Painted Prayers of India

08/11/2007 DesignFlute 10 Comments

At this moment I am exactly doing rangoli.

Rangoli is called painted prayers of India.

I am doing rangoli since I was a kid. When I was a kid we had a raised platform in the courtyard especially made for rangoli. We used to buy permanent paints (samples used to come in small amounts) and used to take 2-3 days to make rangolis all over house at different places. We never used to get tired. I still do it but now with flowers or powder colours.

All over India rangoli is done at different festivals or even on everyday basis and has different names such as Alpana in West Bengal, Kolam in south etc.

from Bangladesh

please click to enlarge to see stepwise alpana

Here are some sites with beautiful patterne , info & how-tos…

Animation of a rangoli design.

Some beautiful rangoli designs.

Tips and rangoli designs.

more rangoli patterns.

Tomorrow is diwali and I wish I had more time to do this post on my favourite art & craft but… (maybe…no Iwill definitely do a region wise post again on this topic), (& if my fellow bloggers have done a post on same topic I would add their links later.)

via: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

barren walls

don't worry

07/11/2007 DesignFlute 2 Comments

Don’t worry – he tells me!

This is a modern day Vishnu for me. A calming, don’t panic image-support for me. When I want to do many things, thinking have to do all the things and have no time, absolutely no time and energy left then this evergreen image saves me. Like God Vishnu you can sleep on a deadly serpent and be in utter bliss.

(can’t remember where did I get this image from, perhaps a card or back cover of a book!)

design screw, indian designers

wrapped geometrical luxury

06/11/2007 DesignFlute 2 Comments

dumroo seat-table

Designer Gunjan Gupta

Dumroo can be a seat or a table. Materials: 35 gauge pure silver, 24 carat gold leaf, oak veneered plywood. Dumroo is a musical instrument used by monkey dancers in streets of India.

She has redefined notion of luxury, borrowing from rich Indian cultural heritage and interpreting it in new stark ways. The Indian craft of silver wrapping is an ancient throne decoration technique.

Ancient thrones wrapped in precious metal and embellished in jewels.

Delhi based Indian interior designer Gunjan Gupta of Studio Wrap has taken the wrapping technique out of its ornate design sphere and created absolute geometric designs which look austere and audacious both. Her forms speak of luxury, craft and designs in one voice.

dining throne

material:35 gauge pure silver, 24 carat gold leaf and Indian hardwood.

eastern recline

The eastern recline – Indian hardwood panels are wrapped around silver panels and has detachable gold back.

artisan as designer at work

She has exhibited at 100% Design in London and has a current project from Swarowski among other things.

design screw

modern bed designs

05/11/2007 DesignFlute 1 Comment

designer Adele Rotella defrag

These super cool modern age bed designs are from Italian designer Adele Rotella.

Defrag – is moulded steel construction with cushion lined head board.

speedy

For this moulded steel construction she drew inspiration from ‘flying carpet’. Head board has fabric too.

lettura

This bed is designed to read in bed.

design screw, indian designers

i SEAT

02/11/2007 DesignFlute 2 Comments

Designer Vishal Thakur i SEAT

public seating cum info display system

When I discover talented young Indian designers I feel excited like a child. When I saw this Indore based designer Vishal Thakur’s work I instantly fell for it. For his designs are ‘form follows function’ based and that is something you know I always go for.

I believe that functional and simple designs are much more difficult to make.

Today I want to talk about just one of his designs i- SEAT (prototype).

i-SEAT is a very smart public seating system cum advertising and info display. It is a solution for utilizing spaces for seating without obstructing movement. In designer’s words seating system at public places like transportation hubs and malls often fail to meet the seating space demand at peak times. Large seating spaces require large areas and restrict movement. So the smart i-SEAT.

How it works…

Continue reading i SEAT →

design screw, indian designers

designs to win

01/11/2007 DesignFlute 1 Comment

designer – Neil Foley Designs

I don’t know where to start from for this incredibly talented young Indian designer, Bangaluru based Neil Foley. He has won red dot award, he has won Elle décor awards, he has won opu…, he has won..- well, well let me just sum up like this – each of his designs are of award winning quality and he has won about 30 + awards in last nine years.

twig-fruit holder

As the name suggests, the design is a stylized version of a twig or a branch. Taking a fruit from the fruit holder is like plucking a fruit from the trees. (Material used: stainless steel, cast aluminium)

drops – paperweight

(material – acrylic)

ripple – vase

(materials used acrylic and aluminium)

Continue reading designs to win →