One fine day in March

At An Indian Summer's home

  

On a beautiful spring day last week, there was a photoshoot at my home, for an iconic women magazine. It was a fun day and I had a great time styling the home and discussing angles and frames with the excellent photographer. When the team left, I took advantage of the late afternoon sunlight filtering in and took some pictures, just for you :)

Southern light in the entry foyer

The mellow bedroom

A corner in the living room, with marble urlis and madhubani painting

By the bedside

My boy cat finally finds the time to sit and relax after a hectic day of knocking off flower heads, pawing little knick knacks off the shelves, streaking across rooms to creatively (dis)place rugs and other such sundry activities. He ensured that I do, and redo, and then again do up a room, till the time he got bored of the room and sauntered away!


Will let you know when the magazine hits the stand next month folks! Do pick it up for more pictures from our home and a story feature on how I went about doing it up.


[All images taken by me. Kindly credit and link back to this post if you use them anywhere]
   

Beautiful Chobhi and a giveaway

A picture speaks a thousand words. And now a picture also keeps you warm and fashionable! Meet Chobhi - the creative collaboration between two friends, who have come together to capture the form and patterns found in nature, blending photography and fabric made from organic and natural fibres, into absolutely gorgeous wearable art.

Chobhi, a bengali word that means 'picture', features their own photography onto scarves made from natural and organic fabric.  Using the beautiful colors and patterns found in nature as inspiration, Chobhi's woolen scarves are handwoven by artisans from the northern part of India.

Both Indo-Canadian founders, Ronjiny and Tanima, always dreamed of doing something creative together. Ronjiny loves art from the Renaissance period, Russian literature, traveling the world and anything to do with design in India. Her MBA in Luxury & Fashion inspired her to team up with best friend Tanima to share her love for nature and photography.  Tanima had always wanted to express her creativity, and now she loves looking at her photos in a new way - thinking of them as rectangles of fabric, adorning a person's neck!

GiveAway!

If you love Chobhi's ethereal scarves as much as I do, take a look at their collection - Prakriti (nature) right here. And, enter this giveaway to get a chance at winning, one of my favorites from the collection, the lovely Pakhi scarf! The ultra soft, handwoven wool and silk blend scarf, is adorned with eye catching silhouette of birds in trees, and will add to any outfit that you pair it with! The giveaway is open for everyone - Chobhi will ship the scarf anywhere in the world.

Here's what you need to do to enter:

1. Think of the one thing in nature that inspires you the most and tell us about it on facebook right here by leaving a comment. (Make sure you are logged into facebook to do so) 
2. To double your chances just leave a comment on this post too
3. That's it! Wait for result to be announced on March 8th :)

Do connect with Chobhi on facebook, twitter and pinterest!

Saira Wasim

I chanced upon Saira Wasim's work via Yuti, the creative powerhouse behind Udd. I am fascinated by the miniature painting tradition and am always on the look out for the original, and the more contemporary takes on the art form. I found Saira's work very engaging as it not only draws inspiration from the miniature art form, but the theme is current - politics and world drama. Her witty and satirical take has been feted by international galleries and in numerous exhibitions around the world. 

Take a look at Saira's portfolio right here.  Also see her recent project for Vogue India's 5th anniversary issue.

[All images and art work copyright: Saira Wasim]

The Good Peeps..

..at GoodHomes Magazine

Set up a pretty pretty lunch 

The gorgeous editor and her super team

Graciously invited me and some fabulous fellow bloggers

 We met, we ate, we drank, we laughed

We ooh-aahed

We got inspired by each others' amazing blogs

And left after those few charmed hours

With happy memories and new friends

And a heartfelt Thanks on our lips

For the Good Homes team!

Ronitaa, Simrat, Dipti, Vanita and Rajavi: Thank you for organizing a lovely get together and inviting us! 

Rajee and Prachi: So good to meet again :)

Shalini, Lakshmi, Priti, Misha, Aarti: It was such a pleasure meeting you and hope we meet again soon!

    

Shiro and Parul: Thank you for hosting all of us!

 [Pics courtesy: Priti and GoodHomes]

~

And while I am talking about good peeps

I do need to mention the ones at

 Elle Decor

Mrudul and Karishma: Thank you so much for featuring An Indian Summer as part of your feature on Indian design blogs! Much appreciated!

Take a look at the brilliantly put together anniversary issue of Elle Decor, if not done so already. You will find An Indian Summer, and three of my favorite blogs and their authors, on Page 138 :)

[Image: Clicked by me. Additional accessory: The Owl]

Cochin. Sigh.

