Made by Reshom

For the longest time, I've sat on these stunners. Not literally, but you know what I mean. I'm really sorry for disappearing- there's just been too much on my plate. In office and even personally. But I'm not complaining, its all good. And I'm really happy to be posting about my talented and enterprising friend Reshom Majumdar (take a peek at her home here) who makes these gorgeous pieces of furniture. When Reshom told me she's made some sofas, I was expecting pretty stuff, but nothing like this. These are statements that will transform your home.

I was bowled over by this white rivetted leather sofa.

This sofa is upholstered with the prettiest colour of raw silk.

We were like two excited girls discussing all possibilities and telling each other how much fun we were having doing what we really wanted to do.

She got this pretty mirror made as well.

I completely loved the elegant print on this single seater

She also makes silk reversible table mats

And runners. And the last I heard she has made many more colour combinations.

And for all of you interested in placing an order for these gorgeous pieces, do write to her at reshom@gmail.com. You can read her blog Whimsical Mumbai to see more variety and details.

Runjhun Jain's illustrations

I am Runjhun Jain's biggest fan. And I will refuse to relinquish that position despite the numerous and humongous fan clubs that might be formed in her favour in the future. I have said it here on record. Hear. Runjhun has to be the most creative person I've had the privilege of knowing and loving. And I'm glad she is finally doing the kind of work that I always say only she can do. Runjhun draws like most of us make conversation- without thinking too much about it, simply, effortlessly and in her own inimitable style. While the rest of us effort and try to do cool work, Runjhun's work simply IS.

Village
Love makes you blind

Do click on the image to see it in all its glory. I *LOVE* the 'Alien doing Yoga'.

Just look at her little potted plants, one of her guys in air, the books, pebbles and the omlette fry

Love: Endless chitter chatter, its in the air

I just *heart* her beautiful typo

Sometimes dreams become balloons, the important thing is to hold onto them

Nature doodlesNature doodles

Nature doodle

Winter. Attack of the turnips.

Lost in translation: her mad characters with an Indian twist.

'Whatever' :)

Her people sketches are what I love the best though

These are sketches of friends

Pals

and loved ones.

I love her sense of colour. Sigh...
You can see more of her work on her visual journal 'whypillow'

My Decoupaged Boxes and Trays

My house has looked like a godown for the better part of last month. The sight of many plywood boxes was a nightmare and a joy. It meant many empty canvasses but TONS of work. I am just slowly recovering from all that frenetic activity. Running to office each morning and coming home at night to my 2nd shift. I waited for my weekends like my life depended on it, because it really did. But man, did I have fun! :) Here's a look at some of the boxes and trays I designed/decoupaged.

Stage1: plywood boxes, trays and coasters

Stage 2: Painted trays are now ready to be worked on.

Painting the handles and sides 1st.

They are now decoupaged and ready!!

This is one of my favourites- The 'cuttlefish' tray

This was another popular design.

One of my friends told me to use this 'Indiaaah series' design here.

This was a ceiling I photographed at the Junagad fort, with the Sun God right in the middle.

The blue trays: The one on the left is an antique tile I photographed in Rajasthan.

And here are my decoupaged boxes. I had SO MUCH fun doing them! :)

Pink circular design box.

This one is my personal fav. The 'Hair Stories' box. My mom and me sang this limerick a lot in my childhood :) "Once when we were sitting, around the family group, My fathers awful whiskers, got tangled in the soup" So when I was designing this box, putting this verse in made it so much more fun for me :)

Pink ornamental design box.
Each side has a different ornament on it.

This box is very different from the rest & was a very popular design at the exhibition. Its called the "misfits" and is from the famous ad for the Mac (Apple Computers) and says: "Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them. Disagree with them. Glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

The Black Misfits Box.

And here is a very Rajasthani Box, designed by putting together a lot of my Jaipur City Palace pictures. I knew it will look beautiful. And it did.

I had fun painting on the details with gold paint.
In case you want to place an order on any of these do write to me at vineetanair2222@gmail.com

Wall art

I'm so excited to share with you'll the wall art I created. Some of this work I've wanted to do for a while and some of it I'm surprised I even thought of doing it.

Love.

I got the alphabets cut out of metal

It just looks so much better when you see it up close

and personal :)

These pieces were the surprise on the spot decision. This is the Jaipur City palace inspired wall art Series.

You can see the gold paint at an angle.

I made a series of 4 designs

Another close up

This piece just happened. I was making these coasters and I saw this 'Lacoste' ad and thought it would be cool if the guy were spilt into 2 coasters, later I thought it will look cooler framed and with a concept. So here he is floating above the cityscape, yearning freedom.

And here the piece I like best. Clarity.

Thanx so much for all the appreciation you guys have been giving me. I've got quite a few enquiries if I'm selling these pieces & the answer is a big YES. Some of them are already sold, but I do take commissions and for me the whole idea behind starting this was to create customised art. So in case you are interested in getting any such work created/customised especially for you, do write to me on vineetanair2222@gmail.com.

