Behind Taalkatora, is Farha Alam- a visual artist, engineer, and inventor who simply hopes to bring a touch of magic to our daily lives. Her work is guided by quiet curiosity and a profound experimental ethos rooted in engineering new ways to share stories without a screen.
After a decade spent exploring animation, design, and film, Farha found her purpose: to help us see the beauty in the ordinary. In 2025, this spirit culminated in her first patent-applied invention, the Moving Image Lightbox—the world's first optically animated, illuminated gadget that brings pictures to life through touch. That same year, she also patented a robotic and electrical rendition of this technology, designed to bring the same enchanted movement to large-scale art installations. Additionally, she patented the world’s first Magic Suncatcher Cards, created to spark wonder in young, exploratory minds through solar-light animated projections.
Deeply collaborative by nature, Farha finds her greatest joy in working alongside others; she considers the time spent in the workshop, learning from and creating with her craftspeople, to be the most rewarding part of her process. Through her studio, Taalkatora, she is now crafting a range of storytelling objects. Inspired by the humble brilliance of artists like Paul Klee and Yuri Norstein, she wishes only to create gentle, magical moments for everyone to enjoy.
PAWAN JI, CRAFTSPERSON AND MISCHIEF MAKER, ALAM.
SAURABH SHARMA, CRAFTSPERSON, CHIEF FABRICATOR
PAWAN JI, CARPENTER
HANDS OF LALIT JI.
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About Taalkatora​​​
We are preserving lost forms of cinema and animated storytelling and transforming them into tangible things, through patented, modern optical technology. We have pioneered a new genre of illuminated storytelling objects that are designed to surprise, inspire, and offer profound beauty through the magic of analog storytelling. ​​​
Our first offering, The Moving Image Lightbox is a moving picture/animation display lightbox, designed to offer joy and magic through tactile interaction. Inspired by early optical devices like Magic Lantern, our first collection, The Vintage Wonderland, is a collection of digitally animated vintage and historic archival scenes and transports the viewer into a nostalgic distant land just with the swipe of a hand.
We are constantly inventing and experimenting across many fields—from educational gadgets to home design objects like motion lamps, animated boxes, cards, calendars, as well as large-scale public art installations. Designed for "rational amusement," our objects move when touched or turned, providing a nostalgic, playful, therapeutic, and enduring experience.
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