It's 10.10pm in Australia right now

No particular reason for me to share the time, except that today's haul of room eye candy is from Australia! And when you are at a loss of words, you talk about the weather, or check the time. I mean, before smart phones were invented. Now, you just look at your smart phone and check facebook or twitter.  See, how smartly I plugged in An Indian Summer's facebook and twitter links? ;-)

Well, here are some lovely rooms from Insider, the home magazine of the homeware sales site - The Home

And, in the same magazine, I chanced upon the work of interior design Bonnie Masefrau. My favorites...

 

And, it is 10.30pm in Australia now.

I thought you might like to know

Good night to all who are in Australia and that side of the world

Good morning to others

And a happy late afternoon/evening to the rest

We cover all time zones

My blog and I

We do :)

[All images: Insider. Creative storyboarding: An Indian Summer]

The Secret Ink Give Away

Purveyors of luxuries and curiosities, is how Adil Bhatia, Yasmin Kaura and Ambika Kaul identify themselves. The three friends, passionate about design, have brought their varied skills and the love for well crafted products together, to launch The Secret Ink.

The Secret Ink is a personalized luxury stationery brand. Encouraging the practice and the grace of handwritten correspondence, The Secret Ink uses age old manual skills such as embossing, hand-foiling and letter pressing, to design and create unique personalized stationery for its clients. Apart from some beautiful designs created by the team, The Secret Ink also customizes it's stationery to reflect the timeless, the modern, the quirky, the elegant, the whimsical and everything in between!

~ The Give Away ~

The joy of receiving a personalized card, the crisp feel of textured paper with a beautiful personal message - these simple things infuse the mundane with poetry and make life more joyful. The Secret Ink would like to share this joy of giving by offering a generous giveaway, especially for An Indian Summer readers, worldwide! Yes, everyone is free to participate!

There are two very generous hampers to be won:

One lucky winner shall get:

 ~ A box of either letter pressed or hand stamped foil (personalized from inside) cards
 ~ A Little Drawer (set of 50, personalized from inside) cards

And,

The second winner shall get:

 ~ A Little Drawer (set of 20; choose from Plume, Rangoli or Dragon design)

How to enter this fabulous giveaway? Simply:

- Browse through the elegant designs on offer at The Secret Ink. Pick your absolute favorite, and leave the name/link as a comment on facebook. Make sure you are logged into facebook to be able to leave the comment.

- Leave the comment on this post too, to double your chances

- The winner will be announced here, on Monday (Sept 30th), evening India time

[All images: The Secret Ink; Creative Storyboarding: An Indian Summer]

Things that make you go

Aah!

~ Pradeep Pillai ~

Pradeep Pillai graduated from NIFT in 1999, and since then has been associated with the hand-spun, hand-woven and hand-crafted sectors. Pradeep believes in creating pieces that are timeless classics, by experimenting with traditional textile techniques and contemporary designs. He is fully committed to support the indigenous craft sector, and is currently working with artisan clusters specializing in different forms of supplementary weft weaving techniques, in tussar silk from Nalanda and fine cotton and silks from Venkatagiri and Chanderi.

See more of Pradeep's beautiful textiles right here.

~ Purple Patch ~

Tejashree Joshi was inspired to start her cozy little store called Purple Patch in Pune, India, when she decided to make quilts for her young son. Purple Patch, a small and exclusive brand, specializes in hand made patch work designs for adults and kids. She works with marginalized women with basic sewing skills and up-skills them to create high quality hand made products.

You can find Purple Patch on etsy, craftsvilla and on facebook.

~  Example Clothing ~

Example, a collaborative design-led clothing brand was conceptualized by Moutushi and her business partner in 2012. With the backbone of Indian textile tradition, Example's clothes aim to showcase this craft heritage and strive to use natural components and materials, keeping machine usage to a minimum. Moutushi has been associated with international brands like Anthropologie among many others, and has dabbled in photography, film making, graphic design, craft research - all leading to a well rounded approach to design. The products are aimed at the quintessential girl in every woman; the spirit being lighthearted, aware, curious and forever young at heart.

Find more of Example Clothing here.

~ Nomad ~

Harshita Gautam's Nomad is a riot of colors and celebrates the spirit of being a woman. Inspired by the nomadic tribes of India, Nomad's skirts (known as ghagra) don't follow the fashion trend of the season, but are cult attire in themselves. The fabrics used are the fabrics that are worn by these tribes, and are perfect for the woman who is a gypsy at heart!

Many more gorgeous ghagras by Nomad right here.  

~ Wildflower ~

Rinkal Bagadia's Wildflower creates handcrafted home decor and lifestyle products in wood and fabric. Working with artisans and crafts like blue pottery, rabari applique, kutchi leather craft, mata ni pachedi to name a few, Wildflower is gradually building up it's repository of beautiful handmade products. 

See the range of wildflower's products here.

[All images: Respective designers. Creative story boarding: An Indian Summer]

The cat that launched a post

I chanced upon the above pic on facebook, and couldn't get my laptop's mouse to move forward. While the mouse was transfixed by that fur ball, I ooh-aahed over the pretty little setup. I knew I HAD to see more of that cat, as well as more of this home. I dashed off an email to the mistress of both, Chondamma Cariappa, the uber creative brain behind Sole Sisters, and over a couple of weeks, as we exchanged cat stories and pictures, she put together a tour of her lovely eclectic pad for us.

Chondamma is  a Creative Director with Bates Advertising in Bombay. Originally from Coorg, she has travelled all over India along with her dad who was in the army. She is now a resident of Bombay since the last eight years.

