I know what you need this summer

You need to shop!

And I have some lovely new stores and designers for you

Right here!

Titania Tents

Titania Tents is the baby of two Delhi-based friends, with a shared passion for textiles and creating product that has a global appeal and a lot of potential.  Charlotte Johnstone and Catherine Eve Trotman, both love to entertain and create magical spaces. Charlotte is the artist in the equation, portrait painting being her primary occupation, and Catherine has been trading in textiles and other products in India for nearly twenty years. With a strong focus on design and ease of use, the Titania primary collection comprises of tents with different themes like safari, mediterranean, rooftop etc. Each theme has a suggested colour palette, block prints, co-ordinated cushions and a playful overlay of colorful graphic imagery. 

Connect with Catherine and Charlotte via their website, or Titania Tents facebook page or via this email. 

Purvaai

Purvaai, which means ‘winds from the east’, is a multi-channel home decor marketing company, founded in early 2011 by three friends and classmates from business school in India. Tarangini, Sonali and Priya cherished the strong connections they have to their roots and decided to launch Purvaai when, by chance, all three found themselves living in the United Kingdom at the same time. Purvaai's product range at present includes decorative cushions and throws, with exquisite art-like designs that combine the best of the their vibrant origins and the elegance of contemporary design. All their products largely use locally sourced natural fabrics, handcrafted textiles and traditional embroidery techniques.  

Connect with Purvaai via their website and their facebook page.

 

Baby Baazaar

Supriya Himatsingka, an NYC mom, has recently launched Baby Baazaar, an online store that sells eco friendly, handcrafted baby toys, books and blankets made in India and Srilanka. All the products have been designed with bold, vibrant colors using traditional craft forms. The toys have passed US safety standards and are ASTM approved.

Find all these goodies on Baby Baazaar's website and connect with Supriya via Baby Baazaar's facebook page.

Studio Mora

After graduating from NIFT in the year 2000, and having worked with leading corporate design houses, it was in 2004 that Anavila Misra launched out on her own, and in 2008 established Mora [Marketing Organisation for the Rural Artisans]. Working with rural artisans, Anavila now designs and creates unique products, like the above showcased, Botanical Series. Working with tribal women from Bihar and Jharkand, this series uses the art of patchwork, and consists of wall art where the women have reinterpreted trees more artistically, and have created the botanical designs shared by Studio Mora on fabric like linen, malkhas, kalamkaris and specially created Japanese fabric. 

Look at many more examples of beautiful patchwork art on Studio Mora's facebook page. 

Cult Art

Rashmi Sulakhe is a paper and textile artist, and Cult Art is her maiden entrepreneurial venture. She recently showcased her incredibly fine and intricate work at the Kala Ghoda festival at Mumbai, and is open to creating custom art based based on your requirements.

You can connect with Rashmi via her facebook page.

 Sonali Khatti

Sonali Khatti is an artist based in Dallas, TX, specializing in abstract oils and collage.  She is an first generation born Indian, and creates work that bridges both Indian and American cultures. Her paintings are inspired by her travels to India, and based on her photography and memories of her time there. She also uses hand embroidered Indian textiles collected over the years in her art work. She has also been chosen to be included in the short list of finalists for the Hunting Art Prize 2012.  

More of Sonali's evocative art can be found here.

Baaya Design

Baaya Design was found by Shibani Jain in 2009, and is located at the Raghuvanshi Mills, Mumbai. Baaya (Indian weaver bird) stands for distinctive craftsmanship and design and aims to showcase the natural beauty & workmanship of Indian folk art through its products. Via its store, Baaya Design retails folk art paintings, marble and sandstone artifacts, folk art painted lamps & lighting, mirrors, trays & coasters, vases, blue pottery items, beaten copper crafts, sabai multi grass products, cane products, bastar wrought iron products cutlery and utensils made in copper, black pottery etc, wire mesh products, hand painted photo frames, pillowcases, table mats, animal figurines and many other home accessories. You could also leverage Baaya Design’s Consultancy Services for customized murals, art and interior styling ideation.

