bpb's home improvement list is back for curtain(s) call, with our favourite picks of hard wood and soft furnishings, eggshell ceramics and sturdy chairs, down pillows and up and coming decor labels. Plus, a quick contact sheet of tried-and-tested handymen. Knock on wood. Download the list as a PDF here.
Sea attached a trippy Mermaid Coffee Table complete with an overarching tail fin crafted from East Indian walnut and an epoxy resin top built to appear like the waves of an ocean. We see you on a beach house patio sipping margs around this table, which floated towards our feeds from Wootique, a tailor-made furniture brand that can easily swim from style to style based on your preference, offering hand carved vintage, solid contemporary, and rustic furniture. Also shop this super cool 3 Legged Chair, Brass Cane Flip Flop Swing, Butterfly Dining Table, and a shape-shifting live edge wood Alive Swing that’s quiet enough to adapt to any room’s aesthetic and yet bold enough to make a statement on its own.
Shop at wootique.in, Instagram, Rs 15,600 for a 3 Legged Chair.
The Kaleido Store is the light knight you were waiting for, ready to guide you out of the dark. Founded by Hiten Manwani in 2015, this IIM Lucknow alumnus set his sights on the decorative lighting category and has since bespangled the homes of cricket and bollywood icons, tony private clubs, restaurants and airport lounges. At their Laxmi Industrial Estate store, The Kaleido Store team curates a diverse repertoire of designs from across labels to showcase modern, vintage, industrial and sustainable lamps. bpb is illuminating their Ethereal range of fabric luminaires with striking accents and their Vestige line of grand vintage chandeliers that belong in House of Dragon. Also note that while these collections allow small customisations, architects and designers can also bring their own designs that the store can build from scratch.
8-H, Laxmi Industrial Estate, New Link Rd, Andheri West, 9004477111/9819044111, Instagram, start at Rs 8,000 for a raw silk wall sconce.
Perpetual playtime prevails at this little ceramic studio in Mumbai where potter Vidhi Dedhia makes milk cartons, cigarette boxes, matches, pastries, popsicles and Coco-Cola cans that look just like the real thing. We love the surreal glazed bananas - peeled and unpeeled - and OJ juice carton to use as a flower vase. Vitamin see here.
Order via Instagram, start at Rs 1,500.
As far as walls and table tops go, Shaakh has got you covered. It’s disparate but delightful, this home label’s two focus areas: wallpapers and tableware. Their wallpapers master many moods, ranging from dreamy by way of floral and leafy designs to tropical and tidy geometric prints. Over in the dining room, Shaakh has been laying celebrity dining tables - Mira Kapoor, Namrata Soni, Karishma Tanna - for almost a decade now. We love their co-ordinated mats and trivets limned with enough flora and fauna to remind you of a day at the Jardin du Luxembourg. Our best find here is a Parisian dome shaped cake cover embellished with a single pink rose that Ms Antoinette would treasure.
Shop at shaakh.com, 7986990212, Instagram, start at Rs 2,499 for a cake cover.
Bring the rainbow inside with Rayt, our favourite new glassware discovery that makes wine and gin goblets in a colour palette reminiscent of a Brigerton ball. Think pink and mauve and other pastels borrowed from the elaborate hairdos of Cressida Cowper; jewel tones from the Feathringtons’ big and bright playbook; and a saturated blue the colour of Lady Whistledown’s ink. We expect it to be the talk of the ton, this one. Things to know: multi-generational artisans in Europe make these glasses; they’re dishwasher safe, lead-free and resistant to scratches.
Shop at rayt.in, WhatsApp 9870109935, Instagram, Rs 4,000 for a set of 2 glasses.
It’s not easy to score an invite to tastemaker Ranji’s Moira dinner parties, but it is easy to peek into his Goa home that doubles up as a studio-shop. Sort through a jumble of antique curious and you will emerge with a bluest blue glass jewellery box, a Naga foot stool, vintage Delftware jars, original Art Deco lamps and more. PS: Ranji is also an excellent interior stylist if your home needs a glow up.
