Kinche Boutique
Payal Jaggi, the owner of Kinche Boutique, started the boutique to bring her favorite style of decorating – the french country chic / cottage style to India. After 15 years of experiencing the world as an air crew member, Payal’s boutique brings to us the very best in her preferred style, with her carefully researched and hand picked products. Kinche Boutique is located in Gurgaon, India, and soon, would be available to us via her online store! For now, browse through the expanding collection here.
Krya
When Preethi Sukumaran, the creative one half behind Krya, send me an email sharing her company’s philosophy, I did a quick little jig right in front of my surprised laptop. You would too, if you were handed an organic and natural alternative to your daily washing machine detergent. Preethi graciously sent a packet to me to try out, and for probably the first time ever, I couldn’t wait to wash clothes! Krya’s natural detergent is made of soapnuts (known as reetha in hindi) and works way better than regular detergents (my personal experience!). And the fact that you are contributing your little bit to help protect the environment, well, that makes the mundane task of loading a washing machine, a whole lot agreeable!
Read about, and shop Krya’s first product here. Connect with Preethi and Srini on their blog or on Krya’s facebook page.
TexturedInk
Ankita Kejriwal, the vibrant owner and graphic designer at
TexturedInk is truly a child of the east, and now, a citizen of the western world. Her work is a beautiful balance between the rich colors and contrasts – an influence of her eastern upbringing, and the crisp, simple lines – an impact of the minimal western design aesthetics. Ankita’s shop on Etsy called
TexturedINK, is the place where she designs and sell modern graphic design paper goods for the home. Apart from paper prints, posters, art panels and personal stationery, she’s also proud to offer unique products printed on recycled wood panels – the wood for which has been salvaged from fallen trees in apple orchards! And what’s more, Ankita is offering a
10% discount to An Indian Summer readers for the next 15 days [i.e till Dec 10th]. Use the code
Thanks11 to
shop now!
Collective Craft
Collective Craft, founded by Shweta Mohapatra and Sibanand Bhol
is a collaborative effort of a group of designers, artists and architects. It is based in Delhi and Orissa, India. Collective Craft works on sustainable design practices, craft revival and also, in developing contemporary craft products along with local artisans. For the founders, creating a smaller ecological footprint and developing sustainable products are two critical parameters for all their design projects.
The philosophy behind their products, combined with their sublime designs, is a winning combination for me. You can read more about their process on their
blog, and get in touch with them via
Collective Craft’s facebook page.
Shakiraaz
Shakiraaz, the online store for all the all things pretty, has been started by Shakira Lima, a textile and graphic designer. Shakira is based out of Melbourne, and creates beautiful designs on, and from the textiles she sources from India. She would soon be launching a printed range of tableware in silk and linen. Get in touch with her on Shakiraaz’s facebook page.
Aniika
Aniika, which means ‘beautiful’ in Sanskrit, is an apt name for Meghana Rao and Shamim’s maiden venture. Aniika, headquartered in India, with offices in the US,
is a virtual bazaar for emerging Indian designers to build their brand and sell their creations globally. Aniika, currently still in beta, will be an excellent source for design enthusiasts to get their hands on fresh contemporary designs from India. Connect with
Aniika on facebook, and shop their current collection of goodies
here.
Devajyoti Ray
My post on Indian Art Collective yesterday reminded me of a talented artist who had shared his work with me a few weeks back. Devajyoti Ray, whose work was recently exhibited at Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, is inspired by the concept of pseudo-realism. His paintings pick mundane scenes from day to day life and convert them into color blocked works of art. Take a look at select paintings here and the schedule of upcoming exhibitions here.
OMI
OMI [Oh My India] by Omi Gurung, is a group that aims to be the catalyst in changing the lifestyle of people in India, by creating awareness to reduce, reuse and recycle domestic waste. Omi’s site is a growing resource for DIY tips, reuse projects and sustainable products, and helps people get started in this direction. Connect with Omi here.
Kabutar.in
And finally, a
happening new site for, well, that what is happening right now!
