In these days of instant communication with whatsapp, skype, google duo and many such similar technologies that make our lives so much easier, we've all but forgotten the charms of receiving a handwritten postcard, from another state, from a different country, from a pen-pal, from a cousin, a friend, a lover, a parent. How we waited for the postman and how much excitement an inland or a handwritten letter brought. I remember when I was studying here in Bombay, during my school and college days, I used to write to my family almost everyday, little anecdotes, what happened in class, what the teacher said, my latest sketch or skit, the idiosyncrasies of a close friend, everything described vividly, and at the end of the week, I would staple it all and mail it to my family. I imagined them laughing over it. I come from a generation when I was given a small amount of pocket money and an std call across states was not something to be indulged in daily. So after a week of posting my latest "mini book" the next call was about cracking up about the written letter and its contents. Always with one eye on the little meter in the booth that told you how much your call is costing you.

This design is dedicated to all those letters and postcards and slow mail which we lovingly wrote to our loved ones. It is dedicated to all those letters that will remain unwritten, it is dedicated to the act of handwriting and to the craft of writing, it is dedicated to the lovers of long hand and old school and fountain pens. It is dedicated to a time when communication merited the time and effort taken to write, then stamp and post, to the long lines in post offices, to the lost red postboxes.

Welcome to the Art&Light Post Card Crockery Series.

 Snack platters

 Dinner Plates

 Snack Platter

 Coffee Mugs, green tea mugs, whatever you choose to call it

For the longest time now there has been a silent love affair going on between me and ceramics. My work till date has been all about colour and design. I love chroma and maximalism and that has been my comfort zone in a way. While exploring executable possibilities of how i could extend Art&Light's range of products to include ceramics, it became clear early on, due to technicalities of the medium that I will need to think differently to work with ceramics. Simplicity in design and colour would be necessity. No layering, textures, all the things that I normally love would not work here. People who have been following my work might know of my love for typography. So got back to the drawing board and after many rounds of sampling between 2 states and improvisations,  here is the 1st  of the two designs. 

What I especially love about this series is that nothing is perfect. There are irregularities. Little specs scattered on the plates and crockery, not evenly.  The edge of the plate has an hand-drawn outline. It is irregular. Because the products are handmade - there are slight variations and imperfections piece to piece.

  "Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things." ~ Chaim Potok

 “It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.”

― Malcolm X

 

 "There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."~ Henry James

 ""There is no sincerer love than the love of food."~ George Bernard Shaw

Indigo. Blues. There is a poetry in this palette that loyalists will vouch for. I know of people who wear only this colour, Whose homes are a study in blues. I have seen friends try and buy something else and give up and buy one more blue because nothing else is as good. Cooling, soothing classy. I have been dying to do blues and always stopped myself because it was so done. I finally gave in and here is the Artnlight Indigo Blue Collection. Ready to shop on the Art&Light online shop. 

Introducing small Boxes for the 1st time. At 5x5x2 inches, these are small hold your jewellery and make for great gifts.

Indigo Circular Trays

New Small Trays 9x6 inches + Medium & Large trays in the Indigo series

Shop all this and a lot more on the art&light online store

Wishing all of you a cool, calm, peaceful and happy 2016.

In the picture along with the Royal Faces Circular Tray, are an antique Khandoba brass mask which is worshipped as the family diety in many families in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Next to it is Sunny's Vishnu Vilakku from south India. The temple jewellery is mine.

Another year is coming to a close. And what a year. A year of many ups and downs. The downs being my health, and the ups being many opportunities to do good work. One of them was being called to design signature prints for Nisha Sainani's Spring Summer Collection - which went on to become a wild success and had the likes of Sonam Kapoor and many female leads in the film industry loving and wearing them at various events. 

That followed by the launch of the Artnlight online store which got a very very warm and reassuring response. 

And then came the show at Serendipity  - which was not only good for business but also a place where I met many wonderful, warm and amazingly talented fellow entrepreneurs and designers. 

There are a couple more which are speedily moving to point where I can tell you all about it. So much to be grateful for. This year I met so many people whose work I have only seen from afar and admired. The more I see of life, the more I am wowed by its generosity and gentleness. Everything in its time. And how taken care of one is. 

This year is also a year that taught me the value of slowness. That how it is ok to not rush from one adrenaline high to another. It opened my eyes to how much love and support I get from my closest people who stand strong and hold me tight when things are not ok, This year has been about my closest family, friends, their love and unconditional support. I have experienced stupendous love and respect coming my way and my heart is full of gratitude. 

Gratitude, to all the people who love me, my work and show it by writing to me, coming to meet me at exhibitions, by investing in artnlight products and making it possible for artnlight to grow, by adding me as a friend on FB, by following the artnlight FB page, by commenting regularly on the FB posts, by registering on the new artnlight store, and by simply coming here regularly and reading this blog. Thank you. Thank you each one of you. You have no idea how much it eggs me on to walk this path that sometimes feels scary, lonesome and like I have bitten off more than I can chew. 

All of this definitely calls for a celebration and I want to start by announcing the very 1st Year-End Sale on the artnlight store. Its a flat 20% off of EVERYTHING on the artnlight shop. So shop away.

IMPORTANT: Apply your discount coupon code : ARTNLIGHT100 in your cart before checkout. You will find it on the bottom left of the cart window - please be sure to key it in this the slot. Or copy paste it. 

I saw a video by Marie Forleo - on how its important to list out the many reasons you are grateful for something/somebody. Many a time we hold ourselves back from saying thank you or even allowing ourselves to feel completely and unabashedly grateful, so this once, just go all out :) 

Plus because I'm feeling completely happy, there is another give-away happening on the FB page. Which is separate from this. Yes, you can participate in both :)

 And here is Anais's Tia Pakhi and her famed line of butterflies, birds flowers and Love. All hand embroidered.

I love this picture of Chandan Dubey as much as I love her work. I got to see her gorgeous new line of work upclose & here are 2 of my favourite pieces among her collection. There is a full feature on her work coming up, but both of us need to take the time out for that and just make it happen.

 Nikheel Aphale's calligraphic work I have been seeing for years and it was my pleasure and privilege to see Leehkin up close and also see it translated into beautiful products. Nikheel is currently in Taipei as I make this post, representing Indian calligraphy at the One Asia Project which aims is to "present Asia’s cultural richness and profound spirituality to the world in order to create a new cultural milieu"

Sumiran Kabir Sharma of the Anaam 

QREOH was another collective that had a seriously talented line up of fashion brands that it was representing. From Anaam to The Pot Plant to Joy to Mae, they were each a treat to the discerning buyer. Unusual, simple, cutting edge and blessedly very wearable collections. Do check out the Qreoh Website to see what I'm talking about.

 Jayeta Rohilla and her brand Mae

Himanshu Verma of RedEarth was there with his supremely stunning collection of Sarees.
 Nigarish ~ Tree of Life showed their gorgeous skirts and Indian prints.

Kinche was there and their exquisite collection of Jackets. These pictures are not a patch on the real thing. You just HAVE to click on this link to see them in all their glory. 

 There are exhibitions and then there are exhibitions, and this one somehow refuses to be called one, simply owing to the ambience, the people, the music and the grace of the people who put this together and made this come alive. I came back very grateful to have made acquaintance of the talents I met and the conversations we exchanged.
Image Courtesy: Serendipity, An Indian Summer, Vaishnavi Varadarajan, Sumiran Kabir Sharma & Vineeta Nair