A visit to Lunuganga, the famous home cum estate of Sri Lanka’s much lauded architect Geoffrey Bawa, is almost like a rite of passage for architects. Located in Bentota, a few hours out of Colombo, Lunuganga is a mesmerizing place, a carefully orchestrated landscape, all light and space and beauty. Geoffrey Bawa was born in […]
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Category: Design
Modern Indian Architecture At Its Best
Contemporary Indian Houses publication InCITE’s +91 RESIDENCES exhibition on contemporary Indian architecture was first presented at Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore in 2010. The exhibition showcased 91 architect-designed dwellings, 19 works-in progress and a model display of over 40 houses designed by over 75 architects in more than 25 cities and towns across India between the years […]
Garments That ‘Heal’
House of Milk has launched a range of ‘healing garments’ and is reviving a 2000-year-old Indian craft with a collection at Wendell Rodricks Design Space in Goa. Wellness, luxury, purposeful design and the intention to revive and sustain cottage industry drive House of Milk, a boutique lifestyle brand founded by Reshma Merchant and Priyanka Kaul Lakdawala. […]
The Woman Corbusier Envied
Eileen Gray, was an Irish architect and furniture designer. Born in Ireland in 1878, Gray was from an aristocratic family; she became the nineteenth Baroness Gray in 1895. She attended the Slade School of Fine Art in London where she studied painting. In 1900 she went on her first visit to Paris and visited the Exposition Universelle, an international design […]
A Dose Of Design Inspiration
I recently gave away a decade -old collection of interior design magazines. Packed in them were my dreams of owning a space I can call my own. A home made with sun-baked bricks, lime-washed walls embedded with coloured glass to let in the sun in rainbow beams, recycled wood doors, a verandah that has […]
Meenal Agarwal: Imaginer Of All Things
Working with acclaimed art director Suzanne Caplan Merwanji (whose work in Farhan Akhtar’s film Dil Chahta Hai gave Hindi cinema, a new design template) in the capacity of a photographer, Meenal Agarwal never really thought she would get sucked into the world of creating multi-dimensional cinematic contexts. Contexts where stories can live, breathe and […]
Charles Correa: Cities are not just buildings and streets
Last year, over 100 Broadway stars, directors, producers, musicians, choreographers, designers and technicians gathered in front of the police station in Times Square, New York, while a poem titled ‘I Can’t Breathe‘ was rendered by Daniel J Watts. This was done to register a protest and start a conversation about police violence, which had claimed […]
Poetry In Bamboo
Beyond the obvious connotations of the politics of revolution, the name Lenin In Irish means, ‘lover.’ And the young man surrounded by many bamboo installations at the Shanthiroad Studio Gallery, calls himself Lenin for a very good reason. He loves the earth, the cycle of birth and decay and rejuvenation. He loves how nature’s palette changes with […]
A Caravan Of Hope And Colour
She calls herself Poornima Travelling Sukumar and for good reason. She is currently travelling with a cargo of goodwill to Kashmir in a lorry. This art caravan she says is called Winter on Wheels and is gathering warm clothing for the Kashmiris affected by the recent floods. At every stop, she and her co-traveller Akram Feroz also make […]
A Life Of Creative Abandon
Dharani Kala Prakash was studying international business in the US when life brought her back to her hometown Bangalore in 1993. “I came back to give birth to my son and to start my life anew as a single mother,” she reminisces. Then unfurled the urge to create a life that would not require her […]
The Master Of Spirit And Space
In Bangalore to address the students of Indian Institute of Management, legendary Architect B V Doshi strolls around the campus. As he pauses to make a point, he is framed by a flowering creeper, crests and hollows of green grass and thousands of trees. It is simple to see in this snapshot, the sum of […]
Homestays Decoded
Today, a ‘homestay’ is a much commonly used term than what it was 7-8 years back, when, I first opted for one on my travel to Kerala. Travellers are increasingly experimenting and looking for authentic and local ‘experiences’. ** Back in 2007, a home-stay was not much heard of. In fact it was possible to […]