notes from Jaipur..

Arrived in Jaipur a few days ago on the not so luxurious Jaipur Express, but just in time to catch the last few days of the Jaipur literary festival , held at Diggy Palace Hotel, which is beautiful and enjoyed sipping chai and wandering between book readings and debates,and browsing the bookshop.. what a treat , and treated myself to these ..

Love Jaipur..the best guide books for India by Fiona Caulfield

little gifts..

we would like for Christmas..available to buy online from Bungalow 8

Bombay Electric...

Can't wait to check out Bombay Electric - a concept store set up by the the stylish Priya Kishore as a platform for Indian fashion and design..

'Since its launch in 2007 she has attracted considerable media attention most recently from Suzy Menkes, who wrote: “this is a template for the next millennium of Indian style" (International Herald Tribune, 2008).

Priya collaborates with both established and emerging Indian designers to produce fashion-led collections to be sold in Bombay Electric. She champions sustainable design and collaborates with several Indian NGOs such as Women Weave, Aranya, and Alba, to translate traditional crafts and handloom techniques into contemporary designs. These initiatives ensure long-term sustainability for the crafts across India. During her time in London, Priya aims to create bridges between Indian and British designers and to foster collaborations between designers in both countries.'

text from British council

Globe shopping..Sri Textiles, Brooklyn

hand stitched cotton textile Rajasthan India

 A roll of Kurume cotton warp yarns, vintage

 A large and fine patched cotton furoshiki, sashiko kanji

 Bengali Kantha, millions of stitches

 An antique Indian drawing, Yantra in red ink

An intricately resist dyed Indian turban, Mothara from Rajasthan

Layered patched and stitched Boro panel

'Sri is a textile gallery in Brooklyn, New York, USA, specializing in antique Japanese folk textiles, highlighting the indigo-dyed cotton utilitarian fabrics and boro--or patched and mended--textiles of old Japan.'

Where to get it 18 Eckford Street, #8

Brooklyn, NY 11222

t. 718-599-2559

From Antiques and Boutiques, tailor made tours and personal shopping Barcelona

Le Corbusier and Chandigarh

 

 Vihan Sabha

 High Court

 High Court

 High Court

 Secretariat Building

 Vihan Sabha

Main central plaza

On researching the next adventure to India we came across these incredible buildings by French (born Swiss) Architect and urban planner, Le Corbusier in Chandigarh. So Chandigarh was an experimental city built in India in the 1950s and is the biggest and most significant example of urban planning executed by Le Corbusier.Looks amazing and can't wait to pay it a visit, wonder if they have any Government guest houses to stay in!

Pictures and great info from Travel Blog
From Antiques and Boutiques Interior Design Tours Barcelona

A Peace Treaty..

Being lovers of all things handy craft, and promoting it as much as we can in Barcelona, we thought we would do a blog on one of our favourite accessory designers A Peace treaty, whose collections of scarves and jewellery are inspired by hand crafting cultures from the middle east, Asia, South America and Africa and aim at creating ethically produced artisan level accessories for the luxury fashion market..here is a little more of their story..

'Born in 2008, as a personal pact between Farah Malik, a Pakistani Muslim, and Dana Arbib, a Libyan Jew, A PEACE TREATY creates employment for skilled artisans working in places of socio-political strife, effectively supporting their technique and craft while elevating their products to the level of high design for an exclusive and international fashion audience.

Inspired by the hand-crafting cultures of the Middle East, Asia, South America and Africa, A PEACE TREATY was conceived when Arbib and Malik met while living in Rome. The two discovered that they shared both a love of high fashion and a desire to increase awareness of ancient, disappearing crafting traditions. Intermingling Arbib’s strong background in graphic, textile and product design with Malik’s history of developing multimedia marketing campaigns for social justice and human rights, they set about connecting discerning fashion connoisseurs with cache, boutique level artifacts from places typically seen only negatively through the media lens.

Each season, A PEACE TREATY travels to a particular region and seeks out local village artisans to re-define an accessory, designing limited edition pieces in style unique colorways. Each jewelry or scarf collection resuscitates ancient handmade textile and metalsmithing techniques that are at risk of extinction. Working with craftspeople in eight countries and injecting life and trade back into local economies, A PEACE TREATY employs artisans with above fair trade wages and invests in creating income generation opportunities for out-of-work artisans, disabled and widowed women.'

From http://apeacetreaty.com/pages/story

Globe Shopping...Bungalow 8 Mumbai

Antiques and Boutiques love a good lifetyle store, and Bungalow 8 just outside of Mumbai is one of our favourites. We visited it a few years back when we took a trip to India for a few months and wanted to bring the whole store back in our satchels! Set up in 2003 in a historic 3 storey building in the Colaba area, it features antique floors, carved wooden doors and high ceilings. With everything from crockery to antique cupboards, textiles, bed linens, unique pieces, both modern and vintage, the owner Maithili Ahluwalia has found pieces made by the best craftsmen from all over India. The top floor is dedicated to fashion and there is an exclusive jewellery range from by French designer Mattieu Leguillan who has worked for YSL and Lanvin, so luckily we found some things that we could bring home!


Where to find it..17Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba Mumbai 
www.bungaloweight.com

A Little India Inspiration

We Love: This small film from westelm video about hand block printing in northern India's Rajasthan.. 


From: www.antiquesandboutiques.com Tailor made Tours and Personal Shopping in Barcelona

17th Century Inspiration

We Love: These  inspiring abstract paintings. Though they have been compared to more modern works from artists such as Paul Klee and Kazimir Malevich they are in fact works created by  Hindu tantra divotees from various northern Indian cities, and are a pictoral tradition dating back to 1600.

The art works, painted on salvaged paper a foot high, enchanted  French poet Franck Andre Jamme , who spent years tracking them down across the deserts of Rajasthan befriending tantrikas in order to  understand their meditative art form.

The works were exhibited in Paris in 1994 where Jamme wrote:

“Perhaps rarely in the universal history of painting have works at once so mysterious and simple, yet so powerful and pure, ever been produced — a bit as if, here, man’s genius had been able to assemble almost everything in almost nothing.”

They have now come into print in “Tantra Song” (Sigolo)


From www.antiquesandboutiques.com Tailor made Tours and Personal Shopping Tours in Barcelona