You know that when I haven't posted in a bit, it means one of two things. Or one of three things actually. But for now, let's just go with two. One, I am neck deep in work and the other shiny things and twinkling peeps that keep me on my toes. Two, that I am traveling. These last two weeks, it has been both. The first bit - the work and the twinkling peeps bit - was good, but the excellent bit was the travel! A friend and I hopped onto a flight (ok boarded a flight to be less hop-py) and went to one of my quickly-becoming-favorite cities - Cochin. We had a brilliant brilliant time and I am back with happy photos and a desire to go back as soon as that first bit, that bit that I mentioned above, allows me to :)

And you do know what I do when I am a chirpy bird back from a lovely trip, right? I share my favorite pictures with my favorite people - You! A bunch of you (my aforementioned favorite people) have sent me emails and messages - just a quick note to tell you that I am gradually getting over my Cochin hangover and getting back to those shiny emails. Within a day or two you will hear back from me :)

 

 

 

Oh, did I mention that I went to Cochin for the Kochi Muziris Biennale? And the day we landed, the entire country went on a strike? And almost all galleries and venues that were holding the festival had to be closed? Well yes, that's what happened. But I was just so happy to be in Kochi, that we made the best use of the time we had there. The Biennale? Am already booking my tickets for the next one :)

 

 

Kochi Tips: We stayed at the lovely Old Harbour Hotel - will go back there happily any day! We lunched and dined at three other fabulous places - Eight Bastion, Malabar House and Brunton Boatyard. All three places have been done up beautifully and I highly recommend them for a stay or a meal. 

I hope you, my favorite people, have been happy and chirpy. I shall be back tomorrow, and day after, and then on days that follow, with many pretteh posts and some luscious giveaways. Keep reading, An Indian Summer! 

[All pics: Taken by me. Kindly credit and link back to this post if you share. Many thanks!] 

Best Friends

Is what you can call these room pairs

They are alike

But not exactly the same

They enjoy similar aesthetics

But have their idiosyncrasies

They complement each other

Yet have a distinct personality

Yes, 

Best friends they would be

If they were people :)

Warm and cozy, is what these rooms are. Comfortable, lived in, soft pillows and cushions; they invite you in with open arms.

Pink and Mauve. A hint of femininity. The idea of animated conversations over endless cups of tea and coffee. Shared laughter and secrets.

Rugged, sturdy and comfortable. These rooms mean business, have no extra frills, and they know that they look good!

Ah! A sense of repose and calm emanates from this pair. A night of deep sleep or a leisurely siesta during the day. Put-your-feet-up kind of rooms.

Quirkiness, the need to do-and-redo-your-own thing and experimentation is what inspired these rooms to be best friends

Elegant style and laid back luxury brings these two spaces together. The calm of indoors and the lightness of being outdoors complements each other

 

Hope you liked these best friend pairs

And, if you did

Just make sure you take the time out to say a big hello! to your best friend today :) 

[Images from Espacio Vital]

 

 

P.S: The Aalamwaar giveaway winner has been announced! Click right here and scroll to the bottom of comments section to know if it's you!

 

 

Aalamwaar and a GiveAway!

I heard from Jenny of Aalamwaar Textiles some time back, one of my favorite go to places for block print and kalamkari furnishings on the world wide web. Aalamwaar textiles has been conceptualized and is run by Viji Reddy, an award winning multi-media artist who is a painter, a ceramist and also a textile designer. Viji works with artisans in India to design and create exquisite products for contemporary living. I love their range of block prints, and their hand painted kalamkari fabrics are really like works of art. Take a look at the range right here...

If you liked what you saw, you would absolutely love what is coming next! Aalamwaar and An Indian Summer would like to welcome all you fabulous readers into 2013 by sponsoring and hosting a lovely giveaway! You get a chance to win this exquisite 20 by 20 silk pillow that has been hand painted using natural dyes. Yaay! 

This gorgeous pillow has been named Rainbow Fish :)

To enter the giveaway, here's what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment on facebook right here! Just make sure that your comment includes these two words: Rainbow and Fish :) Leave a poem, leave a limerick, leave a haiku, a little note - anything that comes to your mind, with Rainbow and Fish in it!

(make sure you are logged into facebook to do so)

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

3. That's it! Wait for result to be announced on 1st of February.

See ya next week folks! Make sure to leave that comment!

[All images: Aalamwaar]