Lifting The Painted Veil

OLIE, my project that was undercover for a whole year finally opened doors to visitors, buyers and well wishers over the last weekend. The place looked like a dream, Raintree was at its most beautiful and friends and family pitched in to make sure everything went perfectly for the two days that we were there. Everyone who walked in loved the display, the stories and the products themselves and I cannot believe how many people will now have a little Olie touch to their home. It suddenly seems like everything is happening incredibly fast, but I am revelling in the love for this brand and simply dizzy with joy !

An illustration come to life, it was wonderful to be able to experience the magic in forms that one could touch and interact with.

moving shadows dance their way across walls and ceilings casting spells 

Love this pretty lady's outfit- the colours work so well for the brand !

cushion covers,table linen and lighting oh joy!

I cannot wait to walk into a home and see a little bit of Olie soul glowing over a table like a piece of art or like one lovely buyer told me, in her bedroom where the shadows each lamp creates would make the whole space incredibly beautiful and romantic.

I've been taking a bit of a break the past few days from all the rush of product and brand building, but the only thing that I did do this week was meet with the charismatic Asha and Sanam of Sunday Soul Sante. Happily, they seem excited to welcome us to their flea market. I always loved the sante, it seems so festive, a real market with music and wine and so much beauty in the stalls - It's going to be a whole new experience to be a part of it not as someone who is walking through enjoying the spirit but as one of the brands within the stall. Im excited. I hope you will be able to make it, it's happening on the 27th of this month !

All this excitement aside, I don't know if I told you - I moved back to Bangalore a month ago ! Back to long walks under beautiful flowering trees,plenty of cappuccino in quaint cafe's, lots of rides on the metro ( which for some reason fills me with joy even though its only about a 6 km stretch ! ) and friends everywhere. sigh, life is getting good again :)

Have a happy weekend! kisses!

When In Bloom

When I started working on this wedding invite, I was back in Bangalore and its springtime! The city was at its most beautiful with flowers of every colour creating beautiful canopies everywhere. Made my heart sing with joy. Obviously, this has translated into the card :) Lovely Rangeeta pretty much gave me a free reign with her wedding card. The envelope is made of brown paper and the whole thing is going to be tied with lovely blue ribbon. Im waiting to get the actual thing in my hands and Ill take some pictures for you to see :)

In bloom!

Bits And Pieces

Im turning food critic for this post :) Must indulge my madness!

I have been obsessing over cheesecake for many many months now, I think its been more than a year since I first tried this incredible cheesecake at the Well Studio Cafe in Auroville. so all was well as long as that incredible cheesecake was close at hand. But once we moved to Chennai - I had to start hunting for cheesecake again - and realised it really is a hunt! Ive had the most awful chewy(!) buttery (!) strange cheesecakes at insane prices. lets tear down a few places. 

Chennai - sandys laboratory. great food, nice place, nice everything - but their super expensive cheesecake is inedible - AND its highly recommended by the people there, so dont fall for that.

amethyst cafe - horrible. the french loaf - i think they use cheddar instead of cream cheese ! sigh.

and then we moved to bangalore ! so the hunt is going nationwide suddenly.. hard rock cafe - terrible!

The one at the food hall at 1mg looked deceptively enticing - but it was pretty gross. gloria jeans coffee - eek! Ice and Spice (ordered with great enthusiasm) - blech! We tried the cheesecake at Toscano - it was passable but still not very good. Bliss chocolate lounge at UB city - again a big no. It makes me wonder - is it so hard to make good cheesecake outside of auroville?

A small respite in the middle, when we went to auroville again and had a tiny cheesecake in a steel bowl (completely homemade) and that was pure heaven, light and lovely!

And then finally, at under the mango tree in bangalore - cheesecake that was half decent! 

So thats where Im at. I cant stop ordering cheesecakes. If you know of a delicious one - tell me about it!! must - eat - good - cheesecake.

While driving from Bangalore to Chennai, the sun rose making the whole world glow. It was beautiful. 

Im terribly excited. Were flying to the andamans tomorrow! one week of lying on blissful beach no.7 (repeatedly proclaimed to be nothing short of paradise) by everyone who has been there. Sketchbook in one hand and camera in the other, Im off! maybe Ill find my dream cheesecake in the andamans, you never know :)

Birthday Cloud

For Sid's birthday this year, we went to my dads farm. Its one of my favourite places in the world. Apparently, its sid's too :) One of the things I gave him this year was this card! I like the way it turned out so I thought id post about it :D also, these lovely pictures are taken by my little sister.

 

The monsoons- soon we were sitting in a cloud.

The chickens, the cow, our two crazy dogs and the rest of the family wishing you a happy birthday! 

 Happy with his card! I think I should start making custom cards like this one. Had such fun with it !Interested? :)

Unknown Possibilities

Im stepping into the unknown once again, it really is a giant black hole and I have no idea what is

going to happen in the next few months. For someone who loves to be in control this is pretty horrifying.

(Were moving to chennai :) 

But I read a book recently, that spoke about our subconcious and it leading us to the right path. I call it my instinct, and Ive learned to trust it and not fight it. But it inevitably means that I sometimes have no real reason for doing what Im doing. Except that it feels right. After all this time, living in Pondicherry I never did read aurobindos work, and I rather like what he says below. 

Our soul from its mysterious chamber acts

Its influence pressing on our heart and mind

Pushes them to exceed their mortal selves.

It seeks for Good and Beauty. 

We see beyond self's walls our limitless self,

We gaze through our world's glass at half seen vasts,

We hunt for the truth behind apparent things.

Our inner mind dwells in a larger light,

Its brightness looks at us through hidden doors

Our members luminous grow and Wisdom's face

Appears in the doorway of the mystic ward

When she enters into our house of outward sense

Then we look up and see, above, her sun

Strangely enough, this sketch is something I did months ago, I came across it yesterday and it seemed to fit how I was feeling right now. Incase you noticed my absence last week, its because I was trudging through chennai looking for the right house, which we did find :) Its beautiful, with a garden and terrace! Something to look forward to.

Little Bits of Spooky Paper

I know I'm very late with Halloween pictures, but the Halloween party at my home happened over the weekend, so its really just been a few days since then! I spent a lot of time last week making up little decorations so people would get into the spirit, and Id like to show you around a bit :) with some not-so-great pictures! Somehow everything glittered and looked a lot better to me in person and its not translating as well in the pictures! So the trick or treat sign is something im proud of ! Made using red handmade paper, a cutting knife, and some paint for the eyeball in ''OR''. and the spider hanging from the web is made out of newspaper by Ishita - our paper guru. and I also stuck little red eyes on it! 

oh and tons of glitter all around, that you can barely see here!

 My spooky tree had lots of thread hanging around it like spider webs, and one giant paper spider !

 This is something that is going to remain as permanent decoration me thinks. I love my starry chandelier!

The string of skull lights in the Kitchen which was our Buffet area.

       Look carefully to see more threads hanging- more spider webs :D

 And on all the surfaces, the absolute halloween must-haves. Tons of pretty candles and lots of sequins! It was great fun and all our costumed friends were the last bit of decoration. it really did look lovely :)