Category Archives: Art

See Things Differently

Here’s a motley little crew of inspiration images. They scrolled across my screen on Pinterest, and each made me stop and look longer than average. Maybe you’ll find surprising new ways of seeing things here too …

I’ve written a few business plans the conventional conforming way, but I really wish to write one that looks like this work by Liz Plahn found at Geotypografika:

art by Liz Plahn found at Geotypografika

Why use only one carpet on stairs? Here’s a mix of many Persian carpet designs at Desigual in Hannover, Germany, *maybe* originally uploaded to Pinterest by Centiva (this great find deserves a link to original source!):

Persian carpet designs at Desigual in Hannover Germany

I’ve always been intrigued by how data turns into visual patterns. Like here, the heights of 90,000 humans. Via Tate. It’s not a bell curve because there are measurements of children. But if you looked only at the fully-grown adults:

Measurements of Human Heights via Tate

This is not a popular image, it’s not repinned much. But I like it. I’m not sure why. It’s not the prettiest picture, and it’s a bit disturbing. From Civilization and Its Discontents exhibition, via Elana Herzog:

From Civilization and Its Discontents Exhibition via Elana Herzog

From Comme des Garçons 1994, this makes me think, why not do something different with curtains?

Comme des Garçons 1994

Don’t stop at just painting a cabinet with chalkboard paint. Write all over every square inch of it! Via vtwonen:

Chalkboard Cabinet via vtwonen

These images and many more are on my Create board on Pinterest.

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Patterns of the Ancient Cholas in Today’s Chennai Hotels

A few weeks ago I shared a series of posts about the ancient Chola empire in South India:

  • Part 1 – why seek patterns from long-ago civilizations
  • Part 2 – who the Cholas were
  • Part 3 – photos of temple patterns

I’ve also been collecting images of Chola art on a Pinterest Board. Check it out to see the bronze sculptures and carvings left by the Cholas.

Now, let’s take a trip to the Taj Coromandel and ITC Grand Chola hotels in Chennai to see how the architects and designers there were inspired by the Chola art in that region of India …

Patterns similar to those in the Chola temples were used here in the ITC Grand Chola Residents Lounge:

The ceiling of the shopping arcade:

Enormous circular motif in the ITC Grand Chola with lotus and temple carvings:

There are subtle Chola touches in this lounge, and you can also see how the architecture is arranged like the columned galleries in South Indian temples:

The ITC Grand Chola recently opened — check it out if you’re in Chennai. We stayed at the ITC Taj in Agra and it was a wonderful experience. We had an excellent meal in a restaurant there despite it being a voting day and they were unable to serve wine. The good thing about the voting day was, the Taj Mahal was nearly deserted of people for much of our visit there!

So now let’s travel over to a mainstay of Chennai’s travelers, the Taj Coromandel. Similar to the lounge above, this Taj Coromandel restaurant evokes the pillars and galleries of ancient Chola stone temples:

The Cholas were known for their bronze sculptures that you can see today in museums. The Taj Coromandel uses bronze sculpture as a theme, along with a traditional South Indian swing:

A bronze sculpture in a silk-lined niche at the Taj Coromandel:

It reminds me of the South and Southeast Asia gallery at the Chicago Institute of Arts, where I photographed the sculptures against colors of paprika and saffron and turmeric:

There are Chola sculptures there, but I didn’t realize it at the time only a few months ago.

Whenever we visit Chennai next, I will visit the Chola designs at the Taj Coromandel and ITC Grand Chola hotels, for inspiration for our Chennai apartment. Some of my favorite shopping is around the Taj Coromandel too.

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

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.

In Awe of Decorative Painting

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.