Our second event of 2023 for Handsworth Innovation Hub has a focus on digital art & design and will discuss how innovation and technology are supporting and altering the evolution of this area of creativity.
We are delighted to welcome two amazing experts in this field, Lo Williams & Amandeep Matharu who will be sharing their creative journeys and offering their advice and knowledge first-hand to our audience.
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Sunday 30th October 2022 saw the unveiling of the magnificent Sikh War Memorial that in partnership with the Memorial Committee and Leicester City Council, Taran3D has been working on for the past few years.
The bronze sculpture of the Sikh Soldier now stands proudly within the beautiful grounds of Victoria Park in Leicester. It was unveiled to crowds of hundreds including representatives of the King, the UK armed forces, historians, local dignitaries, the local Sikh community and frontline workers.
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We’re excited to announce the launch of the brand new Birmingham Unity User Group (#BUUG) with our first event on Thursday 7th October 6pm – 8pm.
We set up this group to support the Unity community in Brum and help build meaningful connections, with the aim of bringung Brum based Unity users together to share, learn, collaborate and network.
BUUG will be a regular meet-up with special guest speakers to share their knowledge and give advice and support. These events are open to people of all levels of Unity experience – everyone is welcome!
Our first event is at BOM (Birmingham Open Media) a centre for art, technology & science dedicated to creative innovation with purpose. BOM is located in central Birmingham, less than a minute’s walk from New Street Station and the Bullring. You can find out more about this creative hub including directions at BOM
We have a brilliant lineup of guest speakers for the inaugural event including Simon Benson, founder of PlayStation VR, our friends at STEAMhouse Birmingham’s hub for innovation and our own Taran Singh.
We’re also introducing two of the brilliant students from the Niyo Enterprise XR Bootcamp who will be talking about their XR journey and attendees will be invited to bring their moves for our BUUG Beat Saber Battle.
Join the BUUG Meetup here or go direct to our EventBrite page to book your FREE ticket!
We digitally recreated this intricate Sikh helmet as part of a selection of beautiful relics we reimagined for an online event with Royal Armouries.
This particular helmet was skilfully designed as part of the Anglo Sikh Virtual Museum project in collaboration with the Sikh Museum Initiative.
You can watch our very own Taran Singh discuss how the Taran3D team carefully recreated these pieces for a new online audience. Watch the event here.
We always enjoy receiving press coverage but we were super excited to have the Anglo Sikh Virtual Museum covered by PTC News recently.
The Anglo Sikh Virtual Museum is our innovative collaboration with Sikh Museum Initiative where we use immersive technologies to bring Sikh relics and artefacts to life for digital audiences.
To find out more about why this project and Taran3D is in the news, visit Anglo Sikh Museum
On Tuesday 25th August, Taran3D & The Sikh Museum Initiative in partnership as the Anglo Sikh Virtual Museum are teaming up with The University of Leicester to host a special online webinar.
This event will showcase the creation of a new 3D model that we have expertly created of a rare Sikh manuscript that is held at the Special Collections in The David Wilson Library, University of Leicester.
The manuscript contains writings from the Sikh Scriptures and was presented to the University by Harry Hardy Peach in the 1920s after originally being found on the battlefield of Ferozeshah during the First Anglo Sikh War of 1845-1846.
We helped bring the manuscript back to life through our intricate 3D technology, allowing us to show the external binding in stunning detail. We hope that this will form the basis for making the entire contents of this important manuscript digitally revitalised for future audiences.
If you’d like to attend this FREE event you can sign up HERE . You will receive a link to the attend 24 hours before the event.
In early 2018 I was contacted by Inderjit Singh Mann from Abu Dhabi regarding an old frame from Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib which is situated in the main complex. The frame houses the main painting depicting the tenth Sikh Master, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. The painting of Guru Gobind Singh ji was painted by Hari Singh from Amritsar (circa 1900) who created many masterpieces including a painting of Rabindranath Tagore which presently resides at the Parliment House. The ornate frame was carved out of wood and had become worn and warped over the years due to excessive heat and wear. Inderjit Singh expressed a desire to take on this seva(service) and enlisted my expertise in creating an accurate replica of the frame.
As the original frame was severely warped and damaged we decided that the best way forward would be to replace the frame in its entirety whilst maintaining the original features.
Stage one of the process was to 3D scan the original frame, which was carried out by a local company in India. Once it was scanned and I received the 3D model it became apparent that there was extensive damage to the details due to wear and tear.
My role involved taking accurate measurements from the scan and recreating a base frame that matched the original with the warp corrected. I then remodelled the beading and linear pattern details using the non damaged parts of the scan as a reference. 
Thereafter I focused on the ornate flower detail work of the frame. I carefully extracted each detail section and projected them back onto the new base that I had built. It became apparent that the initial scan failed to extract the sharper details of the carving. I brought back the detail by digitally re-sculpting the detail back into each section. This part of the process was extremely time consuming and difficult.
Additional details were requested by Inderjit Singh and Baba Kulwant Singh ji. Primarily some weapons and the hawk of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. in addition to this, semi precious stones were embedded to represent individual sacrifices of martyrs from Sikh History.
The Forty semi precious stones on all the corners of the frame symbolise the bravery of the 40 Muktas. The stones used are all 13 mm in diameter and ar agate, amber, coral, coralina, lapis, malachite, quartz and torquoise. A 54 carat freshly mined and cut stone fixed at bottom is in the memory of Mata Bhago Ji.
