-
Matters of the Art: In conversation with gallery owner Anchal Shinde
Shaped by her experiences and driven by her zest for art, curator and gallery owner Anchal Shinde is unapologetic about her views on the current Indian art scene. She studied commercial arts at South Delhi Polytechnic and fed her love for art with courses from the University of Melbourne and the School of Oriental and African Studies…
-
The Grand Old Lady of Kutch: Chandaben Shroff (1933 – 2016)
The driving force behind Shrujan – Chandaben Shroff – passed away on August 23 at the age of 83. Fondly known as Kaki to everyone who had met her, Chandaben was a pioneer in the field of crafts conservation as she began working with artisans much before anyone else. As someone who has lived in…
-
Maheshwar’s Raksha Bandhan Connection: The Ties That Bind
Raksha Bandhan is conventionally known as the festival commemorating the love between a sister and her brother. Each year this love is renewed and strengthened by a symbolic gesture – the sister ties a piece of thread – a rakhi – on the wrist of her brother. The thread represents the brother’s commitment to protect…
-
Textile Trails: Museums for the Fabric Lover
A 200-year-old jacket that belonged to a Peshwa minister; a wall made of blocks used for printing; a village like space dedicated to India’s fabric traditions. These might seem like disjointed bits of information but look closer and you’ll find a thread that ties them. These are all pieces of the complicated Indian textile jigsaw. And…
-
Textile Trails: Where The Loom Comes Alive
Did you, like us, not want National Handloom Day to end? Beautiful images of effortlessly draped handwoven sarees, weavers working their magic on the loom and cities steeped in textile traditions made us long for an earthy aesthetic. It also evoked in us severe wanderlust. After all, Chanderi, Maheshwari, Kota, Paithani – all get their…
-
Colors of the Earth: The Allure of Natural Dyes
In 1856, a 14-year old William Henry Perkin invented aniline purple or Mauve, while trying to synthesize Quinine from chemicals derived from coal tar. His little accident created a whole new industry of chemical dyes and put natural dyeing, one of mankind’s great achievements, on the list of endangered arts. Indigo blue, Tyrean purple, Madder…
-
Stitch by stitch
“I must share the story of Tabassum with you. She was one of the most highly-skilled artisans in Lucknow. She had won state-level awards. When we started training her as part of the first batch of the Sangraha project, she was very overwhelmed. She broke down and started crying. She said she wasn’t capable of…
-
Beyond the Red Lehenga: The Indian Bridal Story
The bride in her bright red lehenga has become one of those images used on brochures that explain India in three minutes. Right up there with the Taj Mahal, a tribal woman from Rajasthan, the backwaters of Kerala and the Qutub Minar. Though the lehenga is quite the bridal symbol, India and its many states…
-
Out of the Woodwork
In a world of steel, glass and chrome, where does wood, one of the earliest materials used in a home fit in? In nearly every corner! As accents like keepsake boxes, tissue boxes and tea-lights, as serveware like trays, platters and bowls or table ware with coasters and napkin holders. Once largely relegated to the…
-
Wallflowers
Every society continuously draws from its own past to re-define its collective aesthetic and it is quite often visible in clothing fashions, decorations in the home and of course in the revival of ideas. In this spirit it is a great idea and one that is rapidly gaining ground, to use vintage lithographs, advertising collaterals…
Storytellers of Wonder 