Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Guest Post: An Indian Childhood

Remember my guest post at Tot-a-Style? Well, it's Totstylist Sangita, the blogger behind the lovely unique blog, who is writing today's post for SHP.

I met Sangita a few months ago when she was visiting NY for a trade show and it has been a slew of emails exchanged ever since :) Liking her as much as I do, very happy to have her over at SHP today!

Over to Sangita.....
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This guest post for SHP has been long overdue and thanks to the always accommodating Divya, I took my time to get this out and over here. It's a little feature on a few kidswear brands that have been inspired by the rich and glorious wealth of the Indian subcontinent. I hope you enjoy reading this little post, which is probably a little different than what you would see here on SHP, but it's art and design nevertheless!

Featuring a line of special occasion dresses for little girls between the ages of 2 and 6, Minor Edition or ME is the baby of designer Ipshita Chatterjee. The line showcases a combination of color, imagination and creativity in one package.


I love the fact that Ipshita's dresses have a lovely old world feel about them, almost like they are customized for you! I literally grew up in couture luxury, my mom sewed almost my childhood clothes and I know I didn't appreciate it then but I sure do now!!

Masala baby, Dipali Patwa's venture is a sheer joy and delight to anyone who appreciates color and vibrance. They offer a range from 6 months to 6 years of bold, fun and carefree line of clothes that includes dresses, skirts, tunics, hoodies, pants, tees, bodysuits and shirts. There is a distinct Indian flair with true international design sensibilities.


You can most definitely feel the Indian vibe through their colorful site filled with fuschia, turmeric, peacock feathers...takes me to the India of my dreams every time I visit the site.


Cupcakes and Pastries
staying true to their name are dresses that can be worn to afternoon mother-daughter tea parties where tea, cookies, candies and cupcakes & pastries are served! The perfect little attire for an afternoon make -believe party!


Inshi Khanna, the creative visionary behind the label draws her inspiration from her travels, from nature, from architecture and gives us this magical collection. Like most moms she started out designing with her daughter in mind, now you know something crafted with so much love can only be perfect!

Bouton kids by Rekha Iyer Marchand is a very contemporary and crisp brand. Each piece is hand finished using only natural fabrics in cotton, silk or wool. The collection is only limited-edition and includes reversible, quilted jackets lined with flannel, beautiful dresses, tops, tunics, trousers, shirts and nightwear, that are versatile enough to be worn all year round..


I love the earthiness of this collection and the very laid back silhouettes. One can easily tell that Rekha has put in a lot of thought into the comfort factor for her collection, something that works well with both kids and their parents.

Chakra for kids started by Bindu Kasinadhuni and Sara Hignite is based on the traditional Indian concept of Chakra, "the circle of life - always revolving, always in flux - emanating joy and hope."


Chakra offers an eco friendly clothing line for kids with modern silhouettes and color palettes. They infuse the traditional process of block printing with contemporary styling to create a one of a kind collection. Be on the lookout for this gorgeous line soon to be seen on a very popular flash sale site!!

SAMA Baby
, founded in 2006 by Shivani Gupta, Anita Gupta, and Neha Gupta, is an eco-friendly and organically sustainable company for like-minded consumers. SAMA which means balance, calmness and serenity in Sanskrit encompasses what SAMA baby is all about. They create fun, fashionable and luxurious products which include clothes and blankets for babies and kids.


Ode, is the newest addition to this bandwagon of Indian inspired kids wear brands. Started by two sisters Roopa and Amisha, the collection pays homage to their little hometown in India, Ode.


This collection uses color like it is going out of fashion capturing and bottling this essence of India in their magical and fun collection that is sure to bring a smile on the faces of kids and parents alike.

On a parting note I must add how exciting it is to see more and more entrepreneurs of Indian origin adding their two cents to the big wide world of fashion and style, There is vast amount of Indian textile wealth that is slowing getting its due diligence in the fashion foray.

