Quilling her way towards global acclaim

It was just an ordinary day for

Shivali Johri Srivastava

, a student of

Gitam University

, until she read the news about a woman from the UAE winning a Guinness Book of World Record for collecting over 1145

quilled dolls

to date. This got Shivali excited, given she was passionate about quilling and other art forms since childhood. “I ran to my mom (Kavita Johri Srivastava) and casually asked her if we could try our hand at breaking the record. She took my words seriously and started working on the

dolls

right away. We applied for the record and had a one year duration to go past the quilled dolls tally of the UAE-based woman,” shares Shivali, who is pursuing third year engineering.

She vividly remembers the December morning in 2016, when she received a certificate that declared the mother-daughter duo as world record holders for their extensive collection of 1251 quilled dolls. She didn't stop at that. “After that we thought that we should keep applying in different categories and we applied for 7,011 quilled flowers in 2017 and then again for 2,111 handmade paper dolls the same year,” she states. Shivali's tryst with art started when she was three, she enjoyed painting and learnt quilling and other art techniques from her mother who was an art teacher then. “My mom learnt everything about art from her parents. I grew up watching my mom working on different art techniques and drew inspiration from her. It was in high school that I started crafting things by myself,” she states.

Now, the three-time record holder duo shares that these achievements have made them wiser and helped them use their time more judiciously. “For our earlier entries, we were only half prepared during the submission of our application and worked on the other half later. For our next attempt at a record for having the biggest collection of origami whale, penguin and citrus fruits, we worked on the models even before we applied for the record in three categories. The journey towards the target was relatively smoother this time,” they felt. Shivali isn't in a mood to put a halt to her artistic interests anytime soon. “I have been managing my studies and passion for art fairly well and would want to continue the same even if I get a job,” she quips.

“After my share of fame with the records, life has definitely changed at the college. Lecturers and staffers now recognise my achievements, while my fellow students too hold me in high regard,” shares Shivali. She adds, “My campus-mates are increasingly curious about the doll I am making besides their interest to know the intricacies of quilling. I talk to people in the canteen and as I wait for my bus; I always feel motivated to do better when they say they look up to me and talk about pursuing their creative interests.”

Have the mother and daughter spared a thought about what they intend to do with the origami collection after the records? “We want to keep them intact in hour house and do not plan to sell them as we aren't driven by business interests. We may want to conduct origami workshops in the future,” she shared.