Mumbai, February 8: How did you get inspired to make your first art box?
‘‘It was an old shoe box that my grandmother gave me, eight years ago, filled with family keepsakes: tiny perfume bottles, a faded picture of an uncle who’d died in World War I, my aunt’s gloves that she wore to her first opera—things that we could just throw away,’’ says German artist Knoll, who decided not to hide them away in a drawer but put them on display. Her knack for montage work gave these otherwise mundane objects the feel of a miniature window display. And this became the first piece that started off the whole series. The collection, Assemblage, is on display at Jamaat Art Gallery, Colaba, till April 4.

Did you go out looking for knick-knacks after that?
During her 17 years in India, she has been frequenting places like Chor Bazaar in Grant Road, Chandni Chowk in Delhi, the Rabbari’s (nomadic artisans) tourist stalls in Jaipur and Kutch, and the Friday markets in Ahmedabad, where old posters are sold. She also kept a look out for similar objects in Frankfurt, Germany, even picking things up from her husband’s toolshed. ‘‘I kept collecting all this for about six-seven years before I actually got down to making the boxes. I waited till I felt I had a theme, a story behind each box,’’ says Knoll.

Can you elaborate on some of your themes?
‘‘I usually don’t mix cultural theme,’’ she says. So The Raj uses relics from the Raj era: miniature polo players, cigarette packet labels, dice carved from ivory, a soldier’s pack of miniature playing cards, with a peacock feather rising above it all. As for Mr Love, ‘‘I can see how the arrangement of the red lips, perfume bottle and metal jacket can be read as something that Salvadore Dali would do. But my intention wasn’t to create a surrealist work. It’s more to do with the pleasure and pain experienced when the opposite sexes attract each other,’’ she says.

How valuable is this range of work?
‘‘In some cases, I have gone all out: like in Radha-Krishna, I’ve used semi-precious stones and Swarovski crystals. In others, it’s all kitsch. But nostalgic work, like my family keep-sakes, is priceless,’’ says Knoll about the works that are priced between Rs 11,000 and Rs 48,000.