Textile Obsession

I would be singing to the choir if I start expounding upon how much I love textiles. You know that I do, and I know that you do too! So when I chanced upon some images celebrating splendid textiles, in the blink of an eye, I put them together for you, in this post. The fact that I am also currently feet, legs, arms, hands and neck deep in exploring furnishing options for my jungle lodge project, just adds to this obsession with beautiful cloth.

If I were to ever hoard something, I think it would be textiles.

Oh, and books. Yes. Textiles & books.

P.S: Are you following my home move saga on instagram yet? Yes, I moved homes and have spent the last week and a half, strategizing, planning, de-cluttering, donating, packing, project managing, unpacking, organizing, decorating and so on and so forth.  There are more moves and travel coming up and I am loving this sharing as-it-happens on instagram. Yes, my boy cat does feature quite a bit there, but then you have to take one look at his pink nose and you would know why I just have to take his pics! 

[All Images: Endangered Textiles]

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]

Inspiración

I feel it in my fingers

I feel it in my toes

Inspiration is all around me

And so the feeling goes..

[love is all around me: wet wet wet]

Today, I sat back and soaked in. Visuals, colors, shades, textures, spaces, textiles, jewels - I let them all swirl around me and inspire me; inspire me to create these moodboards for you. 

And as I was creating these moodboards for you, I saw that my furball of a boy cat is unwell. I rushed him to the vet and he, the brave boy that he is, took in the shots, snarled just once, looked down at the two huge dogs that were waiting patiently for their turn, and now, is back home with me, curled up by my side. We have had quite a day, and thank god we had this pretty post to come back to.  

 

We both say goodnight to those who are on this side of the hemisphere, and good morning to those on the other side. Hope the ones in the middle are already having a fabulous day.

See you all soon!


[Images from: 1, 2, 3]

Kismet

ˈkɪzmɛt,-mɪt,-s-/

destiny/fate 

It's kismet  that Kismet Jewell Nakai and I 'met' each other in the virtual world. Like the face that launched a thousand ships, an absolutely ethereal photograph shot by Kismet, that was part of my diwali inspiration mood boards, launched a full fledged post!

 Kismet and her stylist friend/partner April Sher Bhaika, conceptualize, style, create and capture magical moments via The Unreal Bride. Not limiting themselves to just wedding photography, they have experimented with a bunch of other conceptual shoots and also offer to make any moment that celebrates love and life, into a memorable one.

What I love love about The Unreal Bride was just how thoughtfully styled each shoot is. There is a certain elegance, an old world charm, opulent yet subtle accessories and props, without it being too stuffy. You can see and feel from the pictures that the photographer, the stylist and the subject had fun while shooting! With rich heritage saris and textiles, combination of modern and heirloom jewelry, the would-be and the already brides caught candid in various moods, the color and the lush setting that is so Indian in its mood - each shot is a visual delight!

Take a look at Kismet's photography portfolio here, and take a stroll through the stories and gorgeous imagery from the The Unreal Bride photo shoots right here.

In Kismet's own words:

"I started as a photographer back in 2008 officially. I chanced upon my love for photography rather late in life and went through a number of jobs before actually realizing that I wouldn't mind taking photos all my life. Sitting with a friend, we started talking about the wedding industry and how it would be a fun idea to do different photo shoots of brides - something atypical. You see it a lot in fashion but not with real brides, so we thought the combination of my photography and April's styling - we could do some real fun stuff. The blog - The Unreal Bride, was meant to be a way to advertise what we did, but instead we started blogging a lot more and we enjoyed it! From there we have done loads of fun projects, which have varied from wedding stuff to food photography to all sorts of things!" 

[Kismet and April]

You can connect with The Unreal Bride via email or through their facebook page.

[All Images Copyright: The Unreal Bride. Creative Storyboarding: An Indian Summer]

Tales of Textiles

From Walter G

Walter G

Is the story of

Two friends

With

The love for travel and the exotic  

And

The love for color and textiles

Sharing 

Their adventures,

The sumptuous treasures collected

And

Beautiful inspiration 

To bring in a blast of color, in our everyday lives

 

Lauren and Genevieve

And their lovely store

Walter G

Just for you

[All images: Walter G. Creative storyboarding: An Indian Summer]

Happy long weekend to folks in India!

 

I am off again on a road trip

To take in the retreating monsoonal showers

 

You be good, my dear readers

I'll see you next week 

Bright and chirpy

To say hello to

All things beautiful! :)

House Of Wandering Silk

Katherine Neumann, the lovely lady runs House Of Wandering Silk, and I have been chatting for some time now. I chanced upon her work at the Red Earth Design Mela, and I knew that I had to share her beautiful products with you.

House of Wandering Silk is based out of New Delhi, India. Katherine works with marginalized women, to create luscious textile products, encouraging empowerment for these women, and also supporting weavers and artisans. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each product goes towards the education of tribal and minority children in rural India, through the Adharshila school. You can browse through the collection of stoles, scarves and fabric necklaces right here.

The GiveAway!

Katherine and I had been planning to do something special for An Indian Summer readers for some time, and here we are! A fabulous giveaway, just for you! You get to pick a stole of your choice, from the luxurious collection at The House Of Wandering Silk! Yes, you heard it right - Your choice! The giveaway is open to readers from across the globe :)

Here's how you enter the giveaway:

1. Tapping into your inner poet, leave us a rhyme or two, making sure the rhyme contains the words "Wandering" and "Summer". Leave your verse/haiku/pun - whatever your inner creative comes up with, on facebook right here by leaving a comment. (Make sure you are logged into facebook to do so) 

2. To double your chances, leave a comment on this post too

3. That's it! Wait for result to be announced on facebook on May 6th  :)

[All images: House of Wandering Silk and An Indian Summer]