Sculpting a sustainable tomorrow: Jesh Krishna Murthy takes us through his creative practice, Advanced Nature

Art has always been at the core of Jesh Krishna Murthy‘s being. Whether it is manifested through tangible products or visual effects in movies, the act of creation has forever been his life’s purpose. Known as the mastermind behind Anibrain (a VFX studio), Jesh is more than just a Computer Graphics (CG) expert; he harbours a myriad of passions. During the pandemic, Jesh felt a tug at his heartstrings. He wanted to do something good for the earth. And there was born Advanced Nature, a startup focused on showcasing the possibilities that can emerge when we begin to keep R&D and manufacturing easy, intuitive and safe for the earth. Architecture+Design sits with Jesh to talk about everything Advanced Nature as he brings his exhibit to 47A, Mumbai.

What inspired you to step into this field?

It was the result of COVID. We were all at home during the lockdown. I am still running my VFX company. But I think COVID kind of prompted me. I have two boys: a 10-year-old and a 14-year-old. With regards to the issues that we were facing, the whole migrant worker crisis was very, very disturbing. The kind of planet that we are leaving behind for our kids was also disturbing. So I think those thoughts kind of led me to wonder: How do we tackle this? How do we create more playgrounds? How do we create a cleaner environment for our children? So in a way, I always say that we are a children’s company, but we don’t make toys. In fact, we create solutions for a cleaner, greener planet.

Take us through the process, from sourcing waste to delivering the final product.

So initially, when we started four years ago, we were processing waste from different places. But I noticed that in the last four years, the whole waste movement has been decreasing. And you can get waste. So we get waste from the trees. We get waste from lanterns and whatever. And once we get the waste, we look at it for a couple of things. One is, is the waste enough? We have waste like plastic, wood, concrete waste and construction waste. That we use as aggregates. But what really becomes interesting for us is industrial waste and diatomite, which have the right chemistry. So we discovered as we experimented that we needed to apply ash. So micro silica or things like slag, which comes out of the industry. They are very chemically rich. And they can be used to formulate binders. Even concrete is a binder, cement is a binder. So we started to make binders using waste. And so, on one hand, we created the binder. And on the other hand, we looked at sources of aggregates like concrete, plastic, textile waste, paper, industrial waste and glass. You name it. Those became the aggregates. So when you mix the binder and the aggregate, you end up with a very interesting material.

We also focus very much on a handmade process. Because it is very important for us in India to generate jobs in rural and semi-rural regions. So we also looked at making the process very, very hand-engineered-friendly. That is very important. Because I think that it is not just important not to have waste. But it is also important that, in the age of AI, we also create employment opportunities in this country.

Besides waste management, what are some other societal issues that Advanced Nature is trying to tackle?

Absolutely. I think we are tackling many of our issues. We want to at least be able to present the world with a number of solutions. So we’re tackling, one, the chemistry of waste. That is the most important thing. And it need not be waste that comes out of industry. It can also be waste that comes out of our agriculture sector. Because that will boost the economy. That is it. So we’re not only looking at the employment issue. We are also looking at the issue of what a modern factory is and why it needs to be this gas-divergent setup. Can we create small factories? Can we create micro-factories? Can we create factories in villages? Can assembly work be done in cities? Where are they? Where are the houses? How can we build a better environment? And it’s all income. And, of course, the environment in Panama. So there are a number of issues that we think will be challenging with the new perspective.

Are there any lessons that you have learned from your career as a CG expert that you applied to this project?

Yes. Yes. I have realised while working in films and the kind of films that I have done, there is a big shift. I have worked in films for like 30 years now. And I had the opportunity to work on big films. You know, projects that have gone on to win academies and stuff. And we learn so much through that process. But the one thing I learned which I am applying here, is one of the things I love to do in the effects of CGI, which is lip development. It is developing how materials look on a computer. So in a sense, I have gone from making materials that are very simple. The lighting, the colour, the texture and the processes. So I use a lot of my effects knowledge in this. And also, as I work with people, I also realise that there is such a breadth of talent available in the country. And I am not. I am not good. So that knowledge I take back to Amadrin. In fact, I gained knowledge about people while running the TAC practice.

Since you mentioned that you were working in the US, what made you come back to India?

It was fun, and it was great. But I really came back to India to see if we could build the industry. And over the last 20 years, we have, and there is a small group of us—you know, five or six of us—that have truly taken India to the forefront of the effects. There is not a single Hollywood movie that doesn’t go through India today.

I have been very fortunate to be part of that and see it grow from literally having no industry in India to actually being the main destination where effects are done. Because I have been on a long journey. It has provided me the opportunity to be in multiple panels and multiple think tanks, including think tanks set up by the Prime Minister to set up the effects and animation in the country. Right now, I think in the next few months, there will be a whole policy being announced. So I have been fortunate to work on everything, you know, whether it is building the company or building the policies that we want to follow in India for AI and effects and all of that.

Where do you envision Advanced Nature in the future? Are there any plans for expansion?

Yeah, I think the main core of Advanced Nature is research. We are researching waste, and we are researching the chemistry of waste and the nature of waste. And we want to deepen that. There is a lot that we want to do. So our research will continue. In terms of expansion, I think we are already expanding. However, I think I have never really looked at expansion as much. I have always looked at building foundations. Because once the foundation is strong, expansion is a natural progression. You don’t have to push it, you know. The system can take that load. So yeah, we wish to do that. We wish to expand. But not necessarily expand in the way a company expands today. Because then we will again become the problem. So I think we should very carefully and ethically think about what expansion means, redefining what success means, and redefining what a good quality of life is. And truly, I think, with modern expansion, we are really searching for pieces of it.

At one point, it dawned on us that we are looking for simplicity. And simplicity is the mother of sustainability. When you are simple, sustainability is a side effect. It is a by-product. You automatically become sustainable. If you go into a village, they are already sustainable. They don’t need to learn sustainability. It is us in the city that are out there. So we need to learn more. We need to become humble. We need to be able to say that the people that we work with in the villages are the masters of sustainability. If you are really looking at sustainability, our journey is not to the future. Our journey is to the past. We want to become more like what we were in the past. Yeah. So, in a sense, the past is the future.

Have you partnered with any institutions for promoting Advanced Nature?

No, I wanted to set this up as an art practice and not as a design house. Because I think an art practice is truly a thick thought. It is ethics first, and then the art comes out of it. You don’t go there to work, you go there to learn and own something. It is not a musician doing reality every day. So we kept the business model not as a business model but as an art practice, and it is a community art practice, and many people participate in the process. I think over time we will be public without assistance from government organisations or from development organisations like UIDC because some of the solutions that we are creating are valid across the world and they can be scaled up. So we are still figuring that out. I think we are young; we are only four years old, and we are just stepping out right now.

What do you have in the exhibit at 47A for us?

I think a lot of what we are showcasing, of course, is art, but the beauty of what we are seeing here is that we are taking waste and making it absolutely unrecognisable. We have gone to the molecular level of the waste. So we have artistic solutions here; we have lighting, we have decor elements, we have everything for a home. Our whole thing is: can we build entirely in a system that is built upon waste? Let’s not call it waste, it is a resource. So our goal is to be able to create anything out of waste. And that is what we are trying to present here: a full showcase of whether it is aesthetic, or functional, just to bring the concept of new types of materiality into our daily lives. Architectural materials and solutions. We have architectural solutions for builders, for architects, for homeowners and for artists, because sometimes we also want to sell our materials to people to make whatever it is that they want to make.