Stylish Spaces

In today's cyber tech, fast paced world, you do come across people -and I count myself among those- who have a true appreciation of arts and crafts of days gone by and a grudging respect for the unhurried labour of love that was the requisite back then for any craft. But it is very seldom you come across someone who goes the extra mile and actively seeks to master an age old craft to recreate some of the romance, glamour and éclat of olden days. Now these people are truly a rare find, but their craft is even rarer because they unwittingly follow the aesthetics, techniques and rigorous standards set by master artisans of the past which sets them and their craft head and shoulder above their contemporaries. One such artist for me, who was a absolutely delight to find thanks to our ever expanding cyber world (it does have its merits!) is Estonian jewellery maker Katrin. When I first saw her designed jewellery, I was instantly struck by how different it looked from others -in its...

Turning 40 is a huge, humbling (and at times horrifying) milestone in any persons's life - man or women. One thing it does make you do is take a hard, cold look, physically at your face for tell-tale signs of ageing (and you do discover a few around the eyes or forehead you swear were not there the night before) and emotionally at your life's has been priorities so far and make a few minor adjustments. Because if you are anything like me, you have been living trying to make the people around you happy. I decided on the day I turned forty (and that was six years back) that this decade was going to be about me - not my husband or children and the million little things I have been obliged to do to make their days run smoothly. I for once, will do what I can to make my life easier, and have time to do what I have always wanted to do, namely - learn, read, write and be more involved with design and things that interest and inspire me. I will have the time to visit my mum more f...

Personality:the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individuals distinctive character I have been guilty of taking people at face value many a times, even through I know people are multi-faceted with layers of characteristics and traits that make up their personality- some of these traits of character, as revealed to me over time, are pleasantly surprising, others disappointing, occasionally I come across reprehensible or annoying traits or perhaps mundane and commonplace ones. But does that ever stop me from making a first impression and filing it neatly away in my memory - not really. I still hold on to that first impression long after I have known them, or until and unless they do something really drastic to change my opinion of them.  Similarly rooms create strong first impressions as well, we get the vibe, or the feel of the room as soon as we enter through a door the very first time - and that first distinctive impression stays and lingers,...

I have always wondered what it means to be larger than life itself. Does it mean having a big, out-there personality and your actions and words make you so popular that people remember you when you are no more?  Or does it mean you live life with a careless abandon, paying no heed to the niggling worries and stresses of everyday existence, hoping from one (seemingly oblivious to reality) encounter to another, that makes you outrank and perhaps outsmart life? Or maybe it implies living for others, abandoning your personal cares and comforts to a higher, bigger purpose so in the process your existence becomes larger than life because your life is making so many other lives better? We all live mostly for ourselves. It's our comfort and our cares foremost on our minds every week, every day. Ever sat in a coffee shop and eavesdropped on the conversation on the next table? Well I have been guilty of that, especially if out alone, and I am always slightly shocked by how self cen...

This is a tricky one. They say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder - same goes for style - so style to me might be different from what you see and perceive as stylish. It's each one to his own when it comes to style. What I might call stylish, you may think (at best) non-descript or (at worst) hideous - there is no definitive criteria of "style" - each and everyone of us is right (in our own minds) about what we think as stylish - as bizarre as it may seem. But where most people do go wrong is defining style as the current trends in fashion - what's "in" is stylish and what was last season is "out" and not in style. That to me is rather a shallow and (if I may say so) an uninformed way of thinking and talking about style. In reality, style is timeless, transcends current fashion and is a way of living and thinking that is unique to each and everyone of us. It is an approach to design and fashion and our preference for certain designs over ...