ABOUT ALIM AND HIS ART

At times in your life you come across things so exquisite, you simply can’t wait to share their wonder with others. A perfect cup of coffee, a delectable dessert, a beautiful afternoon on the beach, a splendid sunset… whatever it is that has made your heart beat a bit faster or your eyes go a bit wider is worth disclosing to the world – so someone out there can enjoy the same wonder and awe.

I had this feeling of wonder when I first stumbled across the art of this amazingly talented Uzbek artist Alim Rekhmatullaev  - I remember it was on one of my mundane searches on the net for some images that I  wanted to use as ‘conversation starters’ for one of the  language groups I was working with at the time. With a cup of tea in one hand, I was casually scanning page after page on google images for interesting pictures  - when I was completely taken in by the whimsical lines of one of his paintings there simply called ‘solar wind’ -  his  painting had soul, was fluid, and had an exquisite refinement and a play of light along with the most intricate patterns reminiscent of architectural designs on old buildings of a bygone era. I was hooked and searched him instead.

Solar Wind

 

 

Alim’s art is decidedly steeped in poetry and has a deliberate philosophical shade to it.  I later found most of his paintings are based on Sufism (mystical poets of the 12^th century) , poems (rubayat) of  Omar Khayyam and sonnets of Shakespeare. He works in both watercolours and oils – recently I contacted the gallery in London that represents him and was so pleased when he agreed to do a commissioned piece for me  – it now has a place of pride in my living room and gives me ultimate wonder and whimsical bliss every time I look at it.

You can view more of Alim’s art on  www.bolshoyart.com 

 

ENCOUNTER ELEGANCE

Elegance is an attribute that I have always admired in others, and at times tried to emulate myself, but somehow I feel it has always eluded me – I have come close, but never close enough to be or feel truly elegant. It is also an attribute we see less of now. There is a saying in France that elegance is the privilege of age, so true -  but women nowadays will go to all kind of lengths to hang on to their youth rather than gracefully age and  glide into a style that defines their age, wisdom and experiences (I myself am guilty of trawling through endless websites that promise recapturing youth). An elegant  women is one who is not only put together on the outside, but has an assuredness about her that tells you she looks on her past life with good humour, has no regrets and enjoys each  waking moment to the full, because she appreciates life. I think the battle with age should be fought philosophically, because no amount of surgoen’s knife can obliterate the insecurities that plague women’s minds. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if we all accepted our age, revered the wisdom that came with it, and effortlessly exuberated  elegance and style that younger generation could only wish for?

And just like truly elegant people are few and far between, truly elegant interiors, or designers who know how to pull off an elegant style are few and far between as well. One designer, who I have followed for more than a decade is +Barbara Barry -(and when I say followed, I don’t mean in a horrible stalking way but professionally kept up to date with her designs) - and I can assuredly say about this lady that she has never, ever fallen short of elegance in her personal style or her  interiors.  Her designs and style ethos always resonates home with me. I always feel like ‘Yes! That’s how I would have done it’ every time I see her interiors in a glossy magazine.

 One thing I have in common with Barbara is designing furniture – (she has her own line of furniture and I designed lounge chairs for my  long lost enterprise)  - and once you start thinking about the lines of a piece of furniture and how it would sit among other pieces and look from different angles, you start appreciating quality craftsmanship, you understand proportion, symmetry and harmony – and that is where  Barbara excels in her craft -  she has a very keen eye, not only for style but she knows quality when she sees it and settles for nothing less. Her interiors are perfectly put together, with harmony and balance, nothing screams out - you step into one of her rooms and you know you have slipped into faded elegant comfort of a bygone era.

Check out her website www.barbarabarry.com , you’ll  assuredly encounter elegance.

EMBRACE YOUR DARK SIDE

 

When I moved from the bright, sunny albeit turbulent climes of  Northern Pakistan (Islamabad to be precise) to wet, windy but calmer shores of western UK (Bristol to be precise) nothing struck me more than the black colour so eagerly and reverently embraced by the Goth culture rampant there. The heavy kohl lined eyes, stark against the pale skin, black as night lips, the obvious disregard for current fashion, matched with the sombre looks and the “I am here and I am not happy about it” persona, intrigued and I must confess, frightened me.

We South Asians, are born in colour, we embrace it like fish embraces water in an unrestrained, life-hanging-by-a-(colorful)-thread sort of way. Our marriage ceremonies, our homes, our public transport are rife with colour. I  grew up in Peshawar, for those who don't know the place, it  is a tribal stronghold of Taliban-ish people now, but back when I was growing up, it was a fairly decent place, very tribal then as well but peaceful and green. I have the loveliest of childhood memories of the place - and I remember how a newly bought car had to be properly vandalized with vivid tinsels and curtains and cushions to make it look ‘half-decent’ – as if without bright and flashy adornments it would seem naked. I was recently reminded of this by a picture a dear acquaintance Ali Qureshi  posted on facebook,  which says it all.

