Leonhard Stramitz and Nepal go back a long way-back to 1968. His trajectory as an artist, designer and restorer since has had not a little to do with the great friends he made among Patan's artisan community. The 61-year-old returned home, trained as a gold and silversmith, and attended Vienna's Academy of Applied Arts to study painting, graphics, and metal restoration.

He's since given back to the artistic community he loves-Stramitz worked part of the the restoration team of the Golden Door and 400 other exhibits at Patan Museum. Back in Austria, he has worked n the restoration of the Habsburg sarcophaguses at the Imperial Crypt of St. Kapuzine since 1976.

An exhibition at Patan Handicraft Centre showcases some of Stramitz's most accessible photographs, paintings, and jewellery. The pictures, taken during his visit last year, are mostly of religious symbols-street idols, lingams, statues. "Red is so prominent, whether it is in pooja, or the saris women wear in Kathmandu, it is such a powerful colour," says Stramitz of the show titled 'Red is the Colour of Power and Love'. He didn't go looking for red, he explains: "When I was developing my pictures I just saw that it was everywhere."

The joy in much of Stramitz's work lies in the details-red abir next to a broken old diyo, an eye on a wheel of the Machhindranath chariot, little roadside stone idols covered in red. Sketches of idols, drawn on earlier visits, display the same understanding of a whole composed of many tiny elements. Every crack, every joint, little broken off pieces, the intricate designs worked into objects of worship are all in these sketches.

The silver jewellery on display is refreshingly geometric and architectural. "In architecture, circles, squares, and triangles are very important forms, and my jewellery is influenced by these forms." Stramitz says he wants to move away from the use of big stones. Back in Vienna, the indefatigable artist is working on jewellery made from steel, and in Kathmandu is experimenting with screen painting.

Red is the Colour of Power and Love, sketches, photographs and jewellery by Leonhard Stramitz, Patan Handicraft Centre. 5533871