Featured in Ideal Home and Gardens & Kyoorius Design Magazine

With so much happening recently, I'm afraid I have let some really important acknowledgments and Thank you's go by. One is to Neehar Mishra and the Ideal Home and Garden Magazine for such an in-depth coverage of my work, be it my decor assignments or my products. I was amazed to see page after page of my work beautifully laid out.

And the 2nd and very important Thank you goes to the prestigious KYOORIUS Design Magazine. They invited me to write a column on my creative process & for this I am especially grateful to Bindu Nair of the Kyoorius team who told me to just say it like it is (I had my reservations of giving a serious design magazine, where serious people write serious things about design, a 650-1000 word piece on what comes instinctively to me) But I wrote it & Kyoorius was kind enough to send me a personalised copy of the magazine, apart from putting me on their cover. Like, wow!

A quick peek at my plate.

Will it be considered abnormal if I make 15 San Francisco posts? Ok, so I have clicked many many many pictures and I'm having a horrible time shortlisting good pics for posts. So I'm chickening out for now & making a quick post on food. Did i say food? on artnlight? Anyone who has read this blog even for a few months knows I never post on food. But I have exactly 5 food pics & its easy to put it up. Not much of a choice there. That said, on a serious note, as a vegetarian, I was pleasantly surprised that I always got veggie food & it was always yummy, even in Texas, the land of steak. Here goes :)

From the pastry at the Korean Incheon Airport to the many pastas & Margarita pizza's to sandwiches to burghers to quesedillas to Ethiopian food, there are many options for veggies. No stress on that one for sure.

Dallas in December.

Jetlagged and aching all over. Not exactly my idea of a perfect vacation. But that's exactly how I reached Dallas from L.A. and just got worse. One such evening after deciding 'we won't do anything' my sister-in-law suggested a family walk, everyone including the 2 dogs. So out we went. And what a pretty sight met my eyes. I still can't quite get over how everything looked picture perfect. It seemed like suburban Dallas had held onto its Autumn so I could take a few frames back home to Bombay.

Lots more coming up. San Fransisco blew my mind, so definitely expect many posts on that one city. Also some amazing stores which I had just heard of & never seen like Anthropologie (yes!) and UrbanOutfitters. And some which I had never heard of and liked equally. Its gonna be the US of A on artnlight for a while now :) :) Just kidding. Will post as usual on all things that come up for me. Point is, stay tuned! :)

'The Desire to Inspire' book launch evening in LA, Santa Monica

What an experience this past week has been. I'm posting from Dallas (my brother's home) and letting the enormity and simplicity of last week sink in. I have just come back from the most unbelievable evening of my life and I am jet lagged. But I have to make this quick post. There will be many others, because guess who has taken 3 million photographs. This is my 1st time in the U.S. of A and I must warn you, I'm not going to be cool & understated about this. I am just stunned by the cleanliness and orderliness and complete prettiness of all that I have seen of this country so far. And seeing this place maybe begins to help me decode the unbelievable way that Christine Mason Miller functions. She came to pick me up at the airport and took me to her home which was hosting 4 more people who flew in from different places for the book launch. For the next 3 days that I spent with Christine I had the privilege of seeing how everything has a place in her gorgeous home which was an extension of all that I had known of her and her work online. All the groundwork and planning was in place by the time we arrived and I remember what a happy time we had putting the goody bags together. Preplanned, prepared and yet completely ready for all that shows up. It was her vision, clarity and intention that made the Desire to Inspire launch evening the magic that it was.

Because Christine had told so many people that "Vineeta is coming all the way from INDIA" I got an especially warm welcome and was made to feel like the celebrity from India. It was beautiful speaking to the many many people who came for the launch and it felt even more unreal to sign copies for the book owners.

The venue: Ambrose Hotel, Santa Monica, Los Angeles

Christine Mason Miller with Jennifer Lee.

I wish I got some more time with the inspiring Pixie Campbell.