Shubhendu, one of the founders of this wacky site, send me an email that made me smile. And at the
threat of his ‘standing in a corner to sulk’, I promised him that I’ll share
kabutar.in with you guys :). So here it is – a new place to share your pic and let the world know what is happening right now! And if this is your thing, then there is an iPhone app too folks!
[All images copyright respective owners and An Indian Summer]
14 Comments
Anonymous
Thank You for responding Bhavna. There are many other things I would like to bring forward but that's for another blog post
And if I haven't been obvious You do a good amount of great compilation – scan, post etc
shelly
Christie Giovanni
the pictures from kinche boutique look SO nice <3
i enjoy scrolling down your posts!
please visit my blog is you have time 🙂
xx,
http://www.christiebluee.blogspot.com
Bhavna Bhatanagar
Good to hear from you Shelly! You have shared an interesting point of view. I, however, have a different opinion and experience.
I have seen, and know of many young and older Indians (not just at the grass root artisan level or the ones exposed to the west) starting their own business. And this is not just now, when I run a design blog, but through my years growing up in India, I came across men and women, from an average middle class background, aspiring and experimenting with entrepreneurship, and quite a few being very successful in what they do. Whether it is an enterprise out of their homes – as an example the many women who supplement their family’s income and give an outlet to their desire to do something by starting home based ventures – tailoring boutiques, food units, salons, crafting classes etc; or a more formal business setup like the many small scale industries, the Indian middle class has always been raring to go beyond the expected career and livelihood choices.
But I understand how a different impression could be formed, based on the media one is exposed to. As an example, I receive on an average 15 to 20 submissions from designers, artists, entrepreneurs, each week. Out of the submissions, I would select only those whose work has a certain aesthetic and style or is a craft/art tradition that needs to be encouraged, and, I know that it would be appreciated by the global readership of this blog. Now it is very likely that the designers & entrepreneurs, whose work maps to the above criteria, are the ones who are relatively well traveled or have been exposed to a more varied design environment and influences. The rest, also do brilliant work and cater to a large market, but it’s just that I wouldn’t showcase the work that doesn’t match my design sensibility. I think this is true for other design blogs and magazines, in terms of what they feature and what they don’t. This large segment of entrepreneurs also uses different mediums to promote their business – their market/audience is generally more comfortable with offline/real world than online, hence they are not as visible in our preferred media.
I agree with you Shelly; the strong ties with traditional and pluralistic society still exist, and, are in fact celebrated. Entrepreneurship though, is actually an intrinsic trait of this very culture.
Thanks so much for your note Shelly. I would love to hear more from you (and others). This is thought provoking, in terms of what the rest of world sees and thinks of the progressing Indian society..
Bhavna Bhatanagar
Thanks everyone! Glad you liked the showcase 🙂
notyet100
Thnks for sharing such interesting links 🙂
gooseberry
some really cool finds, loving all your posts & watching this space for more…best:)
Rajnish
great creations and collection…
Anonymous
an untoward question , but an observation – Most young indian business men/women are based out of the west or are returnees to India after spending a decade or so in the western world/ or have strong family business ties.
Little do we see people who are raised in india and have no "living" outside india starting a business. ( percentage is far lesser in this category)
Not a question for this beautiful blog, but as I said before , as a westerner and a wife of an indian man some questions still remains.
most middle class raised in india do not have the confidence to start an enterprise?. The galloping india, still has strong ties to the old traditional,imperalistic and pluralistic india. It might another 5 decades to get this over with !?
Shelly Meyers Kulkarni.
Purvi
Lots of right click and open in new tabs have been done and now i am off to check out these tabs 🙂
Dr Charu Malik
Wow, thanks for sharing such lovely creations. I loved all of them, but specially Aniika and Shakiraaz.
Anonymous
hi to all http://www.anindiansummer-design.blogspot.comers this is my frst post and thought i would say hello to you all –
thank yous speak soon
garry moore
Sonia
beautiful blog! beautiful work!
http://www.lively-wood.blogspot.com
Sugandha G.
So many creative stores! In time for christmas shopping!
Steph
Your blog is like opening a box of candies :)…These are some really awesome links! Thanks!