My 1st ever exhibition cum sale

This post brings NEWS! These past 3 weeks have seen me busy busy busy, working round the clock. This last Sunday, June 7th I had my 1st ever exhibition cum sale. It was small but it meant a LOT of work in a very very short time. When my good friend Pakhi Mohnani mentioned this exhibition she was organising, Riddhi and me were like- "lets do it!" I was determined that I put in my best and this meant sleeping on an average of about 3 hours per night for 3 weeks, lots of planning and lots of work. I put up some of my black and white pictures and my designs which I featured here on this blog, but what I was really excited about were my decoupaged boxes and trays and some new wall art I've been wanting to do for the longest time. But for me things only get done with a deadline in sight and this exhibition was exactly that. I wanted to post but between work in office and work at home, I'm afraid I just didn't manage to do it. I knew so many of you might have been interested in this news and might have even wanted to come, but I just so didn't get time to upload anything. When everything got over on the morning of the exhibition my one BIG regret was that none of you knew anything of it, because I hadn't told you. I also didn't invite too many people, just some close friends. The organizers did the rest. Part of me still can't get over the fact that I had an exhibition, part of me is still diffident and a little reticent about the whole thing. But I have taken pictures through the process and just yesterday I downloaded all of them. So in the following posts I will share with you various stages of the preparation and creation of all that got put up. But 1st things 1st, here are some pictures of the stall.

I shared the stall with Riddhi. So these are my trays and her books.

Riddhi keeping her books.

My decoupaged boxes. This pic doesn't do the boxes any justice. Close ups are coming up in the next post.
Some of my wall art. Close ups coming up :)

Some of mine and Riddhi's photographs

Riddhi's books.

Riddhi's prettiest, cutest little books

Some of my smaller frames all stacked.
Close ups of some of the work coming up next.

Riddhi Desai's Notebooks

I know I've kind of dropped off the blogging map- lots of excuses- lots on my mind, lots of work, lots of things cooking behind the scenes. But we will leave all that for a moment. I have something I'm super excited to share with you'll- some really kickass books designed by my close friend Riddhi Desai. All these are personalised books custom made to the individuals preferences or at the least its Riddhi's take on these people and what they will like. And for once I won't save my most favourite image for the last but show it 1st. I was completely touched and dumbstruck when I saw my book. Guys, here's the 1st piece of art artnlight has earned.

The cover is wood and is hand painted by Riddhi. I *LOVE* the hinges!

Unconventional hand done binding by Riddhi
Inside of the back cover says 'Create'. I've been carrying a regular book where I jot down my ideas and scribbles. I can't wait to start using this one :) The best is I spoke to Riddhi and I can re-use the cover with a fresh lot of pages when this lot gets used :)

The back, again painted on wood by Riddhi.
I absolutely *heart* this cover. I love the way she has written 'sunshine'
The sunshine book with sunny bright pages in it. If you will notice she has used coloured paper for the inside ages to go with the theme of the cover.
This is another very special book cover designed for a friend who is a brilliant designer ( I will be sharing her work her on this blog- SOON!) Its based on her favourite Beatles song "Across the universe"
Isn't it neat how she has visualised "Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe "
I love this eclectic mix of colours for the inside pages.
"Choose what you want...."
And "you get what you choose"
Bright red felt cover with sunny yellow pages within.

This is another book that I really loved. A beautiful handdrawn butterfly on pretty pink.

Interestingly spreads across the spine

This one is for a friend who is a complete style Diva and specialises in make-up :)

This one for a nature lover

For the story teller among us :)

This colourful cover has the letters 'Abundance' floating in between the happy dots of colour.

This makes such a colourful picture.
A raw silk cover with an elegant key as book mark.

And look at these darling minis. They are little books Riddhi has made from left over paper.Lovingly collected fabric goes on to make a brilliant book cover.

Little animals hand-drawn by Riddhi

And I love the back cover with one person atop an animal- cute!

This elegant cover simply says love, much like who the book belongs to.

And this book belongs to 10 month old Grace.

And isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen? :)

Now for some great news! Riddhi is taking orders to make these brilliant books, so you can contact her at 'riddhi@theblueskys.com' for your very own customised book :)

Trust

I'm sorry about not posting regularly, but a lots going on behind the scenes and I've gone into a mode where I'm getting back to a lot of art and design (for my own sake) and am trying out some new things. I hope to share some of that with you'll soon. Meantime I'll leave you'll with a poster I designed recently. It has to do with Trust. And how much easier my life will be if I just trust. How much less I will worry then. How much more fun I will have.

So that's just what I've decided to do. Have fun. What's your idea of fun? What were the things you'd do if you just believed and did things you wanted just because you wanted to do it- no other reason. I'd travel a LOT more. I'd paint make collages and sketch and completely FORGET that anyone would ever set eyes on it. I'd be much more of a goofball than I am :) What fun ! :) :)