Style Portuguesa - At Cidade Goa

Goa's Cidade Resort is newly roneovated but keeps a lot of its old world Portuguese charm - complete with bright coloured buildings, square windows and Sun roofs and wooden ceilings.

Take a peek!

Chic Furniture....Online!

Sometimes it is very difficult to find good modern furniture. There are a few places where you might find something if you are lucky (@Home is one that comes to mind). Or there are a bunch of places that may or may not be in your price range...(Abaca, GoodEarth, etc)

But the other day, I came across a site that has some simple elegant furniture in classic oak wood. The site and some of its product are quite a treat. What's more is that they deliver all across India. Check out: http://www.inliving.com/

The products are reasonably priced (similar to Fabindia):

The Tahoe and the Ice collections were particularly interesting.

Here are a few individual pieces from them:

A cute side-table

Single - book rack

A console table

Enjoy inliving.com and wish you all a very Happy 2009!

The Stylkist Design Studio

Its been about 4 months since we launched www.stylkist.com and we have had a great time with it so far. We have grown rapidly, connected with several design enthusiasts and customers around India. We are also now retailing in 4 cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad through premium boutiques in the respective cities. Of course, we have our own studio in Mumbai as well. We finally have some pictures of the place to share. Do pay us a visit if you are around.

Our address: 218, Crystal Plaza, 33rd Road, Bandra W, Mumbai 400050 (Near Croma)

+022 32170059/ +91 9867996218

Open 10am to 7pm Mon - Fri. Weekends - by Appointment

Here are the pictures from the studio!

Mad about Tea, Madder about the Tea Pots

Being both a tea-lover and a lover of tea-pots, the Mad-hatters tea party exhibition ( in Kala Ghoda in Mumbai) was exciting and quite a treat. I noticed the name of one of my favourite ceramists - Adil Writer whose work I have been following for a while. I have always fancied the the classical Japanese style tea pots but I must say after I had not seen as many amazing contemporary, funky-cool tea-pots as I had at this exhibition.

Northeast Chic?

A recent post from http://www.thekeybunch.com struck a chord....India's Northeast has been rich with bamboo weaves and textile crafts all along and yet today all we hear about is Rattan, Water Hyacinth, etc etc all from South East Asia.

Here is a beautiful Salon in LA by designer Seyie Putsure in LA who brings her influenced from Nagaland into this contemporary salon. Enjoy!

Time for a good natured debate!

So, what is contemporary design really? I do believe that they are simpler lines, more fluid designs, less crowded prints, combining a dotted salt shaker with a solid coloured pepper shaker. It is about surprising and delighting the senses with the simplest of shapes. Less crowded and intricate motifs. 

Here are some pieces of decor that I have come across that I thought were super examples of contemporary design:

A simple chest of drawers combined with Ratan type baskets for drawers - an ingenious and simple design from a manufacturer in Rajasthan

Use of simple aluminium containers as wall mounted storage from a design house in the UK

A hand made sugar and creamer set by Whitney Smith in the US

And - here are some pieces of decor we have created as part of our launch collection at Stylkist.com

Giving Benarasi silk a comtemporary look.

Quoted Ceramic vase that says quirky can still be gorgeous

A piece of art by Artist Rekha Krishnan that turns the traditional Indian lotus into a contemporary jaw-dropper

So its fairly obvious by now that I am a modernist when it comes to design and decor.

So, we asked Charu Tewari, an Interiors Stylist,  Colour and Décor Consultant as well as a Regional Manager at atmosphere by day, for her thoughts on contemporary:

She believes that Inspite of the fact that minimal and fuss free modern décor has become very popular,Classical and Transistional designs and décor styles are here to stay. The reason according to her is that the  world has a rich historical  past of décor and  design styles. Whether it is Ornate or Gilded frames for mirrors or  Potraits and Art or   decorated niches with  curved  floral  mouldings; and that every classical décor item has a very strong personality.

Here are some examples she shared with us:

A modern set of fully upholstered Stools or Pouf’s with  Classical fabric on them inspired by the european era

 

Roman Blinds and Roller Blinds are quite contemporary. Designers and Decorators add that Pizzaz and Style by  using fabric with bold motifs from the Classical Era 

Plump  cushions  with Classical motifs in  rectangular Marble seating niches in the wall

So modern and contemporary or classical yet contemporary....you take your pick....As Charu and I take our debate elsewhere.

Soaking in Dewigarh

A recent suprise birthday gift put me on a plane to Udaipur and sent me for a weekend with my better half to Devigarh. Inspite of seeing the castle and being struck by its beauty in the movie.Eklavya, I was short of breadth, when I saw it in person. It was so beautiful. It was so much to take in. Many many thoughts rushed to my head as I caught the first glimpse. I tried hard to remember all of them as we walked along. The castle looked like an elegant piece of jewelry - not the garish or the rich colourful kind but rather the quiet, elegant kind. Stunningly intricate and yet so contemporary.

There were arches and there were great views.......

As we entered the room, or the palace suite rather, my eyes were wide open, my jaw dropped and I let out a gasp. The beauty of the traditional meeting the contemporary was like I had never experienced before. There were traditional crafts and artefacts made of local resources placed in contemporary settings. There was the use of stunning red against the stark white walls and upholstery created a dramatic set up.

The only other thing I will add is that I never left the resort for most part of my trip. I tirelessly walked around to every nook and cranny to find surprising little coves of design that existed like these -

Finally, I sign off with cheers (from the devigarh bar) to the Poddars who created this dream as well as the interior designer Rajiv Saini