~ Chondamma on The Sole Sisters ~

"The Sole Sisters was inspired by an album I have on facebook called 'fetish'. Each time I travelled, I put up pictures of shoes I bought from various parts of the world. This led to discussions and comments from friends, and I decided to create a larger platform - The Sole Sisters, a blog dedicated to women who love shoes!"

~ Chondamma on her style and home space ~

" My style is constantly changing and evolving. But, more often than not, Pop Art is something I draw my inspiration from. I absolutely love bright colors and graphics. And I have been tripping on print on print/mixed patterns for a while now.

When I sat down to design the current space, one things was pre-decided. Limited budget. I reused and reupholstered old furniture in interesting paints and fabrics. And threw in more colors and patterns in the form of cushions. Random patterns and colors came in together and started co-existing nicely. All things random is what I would like to call it."

And finally, the cats!

" Bubbu, the fur ball was abandoned a few years back. I was looking to adopt a cat around that time, and that's how Bubbu came into my life. He is one of the best things that has happened to me. He is gentle, never complains and is the most easy going baby. Recently I got him a live toy. His baby sister is Kikki, and she bullies him crazy!"

Hello Kikki! And, this is how your brother Bubbu launched a post :)

Thanks C, for sharing your warm casa and your purr babies with us!

Oh, before you folks leave,  a quick announcement

I dillied and then dallied some more

But finally, I am on twitter! 

Still figuring out how the tweet world works

But I am there, peeps!

Go join me, follow me, and such

Say hello too, pretty please

I plan to share goodies from the blog 

And a whole lot of things that I like, there

Here, click here

And follow @_AnIndianSummer

See you!

[All pics: Chondamma, Meera and Purvi. Sole Sisters on facebook. Creative story boarding: An Indian Summer]

It's raining men

Hallelujah!

Well

It might not really be raining men

But

It is raining rooms for men at least!

So yes, all of you who got up to look out the window

Come back!

I am waiting

With this post

For you

So. Even though I just announced that these are 'rooms for men', I am sort of iffy. I mean I just don't like generalizing that these rooms are meant just for men, or that such decor will appeal only to men. I, and I am sure many of my women readers will like these rooms as much as your average Ryan Gosling. Also, I don't like saying that men don't appreciate what is considered 'feminine' decor. I am all for de-generalization and respecting individual choice. Men, women, cats and dogs - there is no saying what one might identify with when it comes to decor.  

Yet. Yet, there is something about these rooms that spells, for lack of a better phrase, masculine energy. The colors maybe? The fact that they are organic in nature with wood, stone, exposed bricks and such being the key elements? Or is it that they are non-fussy, non-messy? 

[On an aside, ha ha on the non-messy bit. I am sure there is some joke floating around about how many men it takes just to identify and then admit that a room is actually messy!]

[Men readers of this blog: That above, was a harmless private joke between me and my women readers. You know, over drinks and tea kind of a joke. We still believe in de-generalization, non-stereotyping and are an equal opportunity blog]

Oh look! Pretteh chandelier!

Back to the pondering, what do you think? 

Do you think we can say these rooms and decor would go well for guys?

Guys: How about you? Would you like such decor and styling for your space?

And well, 

For what it is worth

I don't know about your average guy

But, Ryan Gosling seems to like our rooms ;)

[If you haven't done so yet, do check out the Hey Girl series :)]

[All images: Tumblr.  Ryan Gosling pic: Ryan Gosling. Creative story-boarding by An Indian Summer]

With Love, From Central Asia

Ah! It's Sunday today. And unlike other Sundays, I am up and about and oh-my-god, also doing a post! But I had to people, I had to. For my favorite one stop shop to sigh over, the place where I point at exquisite things and say look! has a sale! Exotic art, rugs, jewelry, furniture, cushions & pillows from Nisha Misra's lovely treasure trunk - Arastan, are on sale, and not only are they available at Arastan's retail shop in Bangalore, India, they are also available via their online shop! And the good news doesn't end here. Arastan ships world wide! 

Take a look at my favorite picks from the sale. Though do hurry - some of these beautiful products are exclusive and available only one a piece. Click here to quickly grab what catches your fancy.

The sale is on from Sept 8th till 22nd

Find:

Arastan online

Arastan on facebook

And

Arastan's retail outlet

 Happy Shopping! 

What a beautiful way to start a Sunday :)

[Images: Arastan. Creative storyboarding: An Indian Summer]

Me Luv Kush

And you?

Read on, and I am sure you will too!

Three working moms got together and launched their creative baby venture, MeLuvKush, to bring to the world the comfort and beauty of the traditional baby bassinet from India. Named 'Godee' (meaning lap), the idea came to them when their moms hand-stitched plush blankets for their childen, called 'godhri' in India. The three friends then redesigned the godhri, combining modern elements, yet keeping it's traditional use. With motifs designed in-house, godee is hand made by women in Jaipur. Godee allows the baby to be held in a comfortable and snug environment, and is a safe, germ free way to pass along the baby to family and friends who would like to hold the little bundle!

~ GiveAway ~

MeLuvKush would like to giveaway a godee, to an An Indian Summer reader, who stays in the US or Canada, or has a shipping address in US or Canada! So if you are a new mom or dad, or are looking for a thoughtful and interesting gift, make sure you look through their range here, and enter the giveaway!

How to enter:

1. Browse through the pretty colors available for godee right here

2. Let us know which is your favorite by leaving a comment on facebook, and on this post. Do like MeLuvKush on facebook to increase your entry count

3. And, that's about it! The winner of the giveaway will be announced on Sept 13th (Friday). 

Have a beautiful weekend, folks! 

Oh, and watch this space on Sunday

A special announcement coming up!

[Images: MeLuvKush. Creative story boarding: An Indian Summer]