DM on Instagram for a studio appointment.
It’s a thing of beauty, this hot-off-the-press Etsi Chair: solid teak wood, strong lines, an adjustable back with an elegant brass lever. A city planner and a finance graduate run furniture brand onebytwo, and it is indeed delicious enough to split with friends. So here we’re sharing it and everything they do - from small wooden pencil boxes to large wardrobe units. New additions making a splash here include the aforementioned Etsi, and the teak-rattan Touffe chair, as well as classics like the slim, long-limbed Walk By Foyer console and Big Wheels trolley to bring mobility to your martinis. Big points for finding the sweet spot where design meets the right price point.
Shop at 1bytwo.com, Instagram, start at Rs 20k for a chair.
With a silver metal flower-shaped back frame and a white pearl crushed velvet fabric seat, this chair has just the bones for your boudoir. Perch in front of your dresser for preening time, below a silver celestial mobile also made by One O One. Planet of the shapes.
Shop at oneoonestudios.com, Instagram, Rs 36k for the Mercury Chair.
Glaze lovingly into this ceramist’s eyes and she will make you the loveliest customised wall installation featuring whatever your heart fancies. In addition to running Mridakaari, an artisanal pottery studio and store, founder and interior designer Shivangi Tripathi also provides a customised wall installation service. We had a chance to wave to her Corals on the Wall work, a set up of 8 hand-made individual tiles featuring a white, rich mix of patterns and textures from minuscule dots to sinuous tentacles. PS: The artist’s ready-made wares - dinnerware, accessories, home decor - are available to order online immediately.
Mridakaari Ceramic Studio, Silicon City Road, Indore, www.mridakaari.com, 9584191711, Instagram, start at Rs 500.
This design studio from Gandhinagar, Gujarat, turns hand embroidered textiles into “story-tellers” via framed works of art. Founder Brinda Dudhat, a textile design graduate from NID started by working with multiple craft clusters across the country from Sujini to Kalamkari. Now, Morii works with over eighty women artisans from more than seven different villages, bringing you beautiful, abstract patterned fabrics for your walls.
Visit Moriidesign.com/art, 9319927100, Instagram, start at Rs 5,000.
These goblets are on fire! One of our favourite picks at bpb’s One Amazing Thing pop up shop, Misran has vessels in London and Jaipur, where these sexy alabaster and marble goblets and glasses are made. They’re expensive but excellent, a special way to toast to all your achievements. And we know there will be many this year.
DM on Instagram to order, Rs 6,999 for a set.
From France’s Sabre cutlery to Germany’s Rosenthal porcelain pieces, Merci Dehradun brings together grand brands from the international dinnerware world. Posh up your parties with purchases that include Wedgwood, Waterford, Royal Albert, Bordallo Pinheiro and more.
Shop at www.mercidehradun.com, Instagram, start at Rs 2,445 for a bread and butter plate.
Chiki Doshi’s sprawling room of wonders might be the best real estate in Bombay - filled with antique furniture and curios to match. Here you’ll find brass chairs Jeanneret would have lusted after, a big marble bathtub, Romanesque pillars with a beautiful old fan perched on top – plus a killer sea view. If you’re lucky, you might even spot a peacock or a perfect Art Deco bar trolley for your living room.
Visit www.mahendradoshi.com, 9820191755, Instagram, Rs 12,000 for an Antique Lion’s Head.
Clay meets creativity in Magari’s Massera furniture collection, inspired by the fundamental way in which we interact with play dough. One look and we knead these ASAP: the Massera Sofa, a geometric couch layered with rolled-up clay-like parts; and an asymmetrical Yokan dining table. Meanwhile the more austere Aayutha furniture line’s designs are inspired from scriptures and cultures of the Sangam Tamil era, circa 400 BCE. Help yourselves to a drink from our favourite of these, a circular Madhushala bar unit, a nod to the curved letters of the Tamil script; and elevate any space with Kalai, an elegant teak and stone finish console. Shop online or visit one of their stunning studios in Hyderabad, Chennai or Bangalore.
