Happy and cheerful fabrics ... :)

 Its spring ... its spring ... never mind that rains have us soaking wet here in Gurgaon ... but thats just till thursday ... ;) ... we are all set for all the lovely sunshine and beautiful flowers all over ... and as for indoors ... bright cheerful fabrics  ...

... in the market I am enjoying these beautiful pieces ... many would assume looking at the running stitch on the textile that these come from Bengal ... nopes! these are from the west ... I mean Gujrat ... ;) ...

... its quite amazing to discover that many regions in India have such stitches in their traditional embroidery work ... with loads of different names in every region ...

... these particular design come in some lovely spring -summer shades ... I got the reds and raspberry's ... but there are whites with same floral prints ... lilac/ purple ... black ... mustard ... a few shades of pink ... and I am pretty sure a few more shades I yet have to discover and  fantasise about ... but these beautiful cottons are a must to check out this season.Bring in some cheer ... spring ... spring ... its spring ...

If you can't find these locally and want some help ... e-mail me @ rajeesood [at]gmail[dot]com ...  would be glad to help you find out more about these happy textiles ... and you can sure be looking at some happy bedcovers ... cushion covers and for those crafty you, out there ... chop them up and what do you get ... ;) ... so get all creative and spring -summer ready ... what do you say ... :)

Khoj ... Annual Exhibition 2010 ... :)

 Architect Akhil Kumar and his daughter invited me over for a beautiful preview of their collection that comes up at the Annual Exhibition of Khoj ...

 ... walking down the steps  to the design studio ... is as close I think I can experience the joy that Aladdin or Alibaba felt ... and in case you have in mind to pick up a special piece  ... be ready to be completely bombed ...

  ... the pieces you will get to see are all created with  love and passion by Akhil ... talk to him and you'll know what I mean. He picks up his raw  inspiration pieces from all over the country through his travels ... and one can make out how he respects the value of  these pieces he picks up ... his creativity gives a fresh breath to each one ...

... what I also loved was that he uses ethnic Indian textiles for the upholstery ... lovely striking colors ...and if you too love Indian textiles ... wow ... Mansi his daughter is adding a stunning range of Kaccha Topa textiles to the exhibition ...

... if these beautiful pictures are anything to go by ... then be ready for some more posts on my blog about my love for the Kaccha Topa textiles ... I need to discover more ...

In case you are in the Delhi ... NCR region ... mark ... 15-16 th Oct. 2010 , 10.30 a.m onwards ... and head to Gurgaon ... Khoj is located at ... A-30/2 ,Dlf Phase -1, Gurgaon ... behind DT Maga mall ...

If you want to know more, find them through my Face book status today ...

Hope all of you who get to visit it have loads of stories to share back here with me ... :)

Knob love ... the hardware ... ;)

 Been all over town , :) ... I'm hardware shopping ... but mind you this time round its all about ... the ME ... MY ... MYSELF ... And I have checked out the sizeable range of 'fancy schmancy' ... hardware. But for some reason it wasn't me ... and then ... there was this nagging thought to check out the antique stores in the local Delhi market that I soooo ... 'LOVE' to find a reason to pop over to ... :)

I have been seeing these knobs for God knows how many years ... just wasn't sure.But this time ... I am designing some very colonial look wardrobes ... walked up to those stores that make you all cookoo in the head ... with the kind of stuff hidden behind ... all those goodies you can see and then there is still some thing interesting peeking through ... ahhh ... yep one of those kind of stores ...

You'll find them displayed like tomatoes and potatoes at the grocery stores ... in these big urns ... that are calling you to pick them up and then ... pick some of those and Ah! may be a few of those ... Gosh they are so reasonable ... that you convince yourself without guilt ... that you'll find plenty of use  for all these treasures ... ;)

These are very typical ethnic Indian, ceramic knobs and the cream colored (flowershaped) ones that you see in the pictures are actually made of camel bones ... completely ignored by us Indian Designers ... well ! for the simple reason that we see them all the time and for most clients ... ahem! you know ... very few takers for the old style stuff ... been there done that ... Grandma's home, had it all the time ... what's new ... :)

Well there's a certain look that blends them in just right ... and at the moment I am using these for some of the pieces that I am designing for our home ...

