Lekha Washington

Some Lesser Known Facts About Lekha Washington

• Lekha Washington is an Indian actress, product designer, sculptor, and lyricist. She mainly works in the Tamil and Telugu film industries. She is renowned for her installations and innovative furniture creations.

• She hails from a diverse background with a father of Burmese, Italian, and Punjabi heritage and a mother from Maharashtra.

• She made three short films titled ‘Spoonerism,’ ‘Catch 22,’ and ‘Sunn’ while pursuing a course in filmmaking at filmmaking at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

• In 2002, she conducted her first exhibition titled ‘Exhibition A’ in the Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai at the age of 18. In the exhibition, her most notable artworks include ‘Clawse,’ ‘Conception,’ and ‘Whoosh.’

• Her installation ‘Whoosh,’ represents the water issues people in Chennai faced back then. The installation shows that despite heavy rains, people in Chennai struggle with water shortage. Lekha created the installation by using resin, PVC pipes, and enamel paint.

  

• She shared in an interview that she created her first design at the age of four or five. It was a game that she made using a wooden block and a hook.

• She performed in the English stage play ‘Twelfth Night’ in which she played the character of Viola. The play was organised by Madras Player’s production in Chennai in 2002.

  

• She has directed several theatre plays for a theatre group named Khel.

• After making her acting debut with the Tamil film ‘Kadhalar Dhinam’ (1999), she made a small appearance as a bride at a wedding in the song “Ilamai Ullasam” in the 2007 Tamil film ‘Unnale Unnale.’

• In 2007, she acted in Chetan Shah’s experimental English film ‘Framed’ in which she played the role of Vini.

• In the same year, she acted in the Tamil film ‘Kettavan,’ which was later cancelled due to conflicts between the lead actor and director.

• The following year, she was chosen to lead a show analyzing and interviewing for the Indian Premier League’s first season. To improve her cricket coverage, she studied a lot about the game, read various journals, and also took help from former cricketer Ajay Jadeja.

• She gained popularity after she played the role of Brinda Sekhar in the Tamil film ‘Jayam Kondaan’ (2008).

• In 2010, she essayed the lead role of Sonia in the Kannada film ‘Huduga Hudugi.’

  

• In the same year, she was featured opposite Shiva in the Tamil film ‘Va.’ She played the lead role of Saraswathi aka Saro in the film.

• Washington has acted in a few more Tamil films such as ‘Kalyana Samayal Saadham’ (2013) and ‘Arima Nambi’ (2014).

  

• She was also cast in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Hindi film ‘Power’ in 2010, which was delayed and ultimately never released.

• She played the role of Lasya in the Telugu film ‘Vedam’ (2010), starring Allu Arjun.

• Some of her other Telugu films include ‘Kamina’ (2013) and ‘Dynamite’ (2015).

• She runs a product design company ‘Ajji- The Odd Product Company,’ which she founded in 2011. She named the company after her late grandmother Bhavatharani Ghorpade, whom Lekha describes as creative, determined, and a path-breaker.

  

• She bought an ancestral house which was about 150 years old to make her studio. It is located in Bandra’s Ranwar village.

  

• As a product designer, she has created many products. She holds a patent for her work ‘The Pink Sink,’ which is designed as an almost circular chair with a frame made of stainless steel.

  

• Lekha hosted her first exhibition at the Palatte Design Studio, Mumbai in 2012. In the exhibition, she launched her ‘Sink Collection’ furniture designs.

• Her furniture design ‘The Drop’ is a collaborative work with Jean Francois Lesage, a French designer. They created the furniture piece in 2012.

  

• Her chair design, ‘The Dot,’ is one of her most notable furniture designs from her Sink Collection. The chair is shaped in a large circle with a 60-inch diameter, having a two-dimensional appearance. What makes the chair most distinct is that sinks in as someone sits on it and can also hinge on the wall. In an interview, she revealed that she devised the design when she was studying at NID.

  

• Some of the innovative designed products from Lekha Washington’s collection include ‘Kiku Chandelier,’ ‘Raven Light,’ ‘Pocket Square,’ ‘Square Sink,’ ‘Kiku Mini,’ ‘Squair Chair,’ ‘Moon Dot,’ and ‘Bent Light.’

