Art for environment’s sake, joy and satisfaction follow

If you’re the type of person, who loathes to throw anything away, then turn your unwanted items into gorgeous DIY projects. After all, one person’s trash is another’s treasure. 

Thomas Varghese, a blessed expat artist, known for his beautiful art forms made from ‘waste’ materials, comes up with his new creation this Christmas season also. 

He loves the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value. And, why should you reuse old things?

Well, Thomas says it’s very simple actually. By reusing old things, you are going to save a lot of money on buying commercial items that serve the same purpose, and while at it, you’re going to have fun doing something by yourself, as well as improving your crafting skills. 

Major art forms of Thomas are being displayed at the Sports complex, Mansoor garden. 

The latest work of Thomas was also exhibited at the Jashanmal Auditorium, Indian School on Friday during the Christmas Carol Service of the Bahrain Marthoma Parish. 

This is the fifth creation of the artist on its way to display at the Indian School Auditorium. Here, Thomas makes use of used laundry hangers to convey the message of Christmas. It took him almost a year to collect a total of 500 laundry hangers to construct a huge X-mas tree . All the hangers collected were used ones. X-mas trees made from different shells are few of his famous works.

“Upcycling makes a positive impact on the environment. When you upcycle, you remove items from the global garbage stream. Upcycling instead of recycling is good too; recycling requires energy or water to break down materials. Upcycling only requires your own creativity and elbow grease,” Thomas opines. 

“Never avoid anyone or anything,” this is the message that the artist wants to convey through his art form. “Christmas, as we all know, is the celebration of God’s acquisition of neglected men’s pain. God came to give recognition to the degraded people. Artist believes that through his creation, many degraded or neglected will find their way to the mainstream of the society,” he says. 

“When we look through the World’s eye, we may be weak- either financially, socially or physically; but through God’s vision, each of us are equal and beloved,” says the artist. 

Thomas has been working as the sports club in-charge at Mansoor for the past 35 years. His family consists of wife Annamma Varghese and two children Rony Varghese and Tony Varghese. 

Younger son Rony Varghese works as an accountant at Ahmed Mansoor Ala Ali in Bahrain. 

Tony Varghese works at Kampala in Africa as an accountant. Thomas is a freelance  photographer too.