BIRMINGHAM: London's Pavan Ahluwalia is currently in Birmingham, creating works of wonder on customers' hands. Back for Eid, after a huge successful summer, she and her team will be showing off their skills in Selfridges.
30 years old Pavan, dubbed as a mehndi maestro, has so far painted 511 unique armbands in an hour in 2012, smashing her own record of 314 which she set in 2008. She is a self-taught henna artist and has been doing it for 10 years.
She reportedly confessed, “I was terrible at art. I actually did a degree in marketing. But I enjoyed drawing these. It's theraputic, very relaxing.
"I would do it at people's weddings.”
She found that most people’s experience of henna was due to wedding or festivals. Pavan's idea was to make it as accessible as any other beauty treatment.
“We are such a multi-cultural society and a lot of people love the art.
“You can get your nails done at a nail bar and your eyebrows done at a brow bar, so why not get your henna done?
“It is like lipstick. It is affordable but can completely change your look.”
The pop up will be in Selfridges until October 11, to celebrate the festival of Eid. For Halloween, she is also offering UV henna, which glows in the dark.
