Leroy Alvares talks about his passion for wood and a delicate art form called Fretwork.
Leroy Alvares was a popular boy at Don Bosco School, Kolkata, especially among the girls. However, there was a catch to his popularity with the opposite sex. "I had, like, the largest number of rakhi sisters in school", chuckles Leroy Alvares, president of Wunderman India, recalling his childhood days.
The reason for his band of sisters was that he was exceptionally good at fretwork — a form of design carved out of wood. While during the SUPW class in his school other students took on usual activities like sketching, drawing or painting, Alvares took fretwork. "I was terrible at drawing and even worse at painting, so the next best option was fretwork," he says, to explain why he took on this unusual hobby. Once he became good at it, the list of rakhi sisters kept on growing. "Those days I used to give one piece to each ‘sister’ of mine and they used to gift them to their friends and so on," he reminisces.
Alvares has indeed come a long way from his school days. Carving designs out of wood is an excellent stress-buster for him. "It’s actually pretty difficult to do and requires a lot of patience, but back in school I always had plenty of time at hand," says Alvares, who was earlier president at Tribal DDB, the direct-marketing arm of Mudra.
Over the years, Alvares has seen his passion see-saw quite a bit. With work taking up the majority of his time, months go by before he actually starts doing a piece. And there are times when he gets down to it and finishes pieces before thinking of doing anything else.
He says that he even gifted a carved Jesus Christ to his wife before they got married. That one ranks as one of his favourite pieces, as well. The fastest he has ever made a piece — this one, too, for his wife — was in one night. "But that was because I forgot to make it earlier and had to give it her on that particular occasion," he chuckles at the thought of getting away with it.
Alvares says there are times when he finds it extremely difficult to find the right type of wood. He often goes hunting in the most obscure places, where some kind of construction or renovation activity is happening. "The wood shouldn’t be too hollow and the plywood you get everywhere is pretty ordinary for fretwork."
He says that a fretwork piece is extremely delicate and should be handled with care. "One fall and it can really break apart like a pack of cards," he cautions. As for tools, he shops at local hardware stores for items like saws or various kinds of blades. Has he ever been hurt while doing fretwork? "No," is the answer, but Alvares does advise that one has to be extremely careful.
Mostly he makes pretty random stuff, but puts in a lot of effort. For instance, he makes boxes out of fretwork, or a Christmas crib which he tries to make annually as well. "I love doing the cribs, as they are extremely pretty-looking and involve a lot of intricate work," he says. He also loves doing boxes of various shapes and sizes. Once he did a two-and-a-half-foot-long box for one of his aunts and, needless to say, it’s one of his prized pieces of work. "I remember working extremely hard at making that piece. I spent almost a couple of weeks trying to get the perfect shape," he recalls.
Alvares has a seven-year-old son and he wants him to take up fretwork as well. He says that he will wait for another few years before persuading his son to take up his passion. His son is still too young to handle blades, saws and other such tools, he adds.
"I want him to have a lot of rakhi sisters as well," he says, laughing at the thought. "Or maybe even more than rakhi sisters," he adds as an afterthought.
Heading a company is a demanding task, and it has taken quite a toll on Alvares’s passion. Presently, he is not doing any fretwork, but he says that again around Christmas-time he might just start doing one. "More than anything, it helps me relieve a lot of stress and gives immense satisfaction of doing something creative," he says. As if working as the president of direct marketing company which comes up with marketing innovations on a regular basis wasn’t creative enough for Alvares!
