Orissa Cement Art Works

Our workshop is at Bhutapara Chowk, right on VSS Marg. It’s a busy intersection and there is always something happening outside in the street. Unlike some of the bigger factories, we focus more on the art side of cement. This means we spend a lot of time with molds and smaller details for decorative pieces. The floor is usually covered in a thin layer of grey dust and there are half-finished pieces sitting in every corner. We’ve been at this location for a long time and the locals know us by the various statues or decorative bits sitting out front. It’s not the cleanest work, but it’s creative in its own way. We use our hands a lot, shaping the wet mix before it hardens into its final form. VSS Marg is a major road, so we get a lot of people stopping by just to see what we are making. Sometimes they want something specific for a garden or a building project. We just talk it through with them without any big sales pitch. It’s a small operation, really. Just a few of us who know how to work with the material properly. The noise from the chowk can be loud, but we just turn on the radio and get on with the day. It’s a steady life and we enjoy the process of seeing a bag of cement turn into something interesting and solid.