Home is where the inspiration is.

Announcing the winner of the giveaway posted early last month.  Canada based architect and entrepreneur, Liza Skaria's answer  bags her  this limited edition print signed in verso :

A detail of make shift , plastic and canvas tents that house pilgrims at Kumbh city, Allahabad.

On the subject of homes and what they mean to us,  a couple of conversations I have had with friends and readers recently brings me to today's  post..

In which what one surrounds oneself with finds organic and subconscious expression in what one does sometimes.

Its going to be a series of quick collages I posted to a secret Pinterest board recently.  One that a fellow blogger friend the inimitable Archana Srinivas of Rang Decor encouraged me to put together. Archana needs no introduction, but this much has to said, she is a major motivation for mine among a score of other blogs like ours . Read her lovely blog here.

That my  home is an expression of what drives me internally is something I  knew intuitively.  But to realise how much took this little exercise.. 

One morning for me, and an evening for Archana who currently building her nest in Minnesota, USA, many steaming cups of tea and a free wheeling chat about work inspiration and `style' prompted me to look into my work and  and inspirations.

With some thinking I juxtaposed work from the Photo+ series I launched last year against vignettes from my home and work, in collages and came to a realisation...

Like every book read, ever word written, every movie seen, every place traveled what you photograph, and what you curate as an environment around you has a say in who you are and what your inspirations will be. It matters what you say with your home..!

Have  shared the mood-boards I created for Archana with you via these hurriedly put together collages. Do leave me a word if this resonates with you at any level ( of agreement or disagreement both ) at all!

Unfinished business

This one is an unlikely post. Design blogs are about perfection right? usually well manicured and curated beauty, order and elegance worthy of Pinterest ?   Only images I post today would  do  Pinterest fail proud.  (Check out this funny gem if you have not yet already :http://www.pinterestfail.com/)

Some times life is like that...

Things go on, go wrong. Do not adhere to our agendas.  Chaos is the dark side of order always.  The home too. A work in progress for months with the end no where in sight. Unforeseen emergencies,  strikes, material delays and the like.
Then there are the inevitable mistakes, miscalculations and disagreements.. Whatever the reasons, the the dust and cacophony is not going to settle anytime soon.  One has to some how settle for  the unfinished home. Somehow make peace with the constant hub -hub of people, workers, contractors, material and more.
Learning to breathe with it all this much I have learnt-  A home will never be home if you don't learn to live with it. The perfect, the imperfect. All.

Yogic breathing would help calm frayed nerves if it weren't so darn dusty all the time !   But there is always something one can do to make things better.  Waking up early to enjoy quite mornings for one. Realising that life changes but does not stop, so live as usual.  Flowers, lights, friends.. learning not to wait for a future date but live in the moment. As for the dust and the noise, there are always colourful dust covers and an effective pairs of ear plugs ;)

:)

Light

Id and Ganesh utsav have come and gone. The year is already on the brink of the festive season. Dussehra, Diwali and Christmas.. Also the much awaited short but sweet Mumbai winter - if there is such a thing at all!..
Taking a  short breather before diving back into the year again.. posting random pictures taken from around  home, of homes and random streets....

(More about Chawl)

Its the light between two seasons that makes such a difference to the way we see things.. Shifting rays of the sun create unexpected, surreal changes to perspective. The way  the breakfast table lights up some mornings for example....

Or another random corner of the house late in the afternoon....

Also today afternoon, rambling around a shaded Colaba street, I chanced upon this balcony besprinkled with light.

Metamorphosis

A change of season. Winter fading to spring.  Change of light, change of shadow.  Leaves sprout, buds bloom, winged birds leave and others start to sing tremulous sweet songs of longing and the coming of summer. But before all that there was a driveway flush with colour. Sweet almond trees aflame and the wait for holi and its myriad colours. Had taken a break for  a bit.. emerging now. Like slow shedding of skin and gradual unfolding of a bud, a little new, freshly moulted a little wet, a little wary but hopeful.
Spring is about fresh beginnings and changing light and colour.
Amen to that.

About homes: Stories from Goa.

