An Indian Summer: April 2015

Monday, April 27

For The Love Of Handloom

The feel of handwoven fabric. The texture. The weft and the warp. The intricacy of design. The symmetry and also the idiosyncrasies of made-by-hand. The centuries old craft traditions that are reverently passed on from one generation of artisans to the next. The story behind each gorgeous yard of a sari. The wonder at the skill, the passion & the sheer hard work that goes in to create something so beautiful.

Oh, the love for hand woven Indian textiles - you and I, we know what that feels like!

And because we love our textiles so much, we need to do what we can to save them.

The What

You might or might not have yet heard about the powerful emerging lobby in India that wants to repeal the Handloom Reservation Act, that has been in place since 1985 to protect traditional handloom weaves and the interests of marginalized weavers. This influential lobby is in favor of bringing in power looms which will flood the market with cheap, low quality, machine made replicas of textiles (especially saris) and take away the livelihood of thousands of weavers and their families. And of course, if this does happen, the loss of invaluable textile traditions, skill and knowledge will be inevitable and irreversible.

What You Can Do

We need to lobby against the repeal of The Handloom Act. Dastkar has started an online petition and we need to sign it and share it with as many like minded people as we can. For now, this is what we must do and support the weavers.

Please do pause, and sign the petition right now. It takes less than 10 seconds. And you are very welcome to take more time and also share your views and opinions on the petition if you like.

For more information, you can take a look at The Handloom Act and read this, and this, very well written articles.

You and I
We will help preserve & protect what we love

A request to all An Indian Summer readers
From India and everywhere else
Anyone who has been inspired by the beauty of handwoven textiles
Do Sign the petition
And share this post far and wide

I will see you again in a couple of days. Be good, my munchkins!

[Image credits mentioned on images. Creative storyboarding: An Indian Summer]

Monday, April 13

Jungle Tales

I spent the latter part of last week in the jungle. A jungle deep in the heart of India, exploring and reconnaissancing the forty four acres of forested site earmarked for an upcoming luxury wildlife lodge, with my favorite wildlife peeps & a very creative & accomplished architect. We were reminded at all times that we are in the jungle as the team of workers and onsite staff would merrily share stories of a python here and a cobra there, and then point out a lone jackal or a wild boar inspecting us, as we worked, perched high up in the tree houses. An evening jeep safari in trail of the resident tigress turned out to be quite an adventure, with us getting caught in a raging storm and a burst of rain in the thick of the jungle. With fallen trees blocking the one narrow road that led back to our site and no phone network, we crossed our fingers and off-roaded through the buffer zone, meadows and stray villages, while being treated to the most brilliant 180 degrees display of thunder and lightening against a pitch dark sky. You, my munchkins, know just how much I love a good storm, and I couldn't have asked for a better one! The hangover, from the splendid forest, the storm and from the wine that followed, remains, and my pick of the rooms reflect just that. A hint of the wild, a bit raw & rough, in tune with the nature around or bringing the nature in, strong statement in wood, iron & stone and natural fabrics.

I can't wait for the lodge and the tree houses to reach the stage where I can start sharing sneak peaks of the project with you! Another couple of months and I think we will be there. Will keep bringing back stories for you in the meantime!

[All Images: Mechant Studio]

Monday, April 6

An Indian Summer & LimeRoad.Com

LimeRoad.com and I go back a long way. I have featured this affordable boutique online store on An Indian Summer, been part of their campaign and hosted giveaways from them in the past. And this time, the lovely team at LimeRoad has invited me to be a part of their Style Council to curate looks and my favorites from their ever growing home decor section.

According to LimeRoad:

Style Council is a group of select few women who have created a niche for themselves. They belong to different walks of life and at LimeRoad they represent the true essence of 'Real Women Real Style'

You just have to take a look at my selection below to know that I am thrilled be part of the Style Council. I get to spend my time window shopping through their vast collection, picking products that appeal to me and using their oh-my-god-so-much-fun online scrap book tool to create looks!

The oh-my-god-so-much-fun online scrap book tool is actually that! It's not just for the Style Council members, but for everyone who signs up. You have picture postcard pretty templates and more templates at your disposal along with various other drag-and-drop features that you can use to create your scrapbooks/looks. You can share your looks, browse through what others have created, get featured by LimeRoad and also, earn shopping credits when people buy products through the scrapbooks you have created! Shopping is such a creative, fun, social exercise at LimeRoad!

And, keep a look out for more looks that I create in the coming weeks! You can view the looks and buy the products featured easily by clicking the links that are automatically shared along with look. Infact, tell me what kind of looks you would like to see, and I will be happy to curate those for you! Make sure to follow me on LimeRoad so that the new looks appear on your LimeRoad profile's newsfeed.