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Kumar - body artist to the stars

1/ 4/2005

At just 24, Ash Kumar holds the world record for 'fastest henna artist', his designs are on permanent display at London's Victoria and Albert museum and he can boast the elite of Bolly/Hollywood as clients. What else could the mehndi maestro desire? FIONA SMITH finds out.

FASHION has long been influenced by African and Oriental designs, so some would say it was only a matter of time until world culture came to bodily beauty.
We humans have been decorating our bodies since the dawn of time but the ancient art of mehndi didn't enjoy popularity in the west until the 1990s. It took a resplendent Liv Tyler showing off hennad hands on the cover of Vanity Fair, and Madonna arriving with her hands and face decorated for the MTV video awards, to open the delightful world of henna painting to the west.
Now henna or mehndi, as it is known in south Asia, is cherished by men and women of all ages as a fun, safe, and personal form of expression.
Integral to this rise in popularity was the talented Ash Kumar whose clients include Rani Mukherjee, Kareena Kapoor and Salman Khan to Julia Robert and Sophie Dahl. The son of eminent surgeons, Ash became interested in mehndi at an early age when he used to sit and watch his mother and her friends spending hours creating elaborate designs. To them mehndi provided the opportunity for a social gathering.
Aged 17, UK-based Ash travelled to India to learn mehndi artistry and his big break came when the BBC asked him to make an appearance on daytime TV, to herald the therapeutic benefits of henna. As a result he received a phone call from the Guinness Book of World Records asking him whether he was aware that there was a record for the fastest henna artist.
''I told them I wasn't'', laughed Ash. ''In fact, I thought it was a hoax call until I received an official letter proving otherwise. In the past, people had commented that I was really fast, although speed was never the object for me. I'm a perfectionist but impatient and this unusual combination led to me developing speed. I was 20 and had just finished my degree in forensic science and saw no reason not to give the world record a shot.''
Ash broke it by painting 96 arm bands in one hour in 2001, going on to smash this again in 2003 by decorating 167 arm bands, each with a unique design, in an hour. That's one arm band every 18 seconds!
Vast success soon followed with Ash's work being featured in Bollywood blockbusters, including Devdas, Kabhi Khushi, Kabhi Gham, Kal Ho Na Ho and Hum Tum. His henna work was also featured in the stage production of 'Bombay Dreams'.
But it wasn't always easy.
''Breaking into the market was tough,'' says Ash the only male mehndi artist in the UK.
''A woman going into a world dominated by men might encounter aggression but I fell foul to some bitchiness and gossip. "In some ways I found this hard to deal with as I'd been brought up in household where things were black and white, with no grey areas, but these challenges only made me more determined.''
In fact he attributes his success to his gender and age as well as his speed. ''Being a man in a female dominated industry and being so young I stood out and people were interested in me. I honestly don't think I'd have been so successful if I was say 40.''
So can anyone train to be a henna artist? ''Yes'', enthuses Ash, ''so long as they are prepared to put in the effort and have a good teacher. I have trained doctors and lawyers. Everyone has some creativity.
''People gain inspirations from different things, mine is from my love of Indian music. I sit and listen to music and almost like people doodling, I'll come up with designs. It's like I'm in a trance-like state.''
Ash uses body glitter and jewels interspersed in his designs to create his signature east meets west look.
Follow Ash's guide for the perfect mehndi

* The perfect henna powder should be light green in colour and which should turn a chocolate brown when mixed as a paste.

* To achieve a darker result use clove oil and eucalyptus oil in the henna paste.

* Store henna products in the fridge but never freeze it.

* Always use cold rather than warm water when mixing henna.

* Dab a mixture of lemon juice and sugar on your finished design to deepen your colour and prolong the life of your tattoo.

* Adding beetroot juice to make the the henna paste darker simply doesn't work.