artnlight

Hola! Quick news. {Clearly my fashion consciousness is awakening :)} Check out Divya Anand's vibrant cuts and colours at Dhoop Crafts - and for regulars at Dhoop - this will also be a chance to check out the New Dhoop Store.

I like that Divya's work has both pop & subtle & I loved her cuts and the detailing.

She has combined it with this fun and feminine leather bustier top to give the collection a happy twist.

This is my favourite design from the collection. A vintage scissor print mixed with geometrics and soft colours.

Working on this collection has taught me some important things: 

1. I can work in collaboration with a fellow creative person. The earlier me would have been scared to enter into something like this - because as every creative person knows, creation is an extremely individual process, where the result and therefore the credit is what gives the creative person satisfaction and identity.

2. The value of being open. And the importance of trusting.

3. The value of choosing the right people to work with. I learnt so much from Nisha Sainani, her gentle ways in combination of her persistence is such a unique quality, her capacity to truly multi-task, I saw her helping organise a huge wedding in her family and putting this collection together simultaneously. Without loosing it. Amazing.

I would love to hear what you think of this collection, and to the creative people reading this post, how tough or easy is it for you to work on a creative collaboration. I have really been thinking of this. 

Or actually collaboration of any kind. It involves more people than you and therefore the responsibility at every step is shared. As is the outcome. What has your experience been, I'd love to hear from you.

A creative collaboration is so much more than these formal words connote. It is the willingly coming together of 2 divergent people, who have 2 different creative visions and it is saying lets see what we can make together. When Nisha Sainani called me in the beginning of this year and asked me if I would design prints for her Spring Summer collection - I was super excited but I also had butterflies in my stomach. I knew nothing of fashion - I didn't follow trends, collections, fashion forecasts - this was completely new territory. And what I did know was that Nisha Sainani's work and my work are stylistically very different. And yet, this just had to be explored. I was not about to pass this one up. So we sat together, she shared with me her vision of what she saw we could do together. We selected our colour palette together and she was very clear that she wanted Florals. And so florals it would be. The place where we met was we were both 'vintage' lovers and we both just wanted to have fun - so that's what we went ahead and did - had a lot of fun. I got to sit in Sainani's beautiful studio (designed lovingly by Design United) and we sat together and created this collection, one design at a time. Sharing with you a few pictures of how "Sunshine, Freedom and a little flower" came to be. 

 And this was the 1st print  - we both loved this vintage floral print - but what could we do to make it fun? Put a pink gun in it! :) As far as symbolism goes - we wanted to pull it both ways - nothing gets more masculine than a gun - so paint it pink :)

The next one is a pure romantic print. Old world, vintage and smells of English roses and hints at history.

I had mentioned the gorgeous studio where we shot for the lookbook of Nisha Sainani's Spring Summer 2014 Collection, for which I designed signature prints. Please meet Tanvi Mehra's Tangerine Arts Studio which is a beautiful open airy place with a contemporary international vibe. Chalkboard art and typography is trending right now and it was so cool to walk in and see such justice done to it in this studio.
Tangerine Arts Studio is so much more than a Yoga and dance studio. Tanvi Mehra whose space it is, is an enthusiast who is looking forward to new and innovative ways of keeping this space rocking. Right now, apart from Yoga classes, there is Bollywood dance, Zumba Fitness, Belly Dance, Salsa and the very exciting Chai Community, which brings together entrepreneurs, and opportunities to interact with young professionals who walk the path less taken. If you are in Bandra, this is one space that has a lot to give. 

 Nisha's photographer was Roshini Lalwani of Svaha Photography.

 (image from Tangerine Arts Studio - clicked by Sheena Dabholkar)
Do you see the glass overlooking the greens on the right? That's where we shot the Party Table for Nisha Sainani's Look Book. 

Many of the pretty accessories that you see on this table is from MarryMe the Store, curated by Candice Pereira & Jarret D’Abreo.

I'm so excited to finally share the news of an exciting creative collaboration I have been working on. I have designed prints for the fashion label Nisha Sainani for their Spring Summer 2014 Collection called 'Sunshine, Freedom & a little Flower'. Regular followers of this blog know that I am no fashionista, and yet when Nisha, who is a good friend and a designer I respect approached me to design for this collection, i took it up as a challenge, and what an eye opener it has been. Sitting with Nisha Sainani, understanding her vision of her collection, brainstorming, developing the designs together, to imagining whether it will work as an 'all-over' print or as a stand alone- motif on fabric has been a journey of fascination and learning for me. And I will be forever indebted to Nisha for trusting me on this and taking me along on this crazy fun ride.

For now, sharing a few behind the scenes grabs from the prelauch 'look-book' shoot, hot off the press. You will get a hint of some of the colours and the mood of the collection in the few images in this post.

The shoot was at this GORGEOUS studio. So yes, watch this space. More about the shoot, the collection, the launch - coming up next :)