Shop at magari.in, WhatsApp 7353455866, Instagram, Rs 30,900 for the Thunai with Stone Top.
Architect Dhwani Mehta, formerly at Case Designs, brings her love for textiles to Leel, a home label that’s rooted in handmade and sustainable techniques. Their first collection is an ode to Kala, Kutch’s indigenous breed of cotton, featuring an interplay of colour and local weaving techniques. Click on their catalog via Instagram, and you will find soft throws in shades of chalk, fog, dawn and dusk; Burnt Clay & Jade lumbar cushions to make old-age back support seem sexy; and a deep, deep indigo coloured bedspread that announces itself as Neel.
Access the catalog & order via Instagram, Rs 2,850 for a cushion.
Good news: you no longer have to skip from one ceramist’s Instagram page to another, bookmarking and screenshot-ing your favourite wares. At last, here is a single platform that ties the best makers - local and global - together, painstakingly conducting quality checks, handpicking wares and sometimes, even going a step further to co-create products. At Lagavi, you will find everything your table top desires: the coolest cups, tumblers and mugs; lovely dinnerware, including hand painted platters and striking plates; as well as the cutest ceramic pet bowls. Fur real!
Shop at www.lagavi.com, 9773331033, Instagram, start at Rs 299.
A vase that does the Padmasana is the perfect gift for your flexi-sexy friends. An Ahmedabad-based studio makes this and a series of other ceramic single flower vases, each performing a different yoga asana. We’re currently sitting in the shade of their mint green Tree Pose vase.
Burning between Bali and Bombay, Kali offers up honeycomb patterned, 100% beeswax candles that are packed with a silk scarf in the loveliest boxes, which makes this our go-to hostess gift. Pair with their palm-length coiled ceramic candle holder.
Instagram, start at Rs 3,500.
Ever since ex Architectural Digest editor Greg Foster became creative director at Jaipur Rugs, their carpets have appeared on ski lifts in Kashmir and tennis courts just in time for Wimbledon. And we can expect many more aces from Mr Foster’s roster. Shop your favourite Jaipur Rugs classics or walk all over their collaboration with designer Kunaal Seolekar featuring undulating naag and jaanwar rugs inspired by Gond folklore.
Shop at jaipurrugs.com, Instagram.
A slender noir peg table that seats a single cocktail is our favourite self-care companion. Here at Indecrafts, you can find several stunning side pieces like this one and this one and more, as they spotlight a range of side tables this month. At Indecrafts, each piece is mod, but also a nod to traditional handicraft techniques using materials like marble, cast iron, wood and more. Besides furniture, other niche verticals you can shop include lighting, utility storage and garden accessories. Bloom room!
Shop at indecrafts.com, 9997198225, Instagram, start at Rs 6,500 for a side table.
Often found press-ed between the pages of Architectural Digest India, HEARTYMUSE ATELIER’s rugs both, receive and provide coverage. And while on the subject of starry rugs, lets begin our carpet ride through their by-appointment Worli atelier with Starry Nights, a gorgeous blue Van Gogh-inspired carpet handmade with New Zealand wool and botanical silks. Another favourite category here is Afro-Indo, where rugs come bearing bold prints and striking colours, originally custom made for Indian clients with roots in Uganda. Of course, the designs extend far beyond this; flip through free-flowing rugs with inorganic shapes, monotone shades, modern aesthetics and doodle designs. Shop in-store or via Whatsapp.
Ground floor 1-2, plot No.66/66A, Vainganga Building, Sir Pochkhanwala Road, Worli, Whatsapp 9167200999 or DM on Instagram for appointments, start at Rs 25k.