Houses carry the imprint of their dwellers on them. People say a lot by the choices they make about their immediate surroundings, the way they live. History is threaded together with the shards of pottery and digs of crumbling structures dating back millennia. Located in their particular place and time, homes are a repository of people’s priorities, world views, histories and personalities. In a sense becoming a mirror of society itself.

An abiding interest in spaces, and how people live’ was what initially got me blogging about home in the first place.

I intended to say through pictures, stories, what the spaces I have personally experienced or even just merely passed through mean to me. At least from time to time, if not always.

All is well with intention; only one needs to actually get down to doing it too! Disappointingly I have not really started saying what I intended to say with this blog- barring a few posts which I link here and here (only cuz they were blogged so long ago).

I remained satisfied with what was easy, around me and full of me at the same time- my own home.

Now a tad tired with all the self obsession and self love (I have to say it, the blog in its current state does not leave me completely happy) I want to slowly get back to the original inspiration.

Was a trip to Goa recently that triggered the desire to revisit the germ of the blog. The houses that dot this lush piece of heaven on the west coast of India, bright, colorful, old and new alike, villages and Vaddos full of them, rich or poor -lend an instant personality to the territory.

Where only the churches were allowed to be white, the homes embraced colours in all shades, whole-heartedly and without any reservations. These structures dating back to each time and epoch in Goa’s chequered history, speak of stories and a complete way of life quintessentially Goan. Informing and inspiring the work of master artists like FN Souza, cartoonist Mario Miranda, photographer Dayanita Singh - just a few talents Goa's fecund soil has nurtured.

Monsoons are a beautiful time to be in Goa. It is enchantingly lush, verdant and quite. A season of soft, sun interspersed showers. Drawn by the welcoming homes dotting the landscape and a also following a chance encounter, seeking shelter from sudden rain one afternoon, I found myself seeking more and more homes and the people behind them. Over the few days I spent there, I had seen as much Goa from inside these homes as from the outside.

Posting a series of stories from Goan homes then… Saying as much is needed to be said and letting the houses do much of their talking.

Stylistically, Goan residential architecture, has resulted form extensive inter-mixing of pre-existing Hindu styles of home building with heavy Italianate, Baroque and Rococo influences introduced by the Portuguese upon their arrival on the Malabar coast, As opposed to the rest of the country, the Portuguese tastes entrenched themselves fast and quick on the Goan landscape, allowing very limited say to other influences, read english influences on house building styles in subsequent years also. A fact that sets Goa and its many homes apart from the rest of the country.

Have posted a few pictures of facades that caught my fancy. Will talk at some length over subsequent posts.

Mine has come to be called a `décor / design blog. As such some of you esteemed readers might find me digressing. I might as well shun that tag, because it is infinitely more interesting to observe people and how they add meaning to their surroundings.

Do talk about it guys... And come back here for more, because the journey was delectably long and leisured and my explorations many!

Colour Stories : Red post

Starting with a colour that dominates most of the living and entertaining areas in the house. We chose Red. It comes in all shades -right from the more somber, earthy maroon and terracotta to the most vivacious deep red. Is cheerful. Goes well with the dark, natural wood surfaces and textiles I was going to pair the walls with. Is very Indian- Think Wedding saree, think tilak, rangoli, sindoor, mauli- Above all because, most reds contrast wonderfully with Black -the other wall colour on my pallet for the area- so a no brainer really.

Here is the color pallet for the living dining and entertainment areas...

The red, in shades of terracotta and deep red are paired with charcoal black and soft white for the walls, and taupe on wooden surfaces like doors and windows.

Posting the final look below.

(above): view of the Living room from the foyer. The wall sports a terracotta red.

In the family room, which is used for watching television or casual entertaining, the colours are a brighter red and black..This is the area I chose to paint myself... three coats of absolute fun and zen, which is befitting, because the area itself has a very calming feel to it , inspite of the loud  red on the walls...  

The dining area offset against a terracotta wall, has a more formal- earthy look.

A red lacquer shoe cabinet contrasts  with a charcoal black wall at the entrance.

Textiles: Hill tribe weaves

Getting back to posting about Textile traditions from Asia. This one is  about the most vibrant, most eclectic and most lovingly preserved traditions one will encounter. The hill tribe weaves from Indochina. 

