bring on the festivities...

It's that time of the year again. A certain festive anticipation takes hold of me.

Mr. Sun decides to illuminate certain corners with his geometrical rays. Love that fragrance of a season in transition. A season of festivals.

The festive season propels me towards adding that little extra which transforms the home and gets you ready for new events, happy changes and cheerful living!

As promised, sharing few joyful corners of our home...

Jai Hanuman!

Allamanda flower on his open palm...

My shiny silk cushion covers in bright colours & borders...

Mangalgiri borders give a traditional look...

Some tealights in a glazed glass holders...

Fresh fresh flowers in my copper tea kettle...

Bedside chest with a tower of books and flowers...

A Panjurli (Boar Mask) from Udupi...

Roses on my dressing table, kept in little bowls of water placed inside woven palm leaf basket...

Hope all of you enjoyed a virtual tour of few corners of our home.

Eid Mubarak & Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all my readers! Have a great week!

(Images by Arch)

Heritage Madurai.

Last week saw us visit the beautiful Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, devour traditionally prepared South Indian lunches served on banana leaves and get lost in a tropical haven created by Geoffery Bawa.

Heritage Madurai is a 17-acre resort originally called the Madurai Club and was designed by the famous Sri Lankan architect Geoffery Bawa. Bawa's style of blending indoor & outside spaces is evident through out the resort.

Locally sourced materials and natural elements makes this place very unique. Bawa's disciple Vinod Jayasinghe has restored this resort to it's former glory by blending tradition with modern luxuries.

Granite used liberally at the resort.

Intricately carved door at the reception area.

Reception area with antique wicker work chair.

Entrance lobby with fresh floating flowers in a granite urli.

Lotus leaves growing tall at the entrance area.

'Frangipani' trees framing the Luxury Villas.

Granite pillars and furniture at the Luxury Villas.

Our room.

Traditional wooden doors and granite formed the main design in the room.

Our very own plunge pool with Frangipani tree!

Do we really need to head back home?

Temple Tank inspired pool at dusk.

Dining area at dusk.

Geoffery Bawa~ I really adore your style. Madurai ~ I enjoyed your rich culture.

(Images by Arch)

a festive, seasonal makeover at home...

coming soon. Stay tuned...

Blessed...

I feel extremely blessed when 'art' in any form comes home. Whether it is a a small woven basket picked up from a craft fair or a huge Tanjore painting brought home from one of our various travels.

This week began with me experiencing that feeling not once but twice!

All of you must be familiar with the super-talented blogger of the famous Artnlight ~ Vineeta Nair. I have been a longtime follower of her blog, from the time of it's inception to the time it started showcasing Vineeta's new venture of decoupaged line of products, each piece so unique in it's design.

I had been eyeing this box for a while and finally placed an order for it and here it is!

The attention to detail is amazing...

A piece of art from Artnlight that I am going to treasure for a long time to come. Thanks Vineeta.

Remember this post on Aarohi Singh's exhibition? That was way back in November last year. I had bought a gorgeous 'Goddess Saraswati ' Thali from her and decided to pick it up from her after the exhibition.

Days led to weeks, weeks into months. The busy individuals after planning and re-planning finally met in the middle of the day over hot khullads of chai for some stimulating creative conversation:-)

I welcomed the Goddess to our home...

...offered her some frangipanis from our garden.

Thanks Aarohi.

You ladies completely made my day!

(images by Arch)

Rang Decor featured in Pool Magazine...

Open publication - Free publishing - More design

A big thank you to all you lovely readers and to the Pool Magazine Team.

Pool Magazine is India's First International Design Magazine. They stand for Design, Innovation & Creativity.

Do check out their site here.

collective craft.

When I received a mail from Shweta Mohapatra of collective craft, I must admit I was completely blown away by the delicate designs on stone. I believe the products really are 'poetry in stone'.

collective craft is the brainchild of Sibanand Bhol an architect from the SPA ~School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and Shweta Mohapatra an animation film designer from NID, Ahmedabad.

