From Pizza to Dosa: This clay artist's food miniatures will blow your mind

Sudha Chandrananarayanan, who is a craft and food enthusiast, has been captivating netizens with her amazingly realistic food miniatures. Sudha, who is a self-taught clay miniaturist, has created exact mini replicas of several Indian and international dishes including South Indian food, North Indian delicacies, Chinese, Continental, starter varieties. These food miniatures which are as tiny as 3 cm to 11 cm will not only leave your mouth watering but will make you constantly thinking about how can these be so tiny yet realistic. Though she is a Chemistry graduate, she made a career out of the food miniature art she was always passionate about it. 

She recently started my Instagram page (cnarts_14 ) dedicated only to her miniature food fridge magnets. She said that all tiny artworks are handcrafted by her with great detailing and that's what makes her stand apart from our contemporaries. Sudha stated, "We take customization orders of our customer's favorite dishes as well because the kind of happiness which they get upon receiving their parcel is always a priceless moment for me." Thanks to her stay in several places like Goa, Mumbai, Indore and Bhopal, she gained a lot of knowledge of various regional food from all various places. 

We asked Sudha Chandrananarayanan, founder of Cn Arts, Chennai more about her miniature food art. Read onto know more.

Why did you choose food as a concept for the miniature works?
Worldwide, miniatures are made of various concepts like that of animals, flowers, figurines, etc. but the concept of food is still far from reality as very few have tried food miniatures. Being a self-taught miniaturist, I started making miniature clay fridge magnets based on the concept of finger-licking food from all over the globe as yummy food elevates the mood, radiates positivity, and brings joy from within. My main idea is that people can own their favourite food in the form of miniature fridge magnets which are intricately crafted by me, for years and years which will give them immense happiness every time when they look at it due to which I sale my creations worldwide.

Will you try your hands on something else aside from food?
Well, to be honest there is a lot more for me to explore while making these miniature food fridge magnets itself. I have tried my hands on various starters, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts of various cuisines out of which our very own spicy and mouth-watering Indian foods are my favourite to craft out of clay. How much ever I create, I still feel like I can try on more and more amazing foods in the form of miniatures as there are a zillion dishes in my mind to craft out. I take reference from real food so that the food miniatures look extremely realistic. So, as of now I would like to create only food items that are extremely cute and fabulous on a miniature scale as they are my only love in crafting.

How difficult it is and how much time it requires?
I put in a lot of hard work and effort to make my clay miniatures look authentic as they are on a miniature scale which makes it a little tougher. In order to get the right amount of color, texture and shape which makes the miniature clay food creation look realistic I spend a lot of time to intricately craft each and every component of the food. It takes me anywhere between 3 hours for a few simple dishes like dosa and idli to even 3 days to craft some complicated dishes like Indian thalis, biryani, Italian food and rice varieties out of clay. Even the little mustard seeds, rice grains and vegetables in my creations are completely handcrafted minutely to get amazing miniatures.

Can you tell us about the uniqueness of this art?
The concept of making clay food items on a miniature scale in itself is very unique in India. I have made numerous clay miniatures of different cuisines like scrumptious Thai food, Japanese, Mexican and Chinese apart from our very own finger-licking Indian food such as Indian gravies, naans, bhatura, chaats, biryani, paneer tikka, dosa and much much more. Our array of clay food creations ranges from breakfast platters, thalis, sizzlers, combos, seasonal varieties and much much more which would all fit into your hand. I make these food items in the form of fridge magnets which is very unique and so that our customers can own them forever and be delightful to have their favorite food right in front of them.