An intricate  flower Hmong blanket  with extensive embroidery ,

 applique and batik used as alternately a throw or coverlet in the bed room.

Indigo dyed Black Hmong clothing from Vietnam. The collar, belt and sleeves are worked in

  cross-stitch and applique and attached  to the main garment later.

The hill tribe people from the region are diverse- almost 50 from Vietnam alone.  They present a mind boggling diversity in attire, practices customs and traditions. It is impossible for the casual visitor to illustrate the whole gamut in a single blog post, it is more a subject for a serious ethnographer.

What unifies the vast number of ethnic people spread across Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and even China, to my mind is their love for textiles.  Each minority is easily identifiable with their dress Most of them derive their names from the particular style of clothing they wear - Black Hmong, Flower Hmong, Red Dzao or Yao, White-trouser Yao so on. 

One of the more vibrant tribes, Red yao, or Dzao clothing. Remarkable for their  detachable aprons and belts worked with embroidery, applique and liberal use of woolen and metallic embellishment.

Flower Hmong blanket used as a window runner in the study room

The garments are made by the women. Harvesting  and weaving the hemp,  breeding silkworms, applying indigo dye, producing the batik designs, embroidering  and sewing the garment and embellishing them with pompoms, shells and sequins, a virtually limitless  range of techniques go into producing colorful and flamboyant dress which are utilitarian, ecologically-kind and expressive.

Have posted illustrations of the Black Hmong and the Red Yao or  Dzao clothing from Vietnam. (Only I have not managed  to get the right shades of indigo dyes in the illustrations which differ from the original in that respect. )

An unusual Sin ton, or belt  and Plastron or Chap, of the Red Yao tribe

A lasting memory from my trip to Sapa, Vietnam is observing a Hmong household up-close. Ventured more by accident, seeking shelter from sudden rain- the  half an hour spent in a ramshackle hut told me enough about the love of textiles, for the small area inhabited by the Black Hmong family was rife with fabric dying and weaving paraphernalia. A pungent smell of indigo fermenting in vats permeated the mostly cane and bamboo house. The women of the house  had inky-blue hands - a tell tale sign that comes from handling indigo dyes.

The  prettiest  sight  one will encounter roaming the emerald rice paddies of this exquisite hill station in Northern Vietnam is the sight of  White Hmong  and  Flower Hmong women swishing voluminous skirts on the way to the weekly market. Called `skirts of thousand pleats' on account of  the painstaking hand pleating that goes into creating the garment.

Flat cushion made from a Hmong jacket

A visit to the weekly Hmong market in  Luang Prabang, Laos, was another occasion to arrest lasting images of a very colourful people out in their finery. 

Over all the trips I have come back with stashes of textiles. Posting a few pictures from around the house and a slide show of images from  Vietnam and Laos.

 A child's cap embellished with wool, metal, and old coins : Red Yao tribe

Besides the colourful flamboyant clothing, the hill people use jewellery and accessories extensively, a subject that will take up an entirely different post.

Transformation

Getting back to blog after a longish break. Plenty has happened.  

Summer has very slowly changed to winter here for one.  These are the sweet days of the year, when it is chilly but not the biting kind of cold, not yet atleast.  The winds roll but not with the intensity of gales. The suns rays warm and benign  slant ever so little but not in an evasive kind of way.

It feels to good to be here like this.  A time for reinventing and reacquainting with life. Time to revisit my much neglected house and blog. Posting before and after pictures of  the living room, as it changes with the season from summer into winter.

Living room in Summer....transformed quiet simply by breaking up the sectional sofa, replacing the rug and shuffling the accessories  and art work around  little.

making the area a little cosier and more intimate for the winter.

This winter I am promising my self to rest and just be.  Turn inwards into meditative silences. Treat myself to more  solitary afternoons spent with books guzzling endless cups of tea.

Celebrate  the colours of the earth and skies, with  winter flowers fruits and berries.

Listen to music on long chilly evenings...... 

To all my blogging buddies out there,  enjoy this time to rest and restore, love and be loved. Do also  visit this  space again and have a wonderful season !