This one is not sharp, but it is the only picture I have with Christen Olivarez & i think both of us look happy here :)

Grace Moore

I don't know what is dearer to me from my LA memories, the dinner and discussion I had with Christine & her husband on the night I arrived, or the many conversations I had with Christine at her dining table, meeting and hanging out with Mindy Tsonas and Liz Kalloch (contributors) at Christine's, or meeting the quiet and amazing Maya Stein and Mellissa Piccola. Or laughing non-stop because of the irrepressible Grace Moore and Lisa Occhipinti (do click on the links, because they are each formidable women of substance)
But the one thing I will really take back from my time spent watching Christine is how she makes the improbable possible. And how gracefully and easily she does it. Only she really knows what goes being making the ease possible. But when I see her I know that some day, one day, it will be possible for me & for each one of us; if we have an honest willing heart. And the courage to do its bidding. And that is what the book Desire to Inspire is really about. It has got me to this amazingly beautiful and inspiring country, had me meet and be a guest to someone whom I admired from afar. It has given me the gift of possibility.
All photographs clicked by Justin Davanzo & me.

Going to L.A. for the Desire to Inspire book launch!

It is with a full heart that I write this post today. I wanted to tell all of you that I am leaving for Los Angeles on the 13th to go to the "Desire to Inspire" book launch that will happen on 15th December 2011 in Santa Monica. For those of you reading news about this the 1st time on this blog, Desire to Inspire is Christine Mason Miller's book that I am part of/contributor to. You can read more about it here. After a month of 1st wondering whether I should go, to thinking yes I will, to many emails to Christine Mason Miller the brilliant generous author of the book, to applying for my U.S.Visa, to it coming through, and then packing and tying loose ends, I'm now close to DDay and so excited that I am FINALLY sharing this news with all of you. You without whom this journey would not be possible. And even if it were possible, would not be as meaningful. I know that so many of you have been reading this blog since its 1st post 4 years ago and you've seen me go through various phases including when I took the plunge to quit my advertising career to blog and design and mainly follow my heart. The last is the reason I am part of this amazing book called Desire to Inspire - Using Creative Passion to Transform the World. The same reason I respected and hero worshipped Christine Mason Miller from afar, because in her I found a woman who lived courageously, artfully and shared her inspired journey unstintingly and honestly through her books, Plant your dreams and Miracles will Grow and Ordinary Sparkling Moments.

Going to Los Angeles for the book launch means many things for me, mainly it means standing up and showing up for something that I believe in. It means meeting the many luminous women this book speaks of. Getting a chance to see up close and 1st hand women the world holds up as inspiration, and possibly a chance to hear and get to know some of them better. A chance to spend time with the one and only Christine Mason Miller who has made such a coming together of authors, life coaches, designers, Yoga teachers and business leaders possible.
I will definitely be bringing back a stack of books from the U.S. And will blog about the Desire to Inspire book and the launch event once I'm back on the 27th of December. From not believing all this is happening to me to going for the book launch, its been an incredibly exciting time for me. Will come back with many photographs and stories of my time in LA, Dallas and San Fransisco. And if any of you reading this post is these parts of the U.S., lets try and connect. You can write to me on vineetanair2222(at)gmail(dot)com. Definitely do come for the book launch which will be on 15th of December, 6.00 pm, Hotel Ambrose, Santa Monica, Los Angeles.

All images are from gettyimages.com

The Novotel Spa design

When B. Shweta of Vistaar Associates sent me these pictures, I knew this was something I had to share with you. What took my breath away was the cut bamboos suspended from the ceiling as a lighting feature that runs across the ceiling. Stunning. Shweta told me it was particularly satisfying to create a dynamic space from a plain rectangular area. What is remarkable is that even with the live green wall -which is a very interesting feature and the bamboo ceiling, the space maintains a zen-like quietness without being cold. I am told there is the sound of water which lends the atmosphere with a pureness that has to be experienced. I'm dying to go see it for myself, but for the lucky souls who are already in Hyderabad, do check out the Novotel Spa.

If you want more information about the design of this space you can contact Shweta at this email id: shwetamoni(at)yahoo(dot)com

An Angel in Mumbai

I must be mad. There are twenty thousand more important things to do. Even if I wanted to blog, there are other things that I aught to blog about, this interesting decor project someone sent me, my new artnlight products, other important news that I aught to share with you, but no. The only thing that makes it here is this completely beautiful angel that came home on my birthday. I am besotted. So pardon the many many pictures I will inflict upon you.

I apologise for this illogical repetitive shots of this kind of irresponsible stuff - and promise it won't happen regularly. Another reason is the new Canon 50mm lens that I got myself. Damn. Everything looks SO good through it.