Hand-Crafted Happiness!

Fashion designer Rachana Nagranee loves all things beautiful and believes that the simplest of designs are the most wonderful. Specialised in Handbags and home accessories, Rachana created Pitaara which is a collection of hand-crafted products inspired by the state of happiness. Each of the handbags and fashion accessories is so luxurious & indulgent, they seem almost sinful… I am sure you will love them.

Here are a few of the handcrafted bags and contemporary jewellery from Pitaara’s collection:

To feast your eyes on more of these gorgeous hand-crafted handbags and fashion accessories click here.

Childhood Dreams

I hope you guys had a great weekend….I was totally lost in cyberspace with all sorts of codes and themes and god-knows-what-else to upgrade my site and I still am not ready with it after 3 days! Why can’t it be easier?! You will see the results soon, promise.

Enough about all this now. I must share with you these gorgeous illustrations done by Maheswari Janarthanan that I think will be perfect for a little one’s room. Though, I do feel I would love to have them on my walls as well 🙂 I just love the whole dreamy. candy floss feel they have.

Joy

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

Moondance

A windy day

Follow you heart, set your soul free, open your arms, to the future, its yours you see.

Singing in the rain

To enjoy more of Maheswari’s beautiful work  click here.

Sunday News!

Here’s some news, I am in the midst of upgrading my blog….and technology-challenged that I am, I require all the help I get. Luckily my tech-savvy family and friends are willing to help me out. So here is hoping I can get my blog sorted soon. Going with the NEWS theme here are a few gorgeous products made out of old newspapers.

Photos courtesy Etsy, Setu Fairtrade & Uptodate Impex

1. Artwork by sdarts 2. Paper Bag by Setu Fairtrade 3. Pen Holders by Uptodate Impex 4. Bangle by Hippiekingdom

Street to Pop Culture

Bringing forth the lives of street vendors here are few works out of Sohan Jakhar’s series called ”Vendorism”. Drawing inspiration from the splendidly frescoed havelis or mansions of Shekhavati(a region north of Jaipur) Sohan creates beautiful backgrounds which he modernizes using pastel colours from pop culture. The foreground on the other hand speaks of a completely different world of roadside bazaars that he creates by taking photographs, digitally modifying them and then painting them on the canvas. The finished work totally left me speechless.

Sohan has had many solo and group shows around the world. His work was also exhibited at Sotheby’s, New York, which is one of the world’s premier auction houses. To enjoy more of his awesome work click here.

Capturing the Beauty of Life

Photographer & blogger Archana Srinivas turns simple everyday things into beautiful feelings. Her photographs are ever so dreamy and stylish; it brings with it a sense of calm. Perfect to start off the weekend….

Archana’s love for food, interior design & chai are very evident in her photographs. Each of her compositions is so well-arranged and shot that you can actually smell the flowers and feel the soul in them. Here are just a few of her gorgeous photographs.

To enjoy more of her photographs click here.  Be warned though, some of the pictures will invoke a massive craving for food.

Bollywood Billboards to Beautiful Bags

I believe in recycling and try to do my bit wherever possible. Recycling conserves resources, saves energy, helps protect the environment and reduces landfills….why wouldn’t you want to recycle?! It is only recently though that I came across the term Upcycling. Upcycling is using waste and converting it into something of better quality or value.

Initiated by designer Nupur Goenka ”Lets” is an eco-friendly company that saves dying objects and gives them a new life. Here are a few of their handmade, one-of-a-kind bags and laptop covers that are durable, water-resistant & easy to clean. 100% made of left overs the materials used to create these bags are plastic of old billboard signs and sarees & leather bits from factory wastes.

To see more of their upcycled products click here.

Mid-week humour

I came across these illustrations while browsing and thought I must share them. I love the way Nithin Rao says so much through his humorous illustrations. Here are a few of them for some midweek cheer!

Maradona V/s Paul the Octopus

Aravind Adiga

Osama

Coldplay

Disclaimer : All images used are solely owned by the artist and are reproduced here with prior permission. Please do not use these images without obtaining consent from the artist.

To enjoy more of Nithin’s illustrations click here.

Poetry in Geometry

Visual artist Madan Meena has exhibited his work extensively in various galleries across the world. Portraying the rich and vibrant colors of Rajasthan his work uses geometry with elements of nature like moon, rain and flowers. His abstract style transforms the circle into subtle poetic images that are extremely endearing.

Life Circles, Acrylic on canvas

Lotus Pond & Full Moon, Acrylic on canvas

Monsoon Dreams, Acrylic on canvas

Pond, Acrylic on canvas

After his doctoral dissertation on ‘Art of the Meena Tribes’ Madan documented and exhibited the mandana wall paintings across the world. He has published two books on the subject, Joy of Creativity and Nurturing Walls.

As a curator Madan has designed an exhibition on brooms for the “Arna Jharna: The Desert Museum of Rajasthan” of Rupayan Sansthan (Institute of Rajasthan folklore studies) in Jodhpur. He is currently Assistant Director for a film funded by the Ford Foundation on the Broom making society.

More about Madan’s work can be found here & here.

Creating ‘Useful Art’

Paul Sandip is a gifted designer who transforms everyday objects into works of art. Winner of many awards his most recent achievement is the Silver Prize at OPUS Eyewear Design Award 2009, Japan for his sensuous see-through blindfold for adult fantasy play. Here are few of his other brilliant works

Nominated by Elle Decor for EDIDA’09 Planet G is a smart night lamp that turns direct light into a diffused glow just by a scroll.

SPOO is an ergonomically designed spoon for little ones. The design is easy on the parent’s wrist, soft for swollen little gums and comfortable for both right and left-handed parents.

The Disposable Mug originally made for Indian Railways is an absolutely brilliant, inexpensive, eco-friendly mug that disintegrates after use. It has won the Business World Design Excellence Award, India, in 2004 and was a finalist at INDEX: – Design to improve life, Denmark, in 2009.

ATE is a double-bladed stainless steel pencil sharpener that effectively sharpens large and small pencils to a comfortable sharp tip every time. It has rubberized soft edges and a satin finish. It won the prestigious Red Dot design award in 2007

To know more about Paul and his amazing work check out http://differentialdesign.blogspot.com/

Easy like Sunday morning

Commodores singing ‘Easy’ in the background, the bit about ‘Easy like Sunday morning’ is what I am liking… As I was thinking about my next post, the Sun rose over the horizon and from our balcony I could see it taking on a yellowy hue. Very warm, very inspiring. I decided on my next post right at this moment…. here is a bit of sunshine your way

Pictures through Etsy

1. Marigold pillow cover by The Home Centric, 2. A little Elf named Big Foot by  Madsbear, 3. Ivory Ganesha Pendant by Bull Crab Studio, 4. Madhu Earring by Minoubazaar, 5. Ganesha Mask by Vintage Galaxy, 6. Hand painted Tee by Bootika, 7. Sandalwood wrist mala by Meditation, 8. Sling bag by Knottygal, 9. Crochet Jazz Saxophone pendant by Mamta

I created this mood-board with items I found on Etsy. I hope it brings a bit of summery happiness to you. Now I am off to the Ganpathy temple, inspired by my mood-board of course 🙂