For Bina Parmar, art has never been simply a profession. It has been a constant presence, beginning with her childhood in Canada and continuing through her years in the UK, Bangalore and now Goa. Her first encounter with clay at around ten years old left a lasting impression. The tactile experience of shaping something with her hands immediately felt intuitive, and from that moment, she knew that creativity would remain an important part of her life.
As a student, Bina pursued art across different disciplines. After moving to the UK, she created glazed clay sculptures and decorative pots at the age of 16 before completing a Diploma in Art Foundation, where she explored sculpture, painting, art history and life drawing. She later earned a BA Hons in Visual Communication and Graphic Design from Surrey, developing a professional career in graphic design while continuing to paint.
Her artistic practice evolved alongside her career. Inspired partly by the British artists she encountered in London’s museums, she created an abstract series based on Krishna, which was exhibited at the Hare Krishna Temple in Watford. She also produced a life-size series of oil paintings featuring belly dancers, with some works later displayed at a hotel in Muscat, Oman.
From Graphic Design to Large-Scale Art
After moving to Bangalore, Bina worked as a graphic designer with Sobha Developers. Yet painting continued to occupy an important space in her life. She created abstract black-and-white acrylic works for the private residence of PNC Menon, the company’s CEO, as well as an oil portrait depicting the daughter of Ramakrishna, Sobha’s head of contracts, performing Bharatanatyam.
Her work soon found a wider audience. She held two exhibitions in Bangalore, including one at Renaissance Gallery on Cunningham Road, while her belly dancer collection was displayed at Sublime Gallery in UB City. One of her most significant projects followed when she was commissioned to create 150 large abstract, colourful paintings for a hotel in Electronic City, Bangalore. It remains the largest art project she has undertaken. Bina’s versatility has also extended beyond canvas. She created wall murals featuring octopuses and koi fish for a seafood restaurant in Indiranagar, demonstrating her ability to adapt her artistic language to different spaces and formats.
Finding a New Dimension Through Punch Needle Art
Four years ago, Bina moved to Goa, a change that would eventually inspire a new direction in her creative practice. While she had spent years working with paint, her fascination with tactile art led her towards punch needle art.
Having seen artists around the world create striking textile murals, Bina became intrigued by the possibilities of working with yarn. Her attraction to the medium was rooted in the same sensory quality that had drawn her to clay as a child. Unlike painting, punch needle art allowed her to engage physically with the surface, combining colour with texture and dimension.
For Bina, it became a meeting point between painting and sculpture. She could work with colour as she had always done, while also creating a surface that could be touched and experienced. The slow, hands-on process became an important part of its appeal.
Seeing Goa from Above
Her latest collection draws directly from the landscape that surrounds her. Whenever Bina flies over Goa, she is captivated by the lush greenery below and the organic shapes formed by its mangroves and waterways. From above, the landscape resembles an abstract artwork, with patches of green appearing to float across the water.
That aerial perspective inspired her latest large handmade carpet, depicting Goa’s mangroves through punch needle art. Rather than simply reproducing a landscape, Bina sought to recreate the feeling she experiences while looking down at Goa from the sky. The dimensional quality of yarn allowed her to express the textures and forms in a way that paint could not.
The piece also carries a deeper environmental message. For Bina, the mangroves represent more than a beautiful landscape; they are part of an ecosystem that deserves greater appreciation and protection. By transforming this natural environment into a tactile work of art, she hopes to encourage people to recognise the beauty that can easily be taken for granted.
The Meditative Art of Slowness
Punch needle art has introduced a different rhythm into Bina’s creative process. Unlike the immediacy that can sometimes accompany painting, creating large textile pieces demands time, patience and sustained attention.
Although punch needle guns can speed up production, Bina values the slower, handmade approach. She finds the repetitive process meditative and almost addictive, with the satisfaction of completing the textured surface making the effort worthwhile. The physical demands are considerable, particularly when working on large pieces, but watching the artwork gradually take shape provides its own motivation.
Her mangrove project presented an unexpected learning curve. She had previously worked mainly on smaller pieces and underestimated the amount of time and yarn required for a larger work. The process involved patience, aching arms and even the occasional mishap, including punching through the material and damaging the wall behind it. Yet these challenges have become part of the hands-on experience she enjoys.
A Growing Collection Celebrating Goa
The mangrove artwork marks the beginning of Bina’s larger vision: a collection of handmade carpets celebrating Goa’s landscapes, architecture and distinctive character.
Her next piece turns towards the colourful Portuguese houses of Fontainhas. Unlike the free-flowing forms of the mangroves, this artwork will feature a more structured composition and a brighter palette. It is part of an expanding Goa series through which Bina hopes to capture different facets of the place she now calls home.
While she has several ideas waiting to be explored, she is keeping some of them under wraps for now. Her immediate goal is to complete the collection and potentially exhibit it, before moving towards commissioned works and eventually beginning another artistic series.
Keeping Goa Green Through Art
At the heart of Bina’s collection is a simple but powerful message: Goa’s natural beauty needs to be protected. She hopes her work will resonate with people who love Goa while encouraging greater awareness of its fragile landscapes. For her, the difference between flying over a lush, green environment and looking down at a concrete jungle is profound. The former fills her with a sense of contentment, while the latter serves as a reminder of what can be lost when nature is overlooked.
Her art therefore becomes a form of advocacy without losing its sense of beauty. By celebrating mangroves, traditional architecture and other elements that make Goa distinctive, she hopes people will feel more connected to what they are being asked to preserve.
Creativity Beyond the Studio
For Bina, creative work is simultaneously her profession, passion and hobby. When she needs a change of pace or inspiration, she turns to another venture, Ocean in a Drop, which brings together her interests in spirituality, healing and wellbeing.
Through the brand, she hosts spiritual and healing retreats, explores functional nutrition, and works with crystals and natural beauty products. These interests complement her artistic practice, reflecting her broader fascination with experiences that engage the senses and encourage deeper connection.
Art That Begins With Presence
Bina’s artistic journey has taken her through multiple countries, mediums and creative disciplines, but the desire to experience art physically and meaningfully has remained constant. From discovering clay as a child to painting large-scale works and now creating intricate textile landscapes, her practice continues to evolve through curiosity.
Her approach to Goa is particularly personal. She does not want to create landscapes solely by studying photographs. She wants to experience them first-hand, to see the places, stand within them and absorb their atmosphere before translating them into art.
Ultimately, Bina’s work is both a celebration and a reminder. Goa’s landscapes, greenery and heritage are precious precisely because they are living, breathing parts of a place. Through her handmade carpets, she hopes to preserve a sense of that beauty while inspiring others to protect it.
Her message is uncomplicated yet timely: there is only one Goa, and keeping it lush, beautiful and green is everyone’s responsibility.