The Atman Project with Q and Emil

Phanganist spoke to the lovely duo Qcumber and Emil about their work 'The Atman Project'.

"We want to involve other artist’s into Atman. At the moment it is just us but we want to work with people doing any kind of art, by doing that we can inspire other people!".

How did you two meet?
Emil: We both got lost in a train station in India!
Q: He got lost not me!
Emil: Haha she was lost.

How did your company Atman start?
Emil: It was kind of already there, it manifested.
Q: Emil was already an artist doing macrame and craft, I make clothes and Emil is also a hobby photographer, so I thought we can use this together!
Emil: I’m a Marine Engineer professionally but I quit some time ago and started doing whatever is connected with art like graphic design, macrame and stone jewelry, any kind of work involving my hands.

What is the concept behind it?
Q: We see at is as a creative source, we want to be involved with any kind of art in any form, to express to people and share, in any form of life. Anything that makes life more beautiful we should accept. Art should be in your everyday life!
Emil: Anything we do in daily life we can turn into art. We want to give the opportunity for anyone to do art in any form, even if they are not able to draw, paint or make music, they will be able to do something different. We would like to be the creative source, they have the source inside them anyway but we can help awaken and discover it.

Tell us about your herbal line...
Emil: We want to bring pure natural products to people, we started with incense, now we also do essential oils and tea.
Q: We also do dry herbs now, we get the herbs from the North of Thailand and in India, we get lots of spices from India too. We get fine quality and we deal with the person who makes it.
Emil: We use small producers, families or small groups of people who make their living doing this, it is all fair trade. We buy the sticks in bulk for the incense, then we design and create the packaging ourselves, even the cutting and gluing, the whole process.

And Emil can you tell us about the Jewelry….
Emil: We have two types, one is the macrame which is mainly me. I make everything by hand, they are all unique pieces and I use high quality Brazilian threads. The second is brass jewelry, this is also handmade by local Indian gypsy people that we work closely with.

What is your inspiration for the jewelry?
Emil: (Points up) Somehow!?!,  I have this creative part in me, I have tried different ways to bring it to the surface and the jewelry is the one thing that really embodies it. I can get my inspiration from a walk in the forest or heavy rain on the beach where the rain reveals interesting shells. I also use my meditation and yoga practice, I can see designs in my mind. This is where the name ‘The Meditating Cat’ came from

Q can you explain the Atman clothing….
Q: I started the clothes brand three years ago. I like that more tribal, sexy style and have been to sell some in Europe at festivals. It’s kind of vintage gypsy, I like it when clothes look old, they have feeling and a story. I describe it as funky punky, it’s unique. Bohemian gypsy is the style I love and I shall continue doing clothes with people in India and North of Thailand.

How can people get involved with Atman?
Emil: You can check our site, check the products and we are also going to do workshops which will be coming soon. At the moment this is something very ambitious which is only just starting.
Q: Don’t forget to come and see us at the Saturday Walking street market where we now have a stall!!!