Soapstone Tealight Holder...

collective craft works towards creating environmentally responsible design solutions and engaging traditional handicrafts in contemporary product in Odisha (Orissa).

Shweta and Sibanand work with artisans who have been involved in the age-old traditional stone art form of Odisha where soft soap stone is used for carving figurative forms.

The collaborative currently works towards securing rural livelihoods by generating work opportunities for artisans through interventions and innovation in design and technical processes.

Leaf Series Platters...

Granite Range Bowls...

Leaf Series Coasters...

Pink Series Coasters...

Stone Jewellery...

Their beautiful creations are retailed at~

KAMALA

Gallery 1, Rajiv Gandhi Handicrafts Bhawan,

Baba Kharak Singh Marg, New Delhi 110 001.

Ph.: +91 - 11 - 65969600 / 23743321

Shweta blogs at collective crafts

Varnam presents 'Stories of Channapatna'

Varnam~ Colours for your home, which is Karthik Vaidyanathan's venture brings to you beautiful lamps from their series called 'Stories of Channapatna'.

Each piece has been designed by Varnam and handcrafted by the artisans of Channapatna.

Channapatna is a rural town on the outskirts of Bangalore which is popular for it's wooden toys best known as Channapatna toys. The work involves lacquering the wood of 'Wrightia tinctoria tree also known as 'Aale mara'. The origin of these toys can be traced to the reign of Tipu Sultan who invited artisans from Persia to train the local artisans in making wooden toys.

Green 'Villaku' base, inspired by the traditional oil lamps...

Green base with White and Gold lamp shade...

Lamp bases in various colours...

Green lamp base with Purple Buta Shade...

Karthik says,'I have always found the 'glossy' vibrant colours of Channapatna very intriguing and wanted to explore them in a different avtaar, away from their 'toys' imagery. Since I keep a keen interest in home decor, wanted to combine the two.'

If you want to pick up any of these do drop by at

The Ants Store

#2023/B, 1st Cross, 14th A main, HAL 2nd stage,

Indiranagar, Bangalore - 560038.

Tel :- 080-4175639

from June 3rd to 5th, Fri to Sun, 11AM to 8 PM.

(images by Varnam)

Barefoot at Havelock, Andamans

...is an eco-friendly resort in Havelock Islands in Andamans tucked away behind the tropical tree fence on Radhanagar beach.

Having read some great reviews online we decided on this place for our summer holidays and it surely was worth it.

Pristine, unspoilt beach with aqua waters and surrounded by lush tropical foliage it is a treat for city dwellers.

All the structures at the resort are constructed using locally sourced natural materials. The reception area...

A vibrant arrangement of tropical flowers floating at the reception area gives us a small peek into the amazing things to be experienced during our stay...

The Nicobari-styled dining area completely engulfed by lush foliage...

Exotic tropical flowers...

We enjoyed the airy dining area with a great view....

Eco-friendly-ness is evident in every aspect of the hospitality experience, the place-mats are made of handmade paper and dried flora.

The low dining arrangement was out favourite during our evening chai sessions, listening to the sound of waves on a high-tide, the changing shades of sky and excitedly watching fireflies at dusk...

The sandy path scattered with dries leaves of various shapes and colours lead you to the various cottages...

What a practical way to keep the sand off your cottage, just wash your feet and enter 'bare feet' into your room...

Sit outside and enjoy the sounds of the tropics, the intoxicating symphony played by the crickets, chirping birds and croaking frogs.

Our place on the deck for many cups of tea...

...and hours of reading.

The interiors of our cottage, antique four poster bed with mosquito nets, which the housekeeping staff would spread out in the evenings...

What a memorable experience of being surrounded by nature's best elements....

Will be doing a post on our travel experience soon on Rang~ The Colours of Life.

( Images by Arch)