What led to the idea behind setting up a studio like Vennba?
Vennba is a Pencil & Monk initiative, originally started to serve repeated requests from customers across residential, hospitality, institutional and office segments. Taking responsibility for the curation of art, collectibles and installations was a logical extension of our very hands-on approach to personal space design. Trusted for our ability to uniquely understand and interpret customer design requirements, our active participation is encouraged in selecting artists and pieces; sizes and materials; and how the pieces might best be displayed in the available space.

Chennai is not considered a destination for art, ironically when the city has such a strong cultural heritage in the arts — why do you think this has happened?
Chennai has been conservative and so have been the people and their publicity skills. I strongly feel that if we take the right approach we shall surely find a lot of art/art collectors/artists all across Chennai.

Is there an ideology behind the kind of art the studio will curate?
At Vennba, you’ll find a constantly refreshed collection that recognises varying space availability and budgets; and across different artists who work on varied mediums. When you select or commission art, collectibles or installations through Vennba, you can uniquely preview your choice; consider a closer examination in 3D renderings of your space; or even arrange for a viewing. Pencil & Monk takes responsibility for delivery and set up on site.

What else will the studio be doing to enhance the experience of the visiting art enthusiast?
Due to the current pandemic situation our plans have been slowed down. But in future we do plan to hold many events/collaborations with different artists.

Who are some of the artists we can look forward to at Vennba?
We have the best of the names right from KR Santhana Krishnan, Subra, JMS Mani, Ramesh Gorjala, NS Manohar and the likes. We have curated a lot of small format work from all kinds of artists, even the very eminent ones. We also have a lot of upcoming artists from across India whose works have not been showcased in Chennai before.