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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…
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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…
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Design by Flowers
Roses, tulips, chrysanthemums and peonies; acanthus and Irises… the grammar of ornamentation on textiles, jewelry, furniture and architecture has always included flowers. Whether they were carved onto wood, sculpted in stone or block printed on fabric, the human world has had an unceasing fascination with floral motifs. Flowers were perhaps one of the first things…
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Punjab: an Amalgam
Famous for its scenic landscape, mustard blooms, ancient fertile lands, religious diversity and gregarious people, Punjab, despite it’s beautiful mountains and rivers was not always as blessed! Punjab has always been the center point of civilizations due to its strategic location as the entrance to the Indian subcontinent. Foreign invaders like the Persians, Greeks, Scythians and Kushanas came…
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Avacayam – From Temple Flowers to Colors
Holi, the festival synonymous with colors, surges the sales of ‘gulal’, balloons and pichkaris (water guns) being sold at the roadside stalls and markets. While the air is filled with mischief and people are drenching each other…have you ever wondered how these synthetic colors affect our environment? As the awareness grows, more and more people…
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Celebrate Womanhood with Jaypore
International Women’s Day: How Women Artisans are Crafting the Stories of their Own Lives She feeds her family, is nearly always the primary care-giver, works the fields to produce half the world’s food supply and contributes to nearly two-thirds of the world’s cumulative work hours – so says the United Nations. That’s what a woman…
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In a Qila
How Qilasaaz is effecting change in the lives of women artisans of Mahmudabad. The backbone of the erstwhile world of feudal privilege and opulence was always an invisible army of skilled craftsmen/women and artisans. They ensured a splendor and an aesthetic richness that was often breathtaking. Their efforts affected every aspect of life then and…
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Breathe New Life into your Home!
“I believe that trends must have the capacity to stay relevant for a long time; at least a few years, at any rate. Otherwise they are not worth the money and the trouble. Accessories of course, are the exception to the rule because that is the easiest way of updating a space and giving it…
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The Handmade Paper Trail: A Fascinating New Journey
Once upon a time, roughly in the late ’60s America, if you bought a dress and met with some post-purchase dissonance or dropped sauce all over the front, you could just tear it up. Because that particular dress was made of paper! In the 1920s London, one could buy a ‘Paper Suit’ for a tiny…
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Ajrakh Tales – Re-Contextualizing an Age Old Textile on the Contemporary Scene
The elegant symmetry of geometric patterns, the waltz of Indigo & madder dyes, and the minor imperfections that add to its allure… this is what forms the syntax of an ancient craft like Ajrakh. Like a skilled raconteur, the standard 3 meter length of an Ajrakh print tells tales of its invigorating history, the many…
Storytellers of Wonder 