more so, Closepet adds.

Others like Color.in studi, a team of fine artists delivering hobby art sessions and workshops for corporate setups, have also gained favour with companies.