• Her installation, ‘Soup’ (2013), is one of the most notable artworks that she made from carved fibreglass. It resembles a whirlpool with small heads and tiny human shapes on its droplets, looking like a basic human pool swirling into itself.

  

• In 2013, she founded another studio named ‘Upstair Studio.’

• In the same year, her furniture piece ‘The Dot’ was featured on the cover of India Today magazine, with Deepika Padukone seated on it. The magazine featured her another furniture design ‘The Atoms’ on its cover in 2016.

  

• After making her Bollywood debut with the film ‘Yuva’ (2004), she appeared in the Bollywood film ‘Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola’ (2013). She essayed the role of Kamini in the film.

• In 2014, she played the lead role of Mira in the Bollywood film ‘Peter Gaya Kaam Se.

  

• She took part in the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York in May 2014.

• At the 2015 Kochi Biennale, she displayed her artwork ‘This too shall pass,’ which is a moon replica constructed from four large helium spheres, each 12 feet across. It is designed in a way that it rotates on its axis, illustrating the changing phases of the lunar cycle.

• Lekha conducted her first solo show ‘The Collective Noun or A Pound of Flesh and Suchlike’ in 2015. The show was held at Sakshi Gallery, Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba.

• She displayed her artwork ‘Old Love’ in the ‘Art at Palladium’ exhibition, held at Phoenix Palladium Mall, Mumbai in 2015. The installation features a huge 15-foot iron sphere, wrapped in chains, hanging in the air without any visible support. The Bollywood actor Rahul Bose was among the visitors at her show.

  

• Some other artworks in the exhibition from her collection are titled ‘The Dot’ installation, ‘The Pink Sink’ with rising moon, and ‘The Drop’ miniatures.

• In 2018, she took to Twitter to protest against the ‘Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG’ for awarding Markus Borgens, for awarding Markus Borgens, who in 2014 had copied her ‘Pink Sink’ designs, which she created in 2004-05.

• Her installation ‘Drop of Universe’ was a collaborative work with the luxury vodka brand ‘Belvedere’ that they created in 2018.

• She was invited to the Burning Man Festival held in Pershing County, Nevada in 2018, where she showcased her artwork titled ‘Moondancer.’ The artwork is a replica of the moon made up of an 11-foot helium balloon, adorned with silver and yellow hand painting, was hoisted to a height of about 150 feet off the ground. It was the only entry from an Indian artist at the festival.

• She collaborated with Debanshu Bhoumik to create her installation titled ‘Breathing Room.’ The installation is a multi-media creation made up of fabric, advanced technology and innovative computer software to create a unique interactive experience. The artists have enabled the artwork to detect the slight movements of people engaging with it and transform those movements into light by employing sonar sensors. The interactors can experience the wonder of their movements being reflected all around them without any significant effort.

  

• Some of her acclaimed collection includes ‘Fallen,’ ‘Dervish of Tornadoes,’ ‘Lightström,’ ‘Lightroom,’ ‘Up,’ ‘The Calling,’ ‘Like a River,’ and ‘A Couple Of.’

• She renamed her company’s name ‘Ajji- The Odd Product Compan’ to ‘Lekha Washington Studio’ in 2021.

• She has designed the interiors of Riyaaz Amlani’s Bengaluru-based restaurant, Social.

• She also served as a host for a talk show on SS Music.

• Lekha Washington secured a place in the list of Top 50 for LAGI 2021 Fly Ranch.

• In 2022, she got an invitation to Burning Man festival and became the first Indian artist to be invited twice. At the festival, she exhibited her 20-foot fire art work titled ‘The Apocalypse is Breathtaking.’  ^[2]Instagram – Bandra Buzz

  

• She has an affection for cats and often shares images of her pet cats on Instagram.
  

  

   

• In 2023, she was seen at various events with actor Imran Khan, which sparked rumours about their relationship. In 2024, Imran confirmed that they were dating. He said that they became close during the lockdown after he split from Avantika. ^[3]The Indian Express