A gift from Coppre

Do you feel it?

That vibe

That sparkle

That excitement

That festive spirit

I do

And so does Coppre!

I blogged about Coppre last Diwali, and the lovely team behind Coppre is back on An Indian Summer, with another fabulous giveaway this Diwali. Coppre works with metal craftspeople, bringing dignity, efficiency and a contemporary sensibility to this ancient craft,by linking talented designers to craftspeople. Coppre is supported by INTACH and Forbes Marshall in this intiative.

~ The GiveAway ~

This festive season, Coppre would like to giveaway a beautiful fish platter from their new collection called 'Vintage Inspirations'. Rashmi Ranade, the founder of Coppre and the designer for this series, draws from the influence of a trunkful of antique brass/copper utensils, puja (worship) accessories brought to India by her friend's grandmother, from erstwhile Pakistan during partition and other objects of yore.

This fish platter can be yours, this Diwali! All you need to do:

1. Think of a creative name for this lovely platter. And leave the name as a comment right here on facebook

2. Comment on this post too with the name to double your chances

3. Cross your fingers :)

4. And the result will be announced on Monday, Oct 28th, with the winning name!

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

P.S: Yes, I am back after a super holiday with Pugdundee Safaris. Like any self respecting vacationer with a camera, I shall share pictures from my holiday, and my experiences with you, tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Call of the wild

After a relatively calm, stay-at-home month of September

I have extended a gleeful welcome to the travel bug

To bite me again!

I just came back from a lovely road trip

And am off again

This time at the invitation of Pugdundee Safaris

To experience their beautiful jungle lodges at Bandhavgarh and Kanha

 

I'll be back with you next week

With stories and pictures, 

Of the wild.

 

Au revoir!

 

 

[Image: An Indian Summer. Clicked by moi on my trip last week]

 

Have you seen these?

I am reviving my tumblr blog again

And thought that you might like to see a glimpse of the room eye candy I share there

These, and lot more of what I like beyond interiors and decor

Right here!

[All images from An Indian Summer Likes. Source links below each image on the blog]

Autumnal Hues

It's October already, my dearest readers. I know, I know...as each month passes in a year, I (and I am sure most of you) get this feeling - Just how quickly days, weeks and months pass! Autumn is my second favorite season, after spring. I love how the light changes, the ever so tender nip in the air, the anticipation for festivals and holidays, the change in wardrobe, and the cozy-ing up of homes. Rugs, throws, quilts, warmer shades of pillows and cushions, the careful selection of woody incense oils rather than the flowery summer ones - Ah! I do like autumn :)

And I do like these lovely rooms and vignettes, to go with my current autumnal mood..

[All pics from this lovely tumblr blog]

I am travelling again and will see you later next week. Take care!

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]