To educate the public about the importance of nature, Arun Kumar Sahu of Kanteikoli village in Hinjli block of Odisha’s Ganjam district has been converting thrown away pieces of timber into beautiful artefacts of famous monuments of the world.
“It is a small effort to motivate people to refrain from wasting any portion of the trees that are cut down for our needs. My artefacts may make some realise the importance of trees so that they refrain from cutting them down unnecessarily”, said Mr. Sahu.
The 31-year-old started carving out artefacts from disposed pieces of wood as a hobby from 2007. His father, Bhaskar Sahu, is a carpenter engaged in manufacturing wooden furniture. After dropping out from a degree course, Mr. Sahu started helping his father with the family business.
While working with his father, Mr. Sahu was shocked to find out that a large portion of the timber used for furniture manufacturing was wasted or used as fire wood. “So, I decided to transform the wasted wooden pieces from our workshop into beautiful artefacts of famous monuments of the world,” he said.
The wooden sculptures prepared by him involve intricately-scaled designs and carving. The construction of some of the artefacts like the Taj Mahal in Agra had taken him more than a year. But other artefacts, like a replica of the Odisha Assembly, took him just 20 days. A wooden model of the Eiffel Tower in Paris took him seven months, while a miniature version of the India Gate in New Delhi took him two months.
He now wishes to have a small museum to showcase his artefacts. “I want to include all the major monuments of the world in my museum to make visitors realise that every human construction in this world is ultimately a gift of nature,” he said.