Aura

Starting this fine week with some pretteh images from Aura's catalogue. Aura, based in Melbourne, has been designed and founded by Tracie Ellis. Working with artisans in India, Aura creates original, contemporary bedlinen and home accessories with a focus on exquisite colours, unique fabrics and beautiful, handcrafted finishes. Take a look at their lovely collections here folks!

  

[All Images: Aura]

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..

 via

via

via

via

via

via

via

via

via

[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!