Stylish Spaces

Fact: Alchemy is the pursuit of transmutation of base metals into gold or silver - chemists have engaged in this process for centuries. Artists over the centuries have also played with the idea of alchemy and believed that the process of painting requires some kind of inexplicable energy or focus that allows the paint to transform and transfix on the canvass as something other than paint - perhaps silver or gold. Art, I feel, encompasses such a broad spectrum of genre that sometimes in its very guise things are misconstrued and represented to the world as art which fall far short of any expression attributed to it.  This is especially the case with abstracts or nude canvasses that leave all to the beholders imagination. Looking at abstracts and failing to make sense of it many a times (apart from certain modernistic merits that make them useful in  minimalist settings),  I have often wondered at the futility of this form of art. Often it has seemed the lazy-way-out as ...

Fact :  The term Baroque was originally ‘barocca’ the name for highly prized, irregular pearls incorporated into fabulous, courtly jewels.  It now defines a design period which evolved out of the Renaissance’s formal, mannered style in the 1600s favoured all across Europe by Kings and aristocracy, but most famously in Varsellies, Italy - which also boasts the glittering  Hall of Mirrors- allegedly the brightest room in Europe from that era. Of late I have been dreaming of tall ceilings. Hall of Mirrors, Varsellies Why? I am not sure and a google search revealed a paradoxical interpretation to say the least. On on hand, a tall ceiling in your dreams means realising your biggest achievement but also means literally a ceiling per se - as in there is no where else to go, you can't soar higher and are hampered by its very presence. Huh! I thought, that is so typical of everything I do - waking or sleeping ambiguity abounds-  no clear answers, no clear direction ....

When I have a few hours to myself, I dream often of building my own summer retreat one day - a small cottage or a chalet somewhere tucked away in the mountains, not too far away from civilisation but far enough to breathe cleaner, fresher air and enjoy nature and all it has to offer. Sometimes the dream turns into a yearning for greenery and mountains- living in Dubai can bring that on - and I find myself reaching for my sketch pad and drawing lines and angles that turn into rooms and spaces of my "imaginary" retreat. Pages upon pages of my sketch pad are filled with drawings of such plans - some dating back a decade and a half (yes, I am quite consistent in my dreams however I maybe in waking life!)  and as I flick through them, I see that I always try and squeeze three features into my designs -three design nuances not necessarily associated with cottages or chalet-like structures, I must add here. The first is a  central courtyard - or my outdoors, indoor place as I c...