Why would you own a miniature clay chair that can fit in your palm? Because you can. And because Hatsu makes this tactile, chalky-smooth chair for your desk; to hold a tealight on your dining table; for your Victorian dollhouse. Or for your teeny tiny behind. PS: the Hatsu hes and shes also put their eccentric minds to odd shaped rugs and fun lights.
Shop at www.hatsu.in, Instagram, Rs 1,500 for the mini chair.
Behold, a beauty routine for your bushes. This organic conditioner can be used as a pre-application for a new garden bed or lawn, or as a surface application to both, feed and maintain your garden. It’s free from chemicals, pathogens and herbicides, and easy enough to use even for a first time balcony gardener. Plant moms and dads, this “hard worker” is locally made, sustainably produced and comes in cute packaging. Grow big or go home.
www.happysoil.in, available at Plant People (Versova), Instagram, Rs 265 per kg.
A quick peek into our phones for excellent, tried-and-tested skilled people to contact. Carpenter (Rajesh: 7021274330); upholstery (Amjad Khan: 9930910347); waterproofing (Adil: 8108852570); electrician (Pankaj: 8655060637).
On July 18, Glass Forest will reflect on their brand new Twilight Collection. Think about your favourite drink being held in hand blown glass decanters and champagne flutes and sexy sorbet scoops in noir dessert bowls while candle holders stand by. The line is washed in twilight, appearing in calming shades of white, grey and black.
Shop at glass-forest.com, 9958140635 / 8810625886, Instagram, start at Rs 2,850 for a set of 2 coupes.
Cool girls who shop from Khaite, can now slurp from it too. The luxury women’s fashion label teams up with Florentine design house Ginori 1735 to put out an astonishingly beautiful blue and white porcelain tableware line. Our favourite among these is a set of two soup bowls where a statuesque woman lounges in an elevated bathtub, an illustration also imagined as a table-top statue emerging from a bowl that is brimming over with deep maroon cherries. Pick one.
At Moda Operandi, pay customs shipping to India or better, shop while travelling abroad.
This 25 year old French fragrance house taps countries across the world to make subtle, sexy room fragrances that are available in India via Goodearth. The Black Tea (China) is our absolute favourite but currently sold out; The Fig Tree (Greece) with its slightly acidic-leafy-fruity scent and the citrus-orchard feels of Bergamot (Calabria) are close seconds. A Ritz-worthy spritz if we ever smelled one.
At Goodearth stores (Juhu, Lower Parel, Colaba) and online, Rs 3,500 for The Fig Tree.
A good night’s sleep: nothing else mattress…er matters. Dedicate your nights to - among other things - a luxurious lull courtesy Foam Home. This Mumbai based company that evolved from a humble mattress refurbisher in the 70s to the country’s premier sleep innovator currently has three marquee products. First, a Technogel Mattress that offers superior pressure relief, while adapting to your body's contours for a personalised sleep experience. Next, an ergonomically designed Memory Foam Cervical Pillow that promotes proper alignment and restful sleep; and plush down and feather pillows for deluxe downtime.
69, Girnar building, Tulsiwadi, Tardeo, foamhome.in, 7045682846, Instagram, Rs 2,550 for Memory Foam Pillow.
Palms, falcons and Arabic calligraphy find themselves on this Kuwait-origin lifestyle label’s wares, that now also retails in Jaipur and online in India. Ecru’s products are pricey but princely - handsome marble platters cut out like stars, glass plates etched with palms fit for a Dornish feast, and a long grazing board inlaid with a brass blessing in Arabic. Our favourite though is a set of hand painted leopard print glass tumblers, arguably the sexiest way for your juices to be held.
Shop at the Jaipur store or www.ecruonline.in, Instagram, start at Rs 1,500.
Combining French and Indian workmanship, this studio in Pondicherry specialises in leather craft, and has worked with global brands like Loewe, Celine and Balenciaga. Follow them on Instagram to find chic limited edition leather releases like grass-green bag charms, tan-hued cannage candle holders, and woven confetti-coloured hand cuffs and baskets.