***All photos courtesy of respective brands featured here*** 
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Ok folks- I'm off to San Fransisco for some much needed R&R, much needed time spent with my favorite cousins and of course to meet Sangita again :)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Designwali: If this room was a saree

I'm sure Sundeep aka Designwali needs no introduction. I was quite amazed by how she manages to put together her  
'If this saree was a room...' series. I don't quite know how she manages to pull off finding photos of rooms and clothes that look copies of each other! Wonder what I'm talking about? Take a look....

Sundeep- SHP is all yours for the day!

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Hello SHP readers!

A very lucky me got asked by Div from SHP to feature my 'If this saree was a room' series on her lovely blog today and I am thrilled to bits. 

So folks, today we are about big colour. Go bold or go home. Now some of us have actually worn those wow colours, but could you see them actually in a room? Indeed you can, but could you live with it? Gorgeous all the same and it reminds of the summer (which seems like a lifetime away with the weather we are having in Toronto). Hope you all have a colourful week wherever you are!

Apple green is so delicious on this delectable Anupama Dayal saree featured on South Asian Bride. It also brings life to this Eileen Boyd living room featured on Lennox.



Or is this burst of orange more your fancy? Another Anupama Dayal stunner featured on South Asian Bride and this bold and bright Barbie living room by Jonathan Adler.

Thanks for agreeing to do this Sundeep. Absolutely loved the dash of color!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Artist Profile: Rachana Saurabh

Rachana Saurabh wrote to me a few months ago, but as you all know I was busy packing, unpacking and then FINALLY setting up house. In these few months, I was very happy to note that various bloggers from the desi design blogland had already featured her. I am going to join the list, as its been aeons since my last 'Artist Profile' and Rachana deserves all the appreciation coming her way :)

An engineer by education, Rachana has no formal training in art- Imagine a right brained person going through 4 years of engineering! She won several art competitions over the years, including one by the prestigious Lalit Kala Academy.

It took a move to the US and a supportive husband (the Saurabh in Rachana's name) for her to start painting full time. I am going to now let her colourful strokes complete the post!





You can find more of Rachana gorgeous paintings here

{Image credit for all paintings featured here to Rachana Saurabh}

Monday, April 11, 2011

Bombay Electric

I first came across Bombay Electric a year ago and happened to serendipitously land there again today.

Remember my trip to my favorite antique store in NY? And remember the antique brass paan dhaan I came away with? On my last trip there, the store owner was waxing eloquent about paan dhaans shaped like peacocks and vintage ambassador cars, that he had seen in villages in India. I wondered what they might look like....



Bombay Electric, gave form to my murky imagination......

Some other stuff from the quirky store... vintage maharaja postcards, lithographs and even an antique portable khadi handloom spinning set! Now I wonder what one might do with buying the last item on the list...


{Image credit for all images in this post to Bombay Electric}

And the winner is....

I numbered the list of people that Swapna Mehta sent me and used Random.org to generate a number. 

And the winner is......

Anuradha Varma from My Dream Canvas!

Some Sound Horn Please for Anu :)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Reveal Thyself!

Hellooo! I know I disappeared from here for a while. I haven't forgotten you, just desperately trying to come up for some air while I am drowning under work. Work/ Life balance you say? Sigh!

The Red Patang giveaway closed a few days ago, but I haven't picked a winner as yet. We have a few MIAs here. As you know the giveaway was only for readers from the US or Canada.

Rajat Puranik
Patrick Eliot
Kunal Patel
Shweta Amar

Rajat, Patrick, Kunal and Shweta if you are from the US or Canada please do write to me at soundhornplease [at] gmail [dot] com so that I can include you in the giveaway. I will wait till Monday, 11th April before I hear from you and will then declare the winner.


The sideboard above is a stained oak vintage piece from Alfred Hendrickx. 

Like it? I loved the idea of one of the doors being an abstract painting, but the wood stain reminded me of the cheap plywood vinyl kitchen cupboards that were popular in India not so long ago. Like it? Hate it? What gives?