Here's a glimpse of the many products available at Baaya Design on it's facebook page

CraftsVilla

Craftsvilla is an e-store launched in 2011, focused on retail of handcrafted products from different regions of India. Craftsvilla has a vast range of products and you could spend a good amount of time looking and sifting through their collection of decor & furnishing items, jewelry and apparel. Craftsvilla recently revamped their site to become more user friendly and now also ships internationally. 

Browse through Craftsvilla here and connect with them via their facebook page.

Aporv

Aporv means unique in Sanskrit and was launched in June 2010. Since then Aporv.com has partnered with many artisans, NGO's, and designers across India and brought their hand crafted products to an appreciative and increasing base of customers around the world. Aporv also won the Manthan Award South Asia 2010, an award that recognizes best practices in e-content and creativity. 

Take a look at Aporv's e-store right here, and connect with them via facebook. 

Global Chic

Via

Last week I chanced upon the lovely Swedish Norwegian blog Nib, and came across this fabulous post, where a lot of other bloggers had linked in and shared beautiful corners and rooms from their homes; all in line with the 'global chic' theme of the link-in. I loved looking through the many warm inspiring homes and picked a few India inspired and bohemian favorites for you. Click through the link below each photograph to go to the respective blog for more images..

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[All images copyright respective blogs. Link Reference: Nib]

P.S: The Shopo.in giveaway winner has been announced! Take a look here or here to know who the lucky reader is!

A song and some rooms..

...Is what I have for you today

Here is the song

And here are some rooms

Pretty rooms, of course

 I won't dream of sharing any thing less with you

For you are my favorite peeps :) 

Such a guy's room this.. 

Love the bedside table covered in raw silk

 What a fab idea, the painted bottles!

[All this prettiness from House and Leisure]

Shopo.in's fabulous giveaway!

A week that ends with a giveaway,

Ends well!

Shopo.in, the e-world for all things bright and beautiful, has teamed up with An Indian Summer to giveaway a lovely little basket of gifts. One lucky lucky reader could win all the gorgeous products shown above! The gift basket contains: a set of three lacquer boxes from Varnam, a set of festive fabric envelopes from Anek Designs, and a set of four coasters from Little One's Doodles! 

All you need to do:

Click right here and leave a comment on facebook 

(you should be logged onto facebook to be able to do so)

And/Or

Leave a comment on this post

Krithika from Shopo.in and I would announce the winner after a week, i.e on April 20th, on An Indian Summer's facebook page and Shopo.in's facebook page. The giveaway is open for delivery within India. So, even if you are not in India, but have an address in India where Shopo.in could ship the gift in case you win, go right ahead and comment away!  

Have a great weekend folks!

~

Update: And the winner of all this gorgeousness is Aneela Z!

Aneela - Congratulations! The bullet points so did their job :).

Please to email me your address and phone number pronto, and I'll connect you with Krithika.

Bringing Nature Home...

...is the new book on the block! Authored by photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo and Nicolette Owen, Bringing Nature Home has beautiful rooms and details of seasonal flower arrangements. The focus of the book is on flower arrangements inspired by seasons and nature, with such flowers and accompaniments that could be picked from, let's say, your own backyard, your walks or your local farmer's market. Here are a few visuals I love from the book...can't wait to lay my hands on my very own copy!  

[All images: Bringing Nature Home. Link Reference: StyleCourt]

P.S: Bug Update - I got back home yesterday after a five day stint at the hospital. I have had enough antibiotics pumped into me to last me a lifetime (hopefully!). I still need to take it easy this month and focus on boring things like eating right, resting enough, getting better and generally making sure the bug doesn't return. I can't thank you enough for your sweet emails, comments and notes you have sent me - look, I am better already! :) I'll back to regular posting and emails gradually - keep the blog warm for me in the meantime!

On another note...

 

It definitely isn't!

