IT is quite natural to find the residence of an art director a cut above the rest. Like Sabu Sivan’s house at Vellayambalam. And what makes this elegant structure more special are the curios which he has painstakingly collected. Well, ‘Curiocity’ was in for a real treat.For those who don’t know him, Sabu Sivan is known for the innovative and splendid sets he has designed for a host of reality shows on Malayalam television- like ‘Idea Star Singer’ and almost all the major reality shows on Amrita TV, including the channel’s upcoming show ‘Super Star Ultimate’- and the stages for the umpteen award nites. He has also done art direction for three films- ‘Shesham’, ‘Mazha’ and ‘Vakkalathu Narayanankutty’. And for the last four years or so, he and five others are busy travelling across the world setting up exhibition stands of the State Tourism Department at various international fairs. The team had romped home with the award for the best stand at FITUR, the prestigious international trade fair held in Spain, early this year (the design was conceived by Stark Communications). He has sourced curios during his trips across the globe, especially from European countries (And this “European hangover” is very much reflected in a kitchen he has at home). Sabu proudly flaunts his two vintage Bolex Paillard cameras and a projector which he got from Germany. “I found them in a scrap shop and they cost very less. The shop was near the apartment where we stayed. First I got the 16-mm Bolex. Then I wanted an older version of the camera. So, next time when I went to Germany, I ensured that we stayed in the same apartment, so that I could locate that shop easily. I did go there again and got the older version,” he says, adding, “Both the cameras and the projector, which is very handy, are in working condition.”These days, he is busy repairing an 18th century clock, another German product. “The total unit has to be serviced. The needle broke and I have contacted a goldsmith to make a similar one,” he says. “The art work on the clock is amazing...the designs on either sides are not symmetric and that is special about it...” he goes on. A Hohner accordion is another precious item. Sabu knows not how to play it, but when he set out playing us a sample, he didn’t appear totally ignorant. “I don’t know whether any of our musicians around have one of this,” he wonders aloud. Wine bottles from Spain which produce music, pepper-salt containers from Germany, crystal collection from Belgium (one set has a rare bluish hue), a letter opener from Paris, wine glasses from South Africa, caps from across the world (“there is an original cowboy hat”), watches etc vie for your attention at his home. Curios from Germany dominate his collection. An antique binocular, a handy tripod, a calling bell, gun metal carvings and chess pieces designed after ancient Egpytians etc are among the lot. And on one corner of the house you find his pen collection. Rows and rows of acrylic sheet are mounted on the wall, holes drilled into them and the pens hung down these holes. “You won’t find two pens of the same kind in this. I get them in sets from the trips and I keep a sample from each set and distribute the rest to others. Now, I will have to drill new holes to keep more pens.”At his home which he designed all by himself, Sabu has made it a point to bring in as much difference as possible. Be it the birds which he rear or the fishes in his fish tank. He has designed the cage for the birds, many of them rare species, incorporating even a semblance of landscape inside it. The fish tank too has only rare fishes. The tank itself a piece of art set with crystals and lit using LED lights. The best part is that you can change the colour of the lights! Sabu is happy that his family - wife Tanuja and their two children Lakshmy and Parvathy - too are willing to walk that extra mile to care for the collection.
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