It has Four Lioness on each inner corner showcasing the power and strength of Mata Gujri Ji , Mata Jeeto Ji , Mata Sundri Ji and Mata Sahib Devan Ji. In each of the lioness’ mouths are placed four precious 52 carat stones in memory of the 4 sons of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the sahibzadey – Baba Ajit Singh Ji , Baba Jujhar Singh Ji , Baba Zorawar Singh Ji , Baba Fateh Singh Ji. To represent the Panj Pyarey we have two chaur sahibs, a spear (barshi), a sword (sri sahib) and an arrow.
The frame also has a hawk and horse on the each side both of which were very close to guru Gobind Singh jis heart. The mother pearls around the frame are like a Blanket of Protection “Hind Di Chadar” calm and pious and represents the bravery and sacrifice of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji
Once the Digital Model was approved it was sent to a manufacturer in Italy who then produced the frame from a composite of brass and copper with a gold plated finish. the final Frame weighed in at 140kg. It was installed in the shrine during the Guru Nanak Gurpurb celebrations in November 2018.
The project was a fascinating insight into how 3D technologies can be used to restore and recreate historic relics. I am thankful to Bhai Inderjit Singh ji from Abu Dhabi and Jathedar Baba Kulwant Singh Ji under whose supervision the seva was undertaken. The frame was paid for by the kind donations of Bibi Maninder Kaur Bedi. Additional thanks to the Sachkhand Board and special Thanks to the efforts put in by Bhai Jatinder Singh Ji.
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Hazur Sahib, also known as Abchal Nagar, is one of the five takhts (“thrones”, seats of temporal authority) in Sikhism. It is located on the banks of the River Godavari at the city of Nanded in the state of Maharashtra, Western India. The gurudwara within the complex is known as Sach-Khand (Realm of Truth).
The structure is built at the place where Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth Guru’s encampment was. The inner room of the gurdwara is called the Angitha Sahib and is built over the place where Guru Gobind Singh was cremated in 1708 and holds ancient relics belonging to the tenth master. The gurdwara was built between 1832 and 1837 by order of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji (1780–1839)
In September 2018, representatives of the Atam Academy School inquired about creating a bespoke Khanda design for their Nishaan Sahib that would be unveiled at an opening ceremony on 13th October 2018.
The Khanda is a traditional representation of the double-edged broad sword, which has particular significance due its use in the traditional Sikh Baptism Ceremony.
In recent times the khanda used on most Sikh institutions have been cheaply mass-produced and of poor quality.
As I am an antique weapons enthusiast I suggested a design that better resembles traditional weapons of the 18th century but with a modern elegant design. The school representatives liked the idea. I produced a few different concept designs in 3D.
This was the first iteration of the design I came up with
The second alternate design added some handle guard style flourishes to each side of the khanda and this was the design they ultimately fell in love with.
Once the design was agreed we discussed the potential material and cost implications of producing the khanda. initially, we agreed to have the part CNC milled in metal with an anodised coating, which proved to be not only costly but time-consuming as well. Another issue was that we didn’t have accurate measurements of the pole attachment, so it did not make sense to spend a significant amount of money on a part that we could not guarantee would fit perfectly. compounding the issue was the fact that there were not many companies in the UK that could produce the part on time. The other method that was discussed was to 3D print the insignia in plastic and then coat it with a metallic finish. This seemed to be the most viable way to produce the part in the short time we had, even if it was just a temporary measure for the opening ceremony.
As most common 3D Printers I had access to have small build volumes the part had to be split into 4 parts. we engineered a keying joint that would enable the part to be securely reassembled once printed. As the khanda would be installed externally and subject to adverse weather conditions I decided to print the part in ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) plastic filament as opposed to PLA (Polylactic Acid), which is a more common biodegradable filament, due to ABS being more durable and being able to withstand higher temperatures. The parts took 38 hours to print in total.
Epoxy adhesive was used to attach the parts and gaps were filled using common wood filler. The parts were printed using FDM printing, which is the process of melting a 1.75mm of abs plastic wire through a nozzle into layers of 0.2 mm. This meant that the parts had a visible protruding line where the layers have been melted on top of each other. These striations on the surface needed to be sanded out to ensure a smooth realistic finish. the sanding process was the most laborious and time-consuming task, due to it having to be done manually by hand. I used a high grit rough sandpaper and then worked my way down to lower and smoother grit sandpaper.
Once assembled and primed I explored various options for the surface finish. We decided on using metallic paint often used by car enthusiasts. Common sprays only give the impression of metal but these paints have actual metal in the paint giving them a durable finish and even a magnetic property.
I had a few problems with the flourish designs, they were too thin and kept breaking off. I secured them, in the end, using a drill and dowel joints to secure the armatures. I am working on a new prototype that will make the structure of the flourish design stronger. I am also working on making them modular so they could potentially be swapped out for different handle designs or replaced easily if broken.
I felt privileged to be asked to design the Khanda for the Atam Academy School Nishaan Sahib. It was a pleasure to do and lovely to meet all the dedicated sevadars making the school happen.
I really believe that we need to start putting the same love, care and attention into the design of our cultural artefacts as was the case in our early history when things were not cheaply mass-produced. I commend the Atam Academy for taking the effort and time to create something that we can all be proud of.
the final finished piece. 
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A standard Nishaan Sahib with Khanda Insignia and a typical mass produced 15 inch Khanda for placing on Nishan Sahibs
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