                                     

But as I grew accustomed to the ‘darker-side’ of the western world, I slowly began to appreciate the sombreness and solemnity that darker, heavier colours convey. There was something serene about these colours; they communicated a stillness and gravity that dancing, bouncing bright colours did not. They served a purpose, created a restrained but obvious ambience – in fact, black is now the colour of choice for most designers. Black says ‘look at me, I am here’ –  you will always stop, take stock and look around as you enter a room painted black, it has that kind of command on you.

So next time you are looking at colour swatches, think about embracing your dark side, you might be pleasantly surprised...

 

SPREADING SWEETNESS AND LIGHT

One of my all-time favourite book characters which has always managed to put a smile on my face is  ‘Uncle Fred’ a  figment of genius humourist author PG WodeHouse’s imagination, who perpetually seeks to spread ‘ sweetness and light’  much to the alarm of those around him, as he invariably  ends up creating chaos and getting everyone else around him in a muddle. His nephew (and I remember his name well, as I found his character and name so funny) " Pongo", is forever fearful of his Uncle descending on him on one of his missions to spread ‘sweetness & light’.

Speaking of light, I am not particularly fond of wall or hanging ceiling lights (except recessed, accent or picture lights). Infact guests in my house, on a number of occasions have reached for the light switch and flicked it on, and then stood around puzzled, because most wall switches in my home donot turn any lights on –  I rely on mid-room-height lamps to spread ‘softness & light’ – rather than harsh light beaming down from above. Having said that, I must add, I have been pretty impressed by some of the new wall and ceiling light designs out there.  Some of  which can be conversation starters  (if you are short of words, that is…) a wall-climbing night light, hang-me-dead lamp (uh! morbid, whoever came up with that one obviously doesnot understand sublety), a leaking faucet which is not leaking rather illuminating, and talking of faucets, would you like to have a goldfish swimming in yours?

But the sweetness is the idea behind some of these deigns, the leaking faucet light is meant to make you think about conserving energy because the more you turn the knob, the brighter the light gets, and the goldfish faucet is just a plain old guilt  trip into getting you to use less water, if you leave the tap running, the water drains from the goldfish bowl and it dies …

So next time you are out buying something for your home, choose designs that spread a bit of sweetness and light...

DESIGN YOUR LIFE ON PEOPLE AROUND YOU

Having a life of leisure has never done it for me. Every time I have found time on my hands to sit back and relax,  the euphoria of perfect leisure and having nothing to do doesn't last longer than a day or two. Before long I start feeling mentally and emotionally fat, which basically for me is feeling irrelevant, rootless and unanchored. The best thing about having a life of leisure is you can wake up and do anything you want, but the worst thing for most people in that position is exactly the same thing, you eventually run out of things you want to do - they become boring, not exciting anymore. When I am busy (working) my goals are clearly defined, my day is mapped out - but left to myself I tend to focus too much on things I might think will make me happy, but surprisingly most leave me unfulfilled and empty inside. I have learnt since that you can not achieve happiness by trying to do things to be happy, the secret to being happy is focusing on those around you (and not yourself) - only than can you find inward peace and feel a whole lot better about yourself.

DESIGN REKINDLED

They say your life follows the highways, foothills and tracks that's destined for you - all I know is these past weeks, it has surprisingly forced me to think (from unexpected quarters) of my design background (which I had stopped practicing professionally seven years ago). True, you never leave design, its all around you to appreciate and critique, but you do stop thinking about it every time you enter a room - you do stop re-arranging furniture, stripping fabric off chairs (mentally, ofcourse, unbeknown to the host!) sweeping your eye over room dimensions, proportions, essence of day light, mood lighting....) So what surprised me these past weeks was, people, out of the blue, spoke to me of design, and these are people who don't know my design background. Most surprising was when I got an instant reply to a job I applied to (a job as far unrelated to any aspect of design as you can think) asking me for my interior design photos -  they had picked on my tiny mention on the last page of my CV - ignoring the two full pages of my experience in the job they had advertised!   And then I stumbled across this saying by Johann Wolfgang Von Geothe (a German writer/artist) and I am pretty sure he meant both sexes, not just man (unless he was a sexist, which he might have been, who knows) when he said; '... a man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of beauty which God has implanted in the human soul'. I knew than I had to rekindle my love for design, pay homage to what inspires and moves me the most, words designed to read and inspire, music designed to move and touch the soul, or rooms designed to relax and serenade! So here goes my first blog...