Originally appeared in the Feb 2012 edition of Khabar.
Source: http://www.khabar.com/magazine/features/Desi_Do-It-Yourself_DESIGNERS
Living: Desi Do-It-Yourself DESIGNERS
Living: Desi Do-It-Yourself DESIGNERS
In the South Indian middle-class Tambram household I grew up
in, “decorating” meant the frantic dusting of the center table before a
relative stopped by for afternoon filter coffee. Sure, we had all the trappings
of a typical middle-class home—a giant picture-tube TV, a wooden showcase of
brown Formica with shelves stopping mere inches from the ceiling, a few brass
lamps from my mother’s trousseau, and perhaps a stray souvenir from one of our
many temple-hopping trips. But a centerfold for Better Homes & Gardens it
was not.
Perhaps our décor-deprived yet typical home was also
reflective of our conservative, salt-of-the-earth sensibilities. Who cares how
the walls look if you feed folks great food and supply enough
gossip/intellectual nourishment to keep them coming back?
It’s this middle-class ethos that I now strive to overcome
every day, as I incessantly rearrange potted plants on top of a kitchen cabinet
in my suburban home in the U.S. Thanks to my web-browsing, I now know I am not
alone in my amateur artistic pursuits. Some women, in fact many, have scratched
this décor itch into successful blogs.
Take, for instance, Patricia Torres
(coloursdekor.blogspot.com), who describes herself as an “ordinary person, a
working woman, a mom, a wife, a friend.” When not at work at a multinational
company in Dubai or tending to her daughters, she is busy at home “aspiring to
see beauty in everything around me.” With a full-time job, she often wonders if
she would have taken up design as a career if the opportunity had presented
itself earlier in her life. It was a friend’s suggestion that she consider
blogging about the million or so pictures she would take of things around her
house that got her started. Her blog is her “design diary.” She manages to pull
it off, blogging in between her day job, parenting and home-making.
As a teenager, Kamini Raghavan
(saffronandsilk.blogspot.com), would spend hours arranging and re-arranging
furniture, artwork, and flowers around her house, though she just started
blogging about design in 2010. For most bloggers I spoke with, blogging is a
relatively new experience. While some bloggers are professionally trained in
design and décor, a few have successfully turned an amateur interest into a
nearly full-time career. Kamini, who originally earned a degree in Economics, went
back to school in the 1990s to earn a degree in interior design. She worked in
the industry for nine years in the U.S. before moving back to India in 2006.
Sudha Sundareswaran (adesignenthusiast.blogspot.com), grew
up helping her grandfather with his various woodworking projects, picking up
carpentry skills along the way. Therefore, Sudha sees herself more as a design
enthusiast than a decorator. She started her design blog more as a way to
attract attention to her original blog on green/environmentally conscious
living. As a result, she now juggles between three blogs—cooking, design, and
green living.
Anuradha Varma (mydreamcanvas.blogspot.com) reminisces about
decorating her own room as a kid, and being extremely possessive of the
knick-knacks that she would randomly pick up. She started blogging in 2008 more
as a way to chronicle her own experiences with design and décor. Her lifestyle
blog, My Dream Canvas, evolved out of the countless hours she spent browsing
through design-and-décor magazines and a desire to critique them. She blogs
full-time and loves every addictive minute of it.
Gagan (who blogs at
Of Peacocks and Paisleys, http://gb73.blogspot.com/) quips that décor and
design are part of her genetic makeup, since she is the daughter of an artist.
She started her blog in 2010 when she realized that some of her comments on the
blogs she followed were longer than the blog posts on which she was commenting.
A chance visit to any one of the blogs featured here will
clue you in to the sense of camaraderie and bonhomie that prevails in the
community. Bloggers regularly feature others’ blogs and posts, invite guest
blogs, and organize frequent giveaways that mutually benefit each other’s
blogs.
A good majority of the readership is drawn from the Indian
community at large, whether from India, the U.S., the U.K. or the Middle East.