Inquiries by email only to [email protected], Instagram.
You’ve already laid claim to the flames lit by Prateek and Gautam, makers of some of the ritziest lights in the country. But also know this: they do cute non-light things with hand blown glass too, like this bunny sculpture, as well as a crisp dual wick Mountain Candle fitted in a glass cylinder that appears like a cool upside down pine tree terrarium. Con(i)fer with friends and buy.
Shop at collektklove.com, Instagram, Rs 3,700 for the Mountain Candle.
Mansie makes the coolest abstract sculptures: small totems, some of which are curled at the edges, some pointy, inspired by storms and molecules, wind and water. Buy two to make (book)ends meet, for the real effect buy a fleet.
Order via Instagram, start at Rs 10,000.
Paper artist Himani Batra, handmakes the most adorable micro mini faux plants packed in semi see-through boxes that say: “Love me. Adore me. Don’t water me.” You can buy a single or a set of two; garden varieties include mini mosteras, snake plants, caladiums, alocasias pollys and polka dotted begonias. A cute way to plant yourself at a cute co-worker’s desk.
Shop at himanibatra.com, Instagram, Rs 1,200 for a mini monstera.
One of our favourite potters now does prints! Influenced by the wildlife around their pottery studio in Andretta, Himachal Pradesh, Laal Mitti makes these full-of-joy brightly coloured art prints showing red cats stretched across pink vases; roosters frolicking among tulips; and blue monkeys in blooming trees. PS: they conduct pottery teaching programs as well.
Shop at atelierlalmitti.com, Instagram, start at Rs 1,200.
This atelier, run by star-architect Ashiesh Shah, pays homage to Indian craftsmen while staying loyal to its wabi-sabi aesthetic. Its objects and furniture pieces aim to challenge the boundaries of scale and alter the perception of lesser known Indian crafts. The striking Channapatna wood work from Karnataka, for instance, finds itself on seats or lamps; Meghalaya’s longpi is used to make waist-high vases, Kashmiri papier mache translates to Srinagar Totems that light up from within.
Visit www.ashieshshah.com/atelier, 9967797006, Instagram, Rs 35,000 for a Longpi vase.
Featured in Wallpaper’s USA 300 list, SF-based Indian American duo Palaash and Utharaa sell primarily in the US market, but their showstopper Donut Coffee Tables are made in India and therefore can be delivered here. Crafted from different wood species from the wood cut-offs wasted at a big export furniture factory, this coffee table features a glass top that rests on a round base fashioned to look like a donut, available in ‘Sugar’, ‘Chocolate’ or ‘Caramel’. Not just for cops.
Shop at www.soft-geometry.com, DM on Instagram for India prices.
As part of its 10th birthday celebrations, TARQ’s tribe of heavyweight artists like Rithika Merchant, Sameer Kulavoor, Vishwa Shroff, Boshudhara Mukherjee and others have vowed to invade each other’s spaces. The result is Overlaps, a neat portfolio of screen prints, each made by two artists in collaboration with each other. Sold as a single set of seven (each 16.5 x 23.4 inches) made in a limited edition of 50, the works explore themes of city, space, landscape and nature - a great way to invite a collective of otherwise expensive artists into your home, all at once.
KK (Navsari) Chambers, ground floor, 39 AK Nayak Marg, Fort, www.tarq.in, 2266150424, Instagram, 2.5 lakhs for seven limited edition prints.
Named after the cosmic turtle that supports the Earth, Akupara is a dreamy home furnishing brand thought up by designer Palak Singh. It is built in a palette of terracotta, ivory and noir, with motifs inspired by a padyatra from Kanyakumari to Delhi, embarked upon by Palak’s great grandfather Chandra Shekhar, the eighth Prime Minister of India. Some of our favourites include the Chichiari curtains; the Ghughuni rug; and Lai table runner. Meet me for dinner.
Shop at akupara.in, Instagram, Rs 760 for table napkins.
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