Craftsmen from Morocco at Work

I absolutely love Moroccan architecture, design, lanterns, embroidery and I could go on; as would anybody reading this blog.

Here are a few gorgeous images from a Moroccan home that was a spotlighted on Elle Decor a few issues ago to give you a taste of Morocco invading a home.

Hopefully, you've now fallen in love with Morocco too? Then this video by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York of Morrocan craftsmen at work should be a treat for your visual senses.




The craftsmen are working on a wing of the New galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia. You can find more information about the new wing here.

The Met along with the Rubin Museum of Art, happens to be one of my favorite museums in Manhattan. If just the wing is so beautiful, could you imagine how gorgeous treasures must be treasures that the museum is going to house there soon?!

I bid you goodnight or good morning, as the case may be, with a huge smile of anticipation on my face.

Tip: If you are in town and visiting the Met, call me. Else, make sure you go looking for the Spanish section. When you stumble on a sunlit courtyard with intricately carved balconies and a high ceiling covered in tiles you know you are in the right place ;)

The Fasinating Art of Re-creating Photos of Old Hindu Deities

First, there was performance artist Pushpamala N re-creating the familiar Raja Ravi Verma oleograph of goddess Lakshmi to much acclaim.

 Image from here

Photographer Manjari Sharma recently launched an interesting project to do similar work at a much grander scale. I'm not sure if I agree with her statement that there aren't photographs of Hindu deities in India- as far as I remember most homes have/ had multiple! But reiterate, interesting project nevertheless.

Darshan from Manjari Sharma on Vimeo.

What do Royalty and the Streets of Delhi Have in Common?

...........The fashion designer JJ Valaya. JJ Valaya recently turned photographer and the results are a stunning mix of gorgeous textiles and antique jewelery. As soon I laid my eyes on the stunning black and white images, I had to come back from obscurity to do this post.

 The overnight change in their lifestyles in free India- A maharaja sharing a bench with a commoner, another standing proud in front of a slum and yet another sitting upright among the ruins of his fort....

 ..... And the contrast with a fleeting glimpse of their former glory.

For more pictures, please go here.

{Credit for all images to JJ Valaya}