It was an amazing experience  looking at the colours ... designs ... shapes and sizes you get them in ... it was one of  those my kind of fun trips to the antique market. And believe me, the loot  ... I am soooo loving it ... hope you'll come back when I share some pictures of  all the sanity that I hope to get out of absolute insane mess right now at our place ... :)

Look forward to your comments ... and its as wonderful to hear OOOH! I sooo ... love them comments as it is to hear ... yeah! seen them ... what ever ;)

Indian brassware ... treasures galore ...

I have been flooded with loads of queries about the brassware you often see on my blog ... and so today I decided to take you all with me to my lil' fav. haunt ... and let you peak around the tiny little handicraft store that I find so much fun to go browsing ... on this trip I set my heart on this particular box ... :)

... I have been seeing this beautiful clock for quite some time in a far side of the store ... its origins being from some old Indian palace or Haveli ... you see what I mean ,when I say ...I go peaking into corners ...


... its a small store but Anita ( the owner) ... has an interesting collection ... and I always find myself eyeing something ... love this beautiful bell ... craved on it are different avatars of Goddess Durga ... hmmm ... I was intrigued ...

... brassware from different corners of India can be as different in styles ... as if from two different corners of the world ... this brass box is from tribal areas of Bastar (central India) ...


... and here are two people I love to go and meet ... with their warm smiles ( they are camera shy)... and their absolute down to earth nature ... I go all mush ... when they come up with the next interesting piece ... I can't drive a bargain for nuts and I end up buying more then I intented to ...

... what ever your taste in accesorising your home ... their is bound to be something for you in some corner or some shelf ... and I am definite some abrakophile out their would love this Cheeta in brass ...

... oooH! this deer siting on the floor ... appears to look right at you ... in a lovable sort of way ...

... heres another set of box collection from bastar ... the patina ... of brass is so playable ... shine it up ... pale it down ... darken it with age ... and everyone of them has a different charm ...

... I went all out of focus with this pictre but I had to put it here ... cause some of you wanted to know where I got my Diwali spoon shaped diyas ... well from right here and if you'd be interested in them just contact Anita ( I'll have her details at the bottom of the post) ... she'll ship anywhere in the world ...:)

.... Hmmmm ..........

... these were interesting ... I'm pretty sure plenty out there would love them ... small musical instruments ... well they really are Haldi and Kum-kum holders (used in Hindu prayer rituals) ...

... Umran ... he sure is as passionate about the shop and its treasures as is Anita ... :)

...and according to Umran ... having a lady with a pot, statue ... at home ... is considered lucky ... :) ....

...ahh! one of my fav's .. the traditional Indian oil lamps ...

... this here looked like another piece with European links ... another auction piece from some old Indian home ... the motifs definitely didn't look of Indian origin ... how interesting ... I love this mish-mash ... its all Indian and some of it is has history beyond India ...

... another piece I loved ... I do think I am getting carried away with the pieces I see ...

... a tribal Indian bullock cart ... and a typical Indian autorikshaw ... any abrakophile ... ooouuuu ... ing ... ;)

... another tribal piece ... I wonder if this is also from bastar or anothr tribal area ... their styles .. definitely distinct ...

... oh! and this was interesting too ... Umran insists that this is a 200-300 yr old .. Thai piece ... its broken... but I was intrigued to discover, its existence in Navi Mumbai ...

... had it not been for an indulgent pair of sunglasses I picked just the day before ... this elephant was mine ... ;)

... a tortoise box ... from tribal India ...

... Indian wine decanter ... wow... wee... old ... antique ... expensive ... no ... no ... I can't even think about it ...

... this piece at the entrance of the store ... I would love to know more about it ...

... I wonder if you liked some of the pieces ... a lot many of my readers asked me where do you go looking ... well no where particular ... try your local handicraft store ... emporiums ... you'll just get your way going from their ... the Indian brassware is so extensive ... there is so much treaure ... you really must go look ...

Hope you enjoyed my lil' haunt for the moment ... and hope it got you into the mood for some more shopping ... do share with me ... your side of the story ... :)

the store details are -

Istika ,Handicraft Shop

33,Bombay Annex C.H.S.,

Sector -17,Vashi,

Navi Mumbai - 400705

Ph. - 022 - 2788 2214

E-mail - umran678@yahoo.co.in