‘My crafting life re-energizes my academic life’: Elika Sum

Elika Sumi is a self taught Jewelry designer, who recalls her first attempt to make jewelry as a funny story from picking up a couple of different toothed (shaped) pliers and manipulating wires to make shapes. Eventually, she learned the terminologies of jewelry-making and the techniques on the Internet, and started practicing, sometimes learning the hard way, which included a couple of band-aid covered fingertips.

“I am still learning to work with certain metals”, she confesses, but Jewelry-making is something she learned on her own, which is why she prefers to call it a craft rather than a profession.

For the record, she loves to work with her hands and so, crafting and art is something that drives her. This is apparent when she says, “I often experimented on working with various metals and materials, where sometimes I used to make small trinkets for my friends. I love the idea of scanning through individual materials - be it glass, stone or wooden bead and matching them up with different metals, colorful wires and the head-spin of estimating gauges along the process of creating something beautiful. I do believe that from a young age I liked to craft - so there was knitting, weaving and embroidering but my love for jewelry-making came much later and I must say that it’s something that I enjoy the most.”

Well, she got better at making jewelry with time and practice, and that’s probably also when ‘Crafty Nothings’ happened, although she confesses that the overall project of "Crafty Nothings" began as a photo album on Facebook, with the initial objective to share some of her crafts with friends and followers. However, last December she was encouraged to open a page on Facebook by her friends, to sell and to promote some of her crafts. 

“And so I decided to begin with jewelry - to be honest, since it could also be a little more lucrative. And so the adventure begins for my jewelry line which I call "ArtSanity" - it's just jewelry for now, but I am sure that "Crafty Nothings" is destined for a bit of a stretch eventually”, she puts across.

Just a few months’ old, and the response so far, she says, has been surprisingly positive – “and actually I am saying this with a bit of a bewilderment. I never thought that people would be wearing, rather buying my creations. I feel absolutely thrilled about this - one should not hide beautiful things, they are meant to be admired isn't it?” she enthusiastically adds.

But designing jewelry is not something she does full-time. She is currently writing her PhD thesis, and will be submitting in a few months. It’s only when she has the luxury of ‘free time’ that she indulges in jewelry making. “This is also the reason why my products are rather limited in stock”, she explains.

“Academics is where my passion lies, and research and teaching is my ultimate goal. In fact, if I may be cheeky I will admit that my crafting life re-energizes my academic life, but it is true that creating and making things is very therapeutic for me”, she professes.

The PhD Student in cultural studies at English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, who would describe herself as a little bit of a tinkerer with a curious mind, eager to work with her own hands, an artist/artisan, an avid traveler, prone to DIY projects, a farming enthusiast and a colorful cook, feels she could be triggering a couple of minds if she were to say that she does care for many social causes in Nagaland.

However, as a woman herself, her heart goes out for the Naga women. “We may say that with education, and exposure to different cultures, the Naga woman is emancipating and her status is much better than the caste-ridden woman from the mainland. Yet, let’s not forget that the 'personal is political.' And therefore, even if we do consider social realities, or familial canons of Naga society, or even the sheer absence of her presence in seats of governance, she still has a long way to go”, she profoundly shares.

While another aspect of her concern encompasses the horror of educated unemployment in Nagaland. “If I were to deliberate on why I am concerned about this social problem, it would require more than a few lines. We are all aware of the situation, the excess of disorder that exists within our system and society. We are not fools are we? We understand perfectly the blight that hangs on to our harvest, yet we are still three steps behind from removing the bad seeds, the question is why? Only we can answer that vital question”, is  what she has to say.

Still, she believes, “We are generation endowed with a world that is open, a knowledge that is free and a life with boundless horizons”, while encouraging young people further by saying, “So, how privileged are we to be part of a world is constantly innovating, even in terms of ideas and work opportunities. And so, in a constantly shifting world, we often forget to pause and build expertise in our fields. Therefore, I believe that being an expert, or specializing in particular field could be the answer to a lot of our contemporary social problems. Yet, learning is a life-long process and our lives in this age stands testimony to this statement, and so we should never shy away or be too haughty to learn something new.”

And before going any further, she declares, “I'm afraid that my wish for the Naga society is rather lofty!” “A corrupt-free Nagaland would be an utopia”, she speaks her mind, but Elika Sumi’s wishes for Nagaland also includes a way to end/curb corruption in its many avatars, a way to solve the Naga political problem, a way to revive and re-generate the Naga youths and a way to bring prosperity and peace into our land.

It’s easy to connect the dots when she says five years down the line, she sees herself actively pursuing her academic profession, intensely deliberating a word or two for the Nagas, building research foundations for paradigm shifts in studies related to Naga society, culture and politics and last but not the least, often taking refuge in the world of art and crafting to re-energize her pursuits! 

Well, her story would be incomplete without the mention of  her parents, whom, she considers her inspiration- “My Mum is a tower of strength. She taught me to knit, weave, cook, garden and every art that I wanted to learn, she has always encouraged me. My Dad also inspires me, but in a different way. I have learned much about life and faith through him, he is super special to me!”