artnlight

 

 In the rectangular format I get to indulge myself with a bit more of story telling. His vision is a balance of scriptures and sport.

The ever popular 'Bani Thani' which literally translates to 'made up & well dressed' is a foil to this King, to his all his straight scriptures and lines, her curves jewels and flowers.

 These products are not yet on artnlight's online store. But they will soon be. Please wait for the announcement. 

And there's more. So stay tuned :)
This collection will be at my exhibition in Delhi, Here is the event invite,
Click on the 'going' button and COME :) Looking forward to meeting all of you.
On the 27th & 28th September, Serendipity, Chattarpur. New Delhi.

The days are once again ruled by the tyranny of endless to-do lists. As many as you cross off triumphantly, more crop up in gleeful defiance. It is an exhibition, that too in another city, logistics, deadlines, endless following up, haggling for time with everyone who works with you, the excitement of seeing your vision translate into reality, packaging, should I add tags? what about display? How much do I pack? Among all these concerns, the day you shoot your products, is a welcome respite. You let everything wait while you see what you've created through your camera - does it make the cut? Does it shoot well? For me - it is always a different experience seeing my products with my eyes & then seeing their images. Some products are more photogenic than others. This one needs more love - the colour needs to be brighter - maybe more saturated? And some surprise you - this works! Seeing a picture of something can give you perspectives your naked eye can't. Does it work that way for you as well?

Sharing a few 'teaser' pics of what will be Art&Light's New Diwali Collection 2014

Stay tuned, will share more pics and the new collection over the next few posts.
Meantime do check out AnIndianSummer for all the hot news and exciting designers lined up for the Exhibition that will happen at Serendipity, Delhi. The dates are 27th & 28th September. 

Have you signed up for the event yet?

I have been so excited about throwing this open :) Guys! Welcome to the "Mug Festival" :) - I love that it has a funny ring to it - because funny is happy & that is exactly what this festival is - its just happy time to pick up a happy mug with a message on it. I have been wanting to do this for so long. So I just designed a bunch of mugs with messages on it. Messages that are close to my heart - messages that would make me happy if I saw it around or if I owned it. Messages that are a reminder or a gentle nudge towards how we want to create our day. Some of these may resonate with some of you more than others & that is the point - there is one for everyone. And to make it a little more fun - the shipping is FREE :) on the entire Mugs section. So just go to artnlight.in & choose your mug & order it. And when I was designing these my mind immediately went to a few of my friends & I thought how perfect a particular message might be for a certain friend & so yes gift your friends with a message mug - the one that you feel is made for them.

The festival is happening at the artnlight online store - right here.

 

Imagine beginning your mornings with "Choose happiness" in your head & heart. What a different day you might have. Imagine gifting this to a particular friend who you know needs just this. You can pick yours here

 This is a mug right after my own heart. When i saw this quote on Pinterest (sorry no credits - because I don't know who has written it) I was just grinning ear to ear. This one was MADE FOR ME :) Also whats interesting is that its not an overtly feminine design - so yeah! gift it to your husband/boyfriend/friend  - who needs that nudge to book those tickets (yes, I am evil :D) Here's where to get them. 

 This is the print I designed for the Nisha Sainani Spring Summer collection & thats now made famous with celebrities and film stars wearing it - these are Limited Edition Mugs.

 Another version of the above design - this mug has the pink & blue shield on either side of the mug. Limited Edition. Buy yours here

This one is a simple Rose print - in shades of well - rose :) its all pretty english and dedicated to all the lovers of pink - men & women - you know right away if this one is yours & if it is - get it here.

If that was English and pink this is very Indian and Indigo.

 

 This one is close to my heart as well. I feel its difficult not to just naturally compare yourself to someone whose work you admire, and yet there is place for everyone and the whole point is that what one person can make or do in a particular way- no one else can. So getting better than yourself is really where its at.

 This one is just a simple, but powerful word. "Abundance". It feels like a blessing almost. I would love to have this as a reminder each day for all the abundance that anyway fills our life, for the abundance of friends, laughter, love we are blessed with and yes, for the abundance of everything that we wish for.

Deadline? 26th August 2014.

I would love to hear what you feel about this series. Do drop in a comment - Which mug do you like? Why? 

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.

There is a new excitement in the air and we are busy packing and parcelling off the purchases at artnlight.in. Have you had a chance to check out the all new artnlight online shop?  I wanted to include something special for the 1st 100 artnlight buyers and that is when I remembered these inspirational post cards I had designed long back. These were made at a time when I was going through a state of mind not very different from right now. I felt the need to change, to shake things up. And when you are feeling like that, it helps to keep inspiration handy. Things that will keep the perspective clear, and give you strength and hope.

 This is my original post on this blog - from 6 years back :)

 Remember? - from here :)

I have been putting together something. Its still going on and fingers crossed and if all goes according to plan, I should have some really exciting news to share with all of you soooon! Meantime I have been shooting my products, The Queen series of trays which are so popular now have boxes in the same designs. These past few months while I was quickly making these boxes and sending them for the Jaypore Event and then selling on LimeRoad.com, I did not have the time or the bandwidth to shoot them. But here they are finally. A few shots of a few boxes, The hand painted gold details on the boxes is what makes these boxes extra special. It takes time, neatness and a lot of patience and love. I was really keen that the photographs show up the gold work - so in some pictures I had to take the pictures at un-natural angles and really pushing the products to catch the sun. So the painstakingly hand done gold work may be seen.

 This is the Rectangular Knick Knack box and measures at 11x7x4 inches and is great to hold all manner of things.

 This is what I meant when I said I had to shoot them in strange angles to catch the light.