Eucalyptus

i recently read a book called Eucalyptus by Murray Bail. i've never read australian writing before so this was a first! it was a wonderful book even though i kept cursing the author over the many short stories that keep appearing, every second line, within the story format and kept thinking that it should get on with the main story(thats what makes it wonderful i guess)(and i'm using kept far to often:). the end was the most beautiful end i have read in a while! i think the book has great movie potential and would appeal to the young teen girls (however and i do think i need to specify i am 25).

anyway what happened as i was reading the book is that i came across a concept store called Eucalyptus in Hyderabad. i was so happy to find out that two of my seniors from design school are the designers behind the textile range in the store. Shaila Nambiar and Shruti Phagre-Mahajan.
thats them in the picture above!

its a wonderful looking store (as i can see from the website) and they have some great home linen.

Do check out the website for more pictures. its always so encouraging to see people i have known doing what they do best :) congrats S&S!

talking about sparrows

i love sparrows, they have been my favourite city dwelling birds for as long as i remember! i might as well add here that i find pigeons annoying (can't stand the guttural sounds they make non stop) and crows well i think they have a lot of character (i'm even a bit scared of them...why i will tell you later). so coming back to sparrows, the tiny birds i adore! i like the female ones as they are paler , slightly shorter and much cuter than their male counterparts (the males have an identifying black beard just below the beak). twittering sparrows remind me of winter/summer holidays, a time when i could watch them for hours, trying to build a nest behind the drain pipe on the first floor of our house! those were happy days. there used to be many sparrows and squirrels atop our clothes line then. and today i wonder where all the sparrows have gone? i don't see them anymore. did i leave them behind somewhere as my city grew from new delhi to NCR? did i forget about them..yes i did. i spot an occasional sparrow here and there online in a letterpress card or a wallpaper. they make wonderful silhouettes.i feel sad as i remind myself that they also are wonderful little real birds twittering atop the clotheslines in someones house where someone has time to look at them.above illustration by fiona hamilton

almond sparrow print by jenna lou

print by birds and swings on flickr

Great Green Goods

check out these fantastic objects all made from misprints! Viva Terra works with an artist who collects these misprints from can factories and then transforms this waste into charming household goods! click on the link above to take you to this goodness!the economist did an article on some of the green goodness available online (recommended by a friend). thats how i landed on this wonderful blog/website called greatgreengoods.
all images in this post are from the same.
below is a set of 4 mixing bowls made from recycled melamine exclusive and patented and available on amazon for $29.isn't this a great idea? this image had me in splits for the longest time! its a fantastic way of recycling worn off shoes and extremely funny! if i were to make these out of my boyfriend's shoes though i think the poor birds will die of all the odour..tsk tsk.
now if i make them out of sexy high heals in bright shades...that would make a statement house for the sparrows!:)

Gabbeh

Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s film, Gabbeh, 1996.

In the opening scene of the Iranian film, Gabbeh, viewers are confronted with a riot of colour‑colourful costumes, bright scenery and a dazzling gabbeh (hand made rug), woven by Iranian nomads. Some viewers have wondered whether this is a colour overkill but there is an interesting story behind this. The film maker turns up the colour not for aesthetic reasons but to make a prophetic statement. The Iranian government had become prescriptive about the clothes Iranian women were to wear.....you may read the complete review here
Text via : reviewingbooksandmovies.blogspot.com

i saw this movie when i was in college and remember having fallen in love with it. it was mystical and beautiful..full of colour! i must get a copy and watch it again!

Gabbeh or Gabbe is a traditional variety of Persian carpet.
A gabbe is a triple hand-knotted carpet/floor mat, crafted almost exclusively by women from Qashqai and some other tribes in southwestern Iran. This kind of carpet is much thicker and coarser than other Persian carpets; sometimes it is as much as one inch in depth. In fact, it is more of a variety of kilim than carpet.

via wikipedia

Kaitag

i'm falling in love with textiles from Central Asia. images above are Kaitag Embroideries from the remote mountainous region of Daghestan. image on the cover of Hali magazine, 2007, is Silk on Cotton, 18th Century.

via stylecourt

KAITAG ART
Situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, Daghestan is an inaccessible and mountainous part of the Caucasus, an autonomous region first of the Soviet Union and now of Russia, flanked by the mighty Russian and Persian empires. Kaitag art, from a small region in the south of Daghestan, is the creation of a multi-ethnic people, incorporating Zoroastrian, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and pagan symbolism. This remarkably vibrant and beautiful tradition is found mostly in the rectangular panels embroidered with vividly coloured silks that are the subject of this book. Examples are attributed to the 16th through to the 19th centuries. The geography of the region and the self-contained and inward-looking pattern of living of the Kaitag people were major factors in the confinement of such a distinct art to such a small group of villages.
THE DESIGNS
The vast repertoire of designs is the legacy of the society that produced them. Byzantine, Fatimid, Mongolian, Timurid, Mamluk, Chinese, Ottoman and Celtic forms, combined with local animist art in a glorious diversity: hieroglyphic motifs, sun signs, birds signs, sun bursts, octagons, cosmic columns, horns, crosses, fantastic crab-like beasts, elk, reindeer, fat swordfish, dragons, amoebae-like shapes, masks and even foetuses can be identified. Many ancient talismanic symbols occur, for these panels were used in rituals associated with birth, marriage and death - to wrap cradles or as dowry covers, for example.

text via textileart.com

war and peace

i've had this in my typo folder since ages and its strange how i've never posted this here. i love this poster and remember sharing it with a friend of mine many months ago! when i have my own house i'm going to have this kind of iconic art all over my place:)!

achha now coming back to the point of this poster..

a few days back i had a mail drop in my mailbox from Andy of A+R Store. i don't know how or why it landed there but i ignored it. today i clicked on the weblink and to my surprise find the same poster selling at their store! its a total eye tonic! please click on the link above (title) to check out and feast your eyes on some great product design!

enjoy!

P.S: they even have T shirts of this poster!!!

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and i just love blogging...i love it more when people leave comments on my blog. so if you are reading this please don't hesitate to tell me what u think! and if you have been reading my blog thanks for visiting!
love, kanika :)
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