A nasty nasty stomach bug has caught hold of me and I am sick like a dog! While the antibiotics work their 'magic' (magic at the pace of a 90 year old snail, is more like it!), I have been asked to mope and whine recuperate at home for the next few weeks, eat (ahem) sensibly and generally take it very very easy. This ridiculous bug has already caused us to cancel a trip this week to one of our favorite places in the hills, and as you can imagine, it is taking me a lot of effort and deep breathing to keep the language of this post civil. :/ 

While I whine and mope, and recuperate, I'll need to be away from work and blogging and internet and the other good things in life for sometime. I do plan to sneak in a post or two in between, dash off a few responses, when possible, to the lovely emails, and just stop by facebook and gaze lovingly at you - my dear dear readers (umm...or not. Why does it sound creepy?); but net net as they say, I'll be on and off the radar till the time I start gaining an upper hand over this *^%$# bug!

So don't fret if you don't hear back from me for sometime, OK? You know I am engaged in a battle of strength and will with a scum of a bug. You guys, you take care of yourselves, and keep dropping in to share a joke or two (laughter being the best medicine and all that), or to bad mouth the bug, or well, just to say hello! :)

Much love!

   [Fabulous Illustration by HoppiPoppi. Via]

Welcome to Keya's world!

One of my favorite e-friends, with one of my favorite homes, moved homes recently. As she set up her new home, we begin to chat about how I haven't done a kids room specific post yet (!), and I rued the fact that it has been very very hard for me to find kid's rooms inspired by India, that I also like. She jumped like a ninja saviour (in my imagination), and hinted that I just might like her daughter - Keya's room. Boy, that was an understatement of the month! I adored Keya's room so much that not only did I pester her to write a post for 'An Indian Summer' on how she did up the room, I also decided to ditch the guest bedroom when I visit Richa, and sleep in this room! That rug would also do, Keya. Thank you! :)

Handing over to Richa now:

The ‘look’ for Keya’s room came quite easily after I found the vintage blue armoire at a ‘Going-out-of-business’ sale.  Not so much distressed as falling apart, it had me at the color.  “It’s my will that is holding it up!”  I often joke when guests look nervous around it. In my defence, I’d like to say that its slim shelves are just the right size for storing paperbacks. Plus, it had in it the added attraction for me to use blue for a girl’s room :)

 

It was deliberate design to surround Keya with happy colors and with things that would enrich her imagination. Take the sumptuously-designed scroll book by artist Pulak Biswas, for instance, from Tara Books (next to the window). It unfurls to a six-foot wall hanging and in its design aesthetic reflects just the sort of unconventional thinking that I hope will inspire Keya when she creates with her own hands. The other piece of art (behind the bed) is a batik by artist Heidi Lange  that was gifted to me by my brother. Keya’s growing quantities of books are a source of both color and decorative inspiration as is her handmade art and other personal treasures. 

 

When it came to furniture, I didn’t want invest in any piece that would begin to look ‘kiddish’ in a few years.  The bed was bought keeping that in mind. A few other pieces of furniture that were lying around were simply re-purposed and brought into Keya’s room. Like the small wooden stool from West Africa that works as her side table. The chakki stool (it used to be our coffee table) is the perfect height to play board games on while sitting on the rug. The ladder is one of those fun extras, making the space just that bit more inspired and interesting. The green chair (from the garden section of a furniture store) delivers a punch of color. Those who have seen my home here on An Indian Summer, will know that I am not tonally restrained ;-). 

Luckily, when it came to designing her sleeping space, Keya’s own aesthetic is more shabby chic than Disney! The vintage, recycled saree throws that are showing up, with their folksy hues are, I think, just the perfect thing for a girls’ bed. They mix and match so well with just about any ditsy print pillows you can find! Given that the room itself is pretty plain with no fun architectural elements, I am happy with this very individual look. There is a little bit of old mixed with some new, and the space is relaxed enough for Keya and her friends to have good times but not so over-designed that there won’t be room to accommodate her changing interests.  

R, thanks and hugs once again for inviting us over to your beautiful abode! :)

Just in case you missed it, here is a tour of Richa's home.

[All images: Richa Kapoor and An Indian Summer]