Its a good month when what you create is chosen to represent Indian contemporary design along with the best in the country. I'm super thrilled to finally share with you Artnlight is part of the International luxury lifestyle store Harvey Nichols' Ramadan Caravan in Riyadh, along with names like Viya Home, Klove, Mozez Singh and GoodEarth. The Fashion segment has iconic designers like Sabyasachi, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, Tarun Tahiliani, JJ Valaya and stunning talents like Karishma Shanani ~ Ka Sha whose work I'm a huge fan of and Payal Khandwala. The list reads like the who's who of the Indian design scene.
Harvey Nichols founded in 1831, with its flagship store in London, has over 12 stores across the world and definitely has the most prestigious brands under its roof.
The Harvey Nichols Riyadh, this Ramadan decided to have an Indian themed festival (Caravan) that celebrates the best in Indian design sensibilities. Mohawk Media partnered with them to present the
Harvey Nichols Ramadan Caravan.
It is truly an honour to be included in this elite and much respected list of designers and brands. Not all the designers or brand names are included in the below picture, but they are each an illustrious example of excellence in design.
The dynamic Pavitra Mohan of Masala Chai fame curated the Urban Contemporary, design & decor section & the fashion segment was curated by Bandana Tiwari.
This is what Pavitra who curated the Urban contemporary section has to say on the process "While in my experience with MASALA CHAI, I’ve come
across 100’s of independent brands, it was a challenge to curate
something for the Arab market , which had to be contemporary but also
have a very distinct Indian flavour to them. And let’s not forget, it
was at Harvey Nichols in Riyadh, so a touch of luxe was essential too.
Aesthetically , they had to have a crossover appeal to the expats and
Indian diaspora of Riyadh , as well as appeal to the local arabs. No
products with images of people, dogs or pigs were allowed. So on and so
forth.
Contacting and communicating with over 40 brands was whittled down to
25 brands and further edited to 10 brands, that met all their
requirements"
I have immense respect for Pavitra and when she wrote to me for this, it was such a compliment.
A few of the window displays of the festival downloaded from the internet
The
Artnlight design series that made it to the Harvey Nichols Ramadan
Caravan is the Bombay Series which is very close to my heart.
This is what I had written when I designed this series: Bombay
is the city I grew up in, it is where I learnt all that I know, it is constant
inspiration and it is home. Its people, its commitment to work, its enterprise, its opportunity and its
idiosyncrasies is what makes this series. I don’t think I will ever stop trying
to bring its spirit to life. This is the beginning of my ongoing tribute to the
city that fuels a million dreams and is the pride of this country. My tribute
to a city that respects its women & gives them a huge canvas and more importantly the freedom
to play in it.
Yes :) The Mugs are new & so is the Triple Hook Shelf. The entire collection of my boxes, trays, mugs & hooks left for Riyadh a few months ago.
Mohawk Media are the collaborators who brought together this festival along with Harvey Nichols, and did a lot of the co-ordinating with me. The Ramadan Caravan is going on right now as we speak at Harvey Nichols, Riyadh, And will continue till the end of August. You can check the Harvey Nichols Riyadh FB page for more details. And those of you in Riyadh, do check it out, the best in Indian design awaits you.
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