Many bloggers have also tapped into the larger cosmopolitan global-design
blogging community. Sudha’s blog was recently featured on apartmentherapy.com,
the go-to blog for design inspirations.
Few bloggers seem overly concerned about readership.
Blogging seems to provide such pure joy that many of the women I spoke to had
never really considered developing their blogging into a business.
Trends in design:
Ethnic is in! Or so Kamini tells us. Perhaps because of the
recent resurgence of interest in chronicling and preserving traditional Indian
crafts. Organic fabrics, especially hemp, seem to be in. As Anuradha and Gagan
note, there does seem to be a global influence in design these days. But as
they also point out, each blogger has their own niche space. Patricia notes
that small businesses and artisans are increasingly featured on blogs. Much as
bloggers like the big spread of Anthropologie or the design aesthetics of IKEA,
they do promote other DIY-ers and often feature organizations that work with
artisans and source locally made and fair trade products. While Etsy gets much
mention in the U.S., outfits such as Matsya or the Color Caravan in India have
received the design blogger stamp of approval.
What inspires these designers?
Well, everything! Kamini puts it eloquently: “My
grandmother’s old brass foot scrubber and silver-handled comb, my
great-grandmother’s wooden trunk which held her Navaratri dolls, the
70-year-old copper boiler we used as kids for hot water...these are things that
I will always cherish and will always have a place in my home.” Just about
anything with soul, agrees Gagan. Music, literature, art—the list is endless.
To clutter or not to clutter
I asked the bloggers for some basic tips on interior décor
that Khabar readers could incorporate into their homes. The message was loud
and clear—do not be afraid to use color. And, says Anuradha, you don’t have to
be an interior decorator to decorate your home.
But also equally loud is this message: De-clutter every so
often, for there is often a thin line between shabby chic and plain shabby.
Patricia’s rule of thumb is, if you haven’t used it in six months, you don’t
need it. Be merciless. Or as Sudha puts it, a simple philosophy of “one in, two
out” helps with de-cluttering. Anu says, mix and match and pair cheaper
bric-a-bracs with more expensive antiques or vintage items. Kamini agrees, and
suggests, “Your modern armchair next to your grandma’s old antique cane chair
will create an interesting tension between old and new.” Gagan adds that live
plants improve air quality and are often a simple and inexpensive way to add
color and interest to otherwise drab corners.
As to the “don’ts”—“Absolutely no plastic anything, please!”
insists Gagan.
Most important, all bloggers agree, is to let your home
reflect your personality. Kamini argues that there is no right or wrong in
design. Do not, she says, do not let a designer convince you otherwise and put
their spin on your space. In current economic times, when disposable income for
interior design consultants may not be top-priority household budget items,
this is indeed good advice.
Color, mix n’ match, and de-clutter, loud and clear! Well
that about does it for my penny finds at the local thrift store. Out you go.
Now, where’s that Anthropologie catalog?
Where to find inspired décor pieces:
If living in or
traveling to India, you could shop at Dilli Haat in Delhi, where you can get
accessories at very reasonable rates. Fab India, Inhabit, Evolution, Eucalyptus
and Good Earth are a few other places that décor shoppers can visit when in
India.
Some online marketplaces are Shopo.in, the Color Caravan,
and the Tribal Route.
In the U.S., Ten Thousand Villages, Pier 1 Imports and Cost
Plus World Market are the old standards for décor shopping. Other great online resources are etsy.com, fab.com,
namaste-uk.com, vivaterra.com, plumo.com, matsyacrafts.com and
indyakaleidoscope.com.
The Scoop:
Here are some of the other blogs recommended by the bloggers
profiled here:
http://www.abeachcottage.com/
http://mydreamcanvas.blogspot.com/p/shop.html
http://decor8blog.com/
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/
http://rangdecor.blogspot.com/
http://anindiansummer-design.blogspot.com/
http://www.designsponge.com/
http://soundhornplease.blogspot.com/
http://onceuponateatime.blogspot.com/
http://artnlight.blogspot.com/
http://pinterest.com/ (for design inspirations)
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