Monthly Archives: June 2012

Indian Wood Printing Blocks with Crusty Paint

Posted on June 27, 2012 by | 8 Comments

Wooden printing blocks from India are pretty enough in plain wood, but they can be even prettier when crusted with old paint, showing off the bold colors of India. I recently scored this one with a fantastic circus of color (from eBay):

It makes me wonder, what did it make with all those colors? Who carved it? How long did it take? How many times did a block printing artist have to stamp it? Did he get these colors all over his hands too?

It will soon be shouting its loud colors from a wall. Until that project is completed, here are more wood blocks with paint …

Little old blocks from India, from Daydreams from a Handmade Prairie Life:

Colorful printing blocks shown at the Quilter’s Market:

Gorgeous!!!

Wooden blocks available from The Well-Cooked Life:

More blocks with color shown at Pascale’s Paintings:

I’ve posted this image previously. It’s from Soma, textile creators and exporters in India:

I like the wood printing blocks so much better when paint is left on them. It plays up the whole point of the wood blocks — to make pretty images.

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Posted in Accessories, Color

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Instagram Images: Indian and Southeast Asian Artifacts at the Art Institute of Chicago

Posted on June 25, 2012 by | 4 Comments

It’s no surprise to regular readers here that I’m a fan of India and Southeast Asian design. So what do you think would happen in the Art Institute of Chicago’s corridor of artifacts from these lands? I can’t take them with me, so I was snappin’ away!

See how the displays are simple but so rich, against backdrops of saffron orange, turmeric yellow and spicy red:

This is making me think … what about carving niches into walls in our Chicago home between the wood studs, line the niches with saffron, turmeric and spice colored silks, install lights and then fill them with fabulous finds from India!? Wouldn’t that be wonderful in a hallway.

If you want to see more artifacts and learn more about them, check out the book Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure. The author a visiting curator of Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Posted in Art, Color

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In Awe of Decorative Painting

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | 4 Comments

With the clean slate of the India apartment’s walls, imaginations of what to do can run wild and free! There’s nothing existing to constrain ideas. No things like a royal blue velvet sectional that must be accommodated in the design. Or Chinese celadon pottery. Or Hello Kitty wallpaper.

I’ve written previously about creating an old stenciled look on many of the walls:

Something exotic. Patterned but not overwhelmingly so; maybe it’s faded and uneven like it wore away over centuries.

During online travels through the world of decorative painting, I “met” Sylvie Michel Bilger of Metamorfaux, who was in Chicago this week for a client project, and I had the wonderful opportunity to really meet her, in real life! We had a lovely conversation about all sorts of creative and life things, and time flew by so fast. That’s when you know you’re having fun. We laughed about how homes may not always be as they appear in blogs — it’s true! — because we choose to put our best faces forward here.

I wanted to share Sylvie’s work with you, which opens my eyes and mind to things that can be done with walls that I never thought possible. I admire most in this world the ability of people to make the impossible possible, and the ability to envision and innovate from literally and figuratively, blank walls. This applies to decorative endeavors as much as it applies to things like leadership and entrepreneurship.

So I respect people who can turn visions into reality. Like these images below from Sylvie’s Metamorfaux blog. Wouldn’t these stucco impressions help make the cool and calm feeling I just posted about, but add texture to make a room interesting:

A gorgeous photo of her marbleizing painting work at Versailles:

I love this damask stencil image from her portfolio because it’s what I see in my mind for stenciling in the India apartment:

She created a magical hallway with stencils from Royal Design Studio in the Holiday House NYC:

Stunning, right?

Sylvie has also been among the lucky people who served as Peacock Painters at Peacock Pavilions, of the famous My Marrakesh blog! Their stenciling work is now featured in the Marrakesh by Design book. And you can see many beautiful photos of the stenciling in the May 2012 Lonny Mag.

I do dream of someday creating a chain of apartments throughout India, run by people there, all decorated beautifully to give travelers a wonderful experience of being in India. Wouldn’t that be cool! Why? Because once you’re done painting and decorating one apartment, what are you going to do?!? You need another apartment to paint and decorate! Meeting Sylvie today renews my interest in making my visions come true in the India pied-à-terre.

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Posted in Art, India pied-à-terre Decorating, Walls

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Cool and Calm Amid Chennai Chaos

Posted on June 20, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Cool and calm. That’s what I hope to achieve in the India pied-à-terre, because it sits amid a busy and sweltering Southern India city neighborhood. Here are images that capture the cool feeling of escape that I’m aiming for (from a Pinterest Board - India Apartment Decorating Inspiration) …

Via Elle Decor:

A chair from Matter that looks like a chair in my husband’s family photo in Southern India when he was a little boy. But the cost of this one chair probably could have housed, clothed and fed their whole neighborhood back then:

From the New York Observer, Madeline Weinrib’s studio. A good balance of interesting and calm:

From the Shangri-La collection, some lace-like jali pattern:

I like this mix of neutral calm and color, modern and ancient style in the Hospes Hotel Cordoba in Spain:

Plus textured fabrics, like Donghia Angelina created in the tradition of Indian couture embroidery:

This is in Cher’s “Indian Fantasy” Hollywood home, designed by Martyn Lawrence Bullard:

I love the shapes of these side tables shown at Traditional Home:

Another room designed by Martyn Lawrence Bullard for Cher, and featured by Rizzoli shows the feeling I want:

This stool from Husk in Australia has what I like: simple but exotic:

Yet another room by Martyn Lawrence Bullard that’s inspiring me. This is really getting quite ridiculous. I should just call him to do my apartment. Like, ha!

Something shimmering is surely needed, such as these Seesha pillows from John Robshaw:

This image from Vogue Living is featured in nearly all my posts about India apartment decorating inspiration, because it’s such an influential image for the decor of the place:

Lovin’ this table from Serena and Lily:

And designs like this Taj silk fabric from Quadrille:

This, like this! But I haven’t located original source of this image — if anyone knows, please comment:

Now, I just need to get to Chennai and get to work …

(EDITED: Oh my, just found Martyn Lawrence Bullard is on Pinterest. Following!)

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Posted in India pied-à-terre Decorating

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