Tell us something about yourself and your design venture.

CHITRANKA… christened by my sister, accepted by my family and acknowledged by the known world around me; this name has brought a lot with it. Appreciated for the traits it got along, I took up to painting in no time, since infancy and still have a long way to go. Being a Master Degree holder in Journalism, writing has sketched out various roles in my life. City-based leisure magazine, online forums, newspaper and the ad world, all this were in my loop.  

All this definitely, was a beginning of whole new life as CHITRANKA which means the artist, as I ventured into a horizon. I have resorted to put my creativity and colours on everything worth painting.

What are the products you are currently offering? Your future plans with regards to your label?

Artfully Yours– Chitranka deals with anything that is worth painting, and serve all those who love and appreciate art. The repertoire is inclusive of fabric, murals, canvas and artifacts. The sphere of fabric is vast – I have chosen kurtas, kurtis, t-shirts, dresses and sarees for now. Artifacts include bottled lights, ceramic vases, clay pots, candle stands, mobile covers and a lot more. I plan to take my venture to the next level, and transcending art beyond ordinare. I plan to take part in public displays for my products and bring art easily to people.

What according to you is the USP of your label? How would you describe your label in one word?

The USP of my label would be interestingly exclusive that oozes out from every stroke. As the designs are completely hand-painted and no bulk production, there is no question of replication, hence every product is unique in its own way. So, I would describe my label as ‘Interesting’, in just a word.

Tell us what inspires your designs. When not designing, how do you recharge your creative batteries?

My designs are primarily inspired by divinity, as you will find a touch of mysticism in most of my designs.

When not in my creative shoes, I indulge in television and movies, big time. That helps me recharge and loosen up.

If there is one dream destination (any city, culture, country) which you would like to inspire your designs, which one will it be? 

What better than our Incredible India, when it comes to inspire art and creativity. The colour palette that India offers has a vivacity of various cultures, all under one roof.

Where can we buy your products?

My products are available on the FB page of my company. You can place an order on the page and I shall get back to you, personally. The link of my page:

www.facebook.com/ArtfullyYoursChitranka

Pooja’s scissors go snip snip snip, and tada! We have a masterpiece!  Chosen by our team as the winner, Teekhii Chhurii is all about intricate  papercutting. From cascading florals to customized designs, Pooja uses her blade to create delicate magic. And we absolutely *heart* her lacy hearts!

Tell us something about yourself and your design venture.

I am Pooja Ajmera, 28 years old, a true Sagittarian, who is born and brought up in Mumbai, India. Since childhood, I was always surrounded by books, hence never really got to explore the potential of my creative side! 

But as they say, it’s never too late!! So, here I am with Teekhii Chhurii. I use a very sharp blade and knife for papercutting and hence the name. Also, I love this name as it has a naughtiness that associates the brand  with me.The idea of Teekhii Chhurii is a mirror to my love towards Papercutting. I recently discovered my true calling. Last year, for my sister-in-law’s birthday, I thought of gifting her something special. I knew about papercutting but had never really tried my hands at it. It was an "AH HA moment" for me, when I made my first papercut and realised - this is what 

I wanted do for rest of my life and that is how Teekhii Chhurii came into existence.My goal is to breathe life into this dying art called Sanjhi and give it a modern twist which will also inspire others.

What are the products you are currently offering? Your future plans with regards to your label?

Apart from regular designs, I also make commissioned (personalized) papercuts, where you can express yourself through the paper. So if you are looking for unusual presents, gifts for men, house warming, wedding, anniversary, or for "people who have everything", these unique hand-cut designs may well be just the thing! Paper is traditionally a first anniversary gift. My future plan is to create more awareness about this art form and Teekhii Chhurii through exhibitions and opening more e-stores, for papercuts to be available to everyone. I don’t plan to make it a million dollar company as I do papercutting for love and not money.

                Check out this absolutely cool Delhi Papercut by Pooja!!! (We loooooove it!) 

What according to you is the USP of your label? How would you describe your label in one word?

Pretty designs made from paper using a sharp blade, patience and lots of love makes papercuts so unique. A single sheet of paper can be turned into a something so beautiful amazes a lot of people. The beauty of Papercuts is that they can all be customized and every design is different from the other. The USP is to own an art piece that is not found just anywhere. These papercuts are painstakingly hand cut and are not laser cuts or prints or paintings. The perfect word to describe my label would be “Meticulous”.

Tell us what inspires your designs. When not designing, how do you recharge your creative batteries?

I take inspiration from anything and everything around me and then bring them to life by papercutting. When I am not designing, I am either planning for a vacation or I am on one. I love to travel. Meeting new people, interacting with them, getting to know and different culture gives me a high.

If there is one dream destination (any city, culture, country) which you would like to inspire your designs, which one will it be?

As I love travelling and exploring places, I would love to visit each and every place. But if I have to choose only one destination then it would definitely be covering up entire India for the abundance of beauty, culture and variety it has.

Where can we buy your products?

You can buy my products from my facebook page or by dropping a mail on teekhiichhurii@gmail.com . Few designs are also available online on my estores:

Its Handmade: http://teekhii-chhurii.itshandmade.in/

Yellow Trunk: http://www.yellowtrunk.com/index.php/featured-shops/teekhichhurii.html

The Romanian Blouse- A Cultural Treasure

A national culture can be recognized by its unique elements of identity and belonging. If Italy gave great opera composers to the world, France built the Eiffel tower, India enchanted with the Sari and USA made Facebook possible, Romania hasn't yet shown, what it has to offer to the world. It has remained hidden and unfairly underrated by those who haven't ventured in this cultural civilisation. Probably, part of its charm is that its treasures aren't easily revealed. Its deep spiritual culture needs observation and careful attention because its inherent creativity is quiet and modest, waiting patiently to be discovered. Romania has always been admired from a foreign perspective, reminding it to be proud and take cognizance of its rich heritage and culture.

Design, fashion and art are often representative of a country's culture, telling volumes about the bygone era, tales from the past, historical and geographical mysteries and ancient traditions. For instance, the great modern sculptor Constantin Brancusi from Romania whose works were inspired by nature's symbols, simplicity of country life and ancient Romanian traditions. Similar exquisiteness can be found in the craftsmanship of the Romanian weaving women who learned to sew symbols on the IA – the Romanian blouse for thousands of years. These blouses represent Romania's history with infinite stories being encrypted in the form of signs and ancient alphabets on these blouses. Modern life made Romania adopt Western culture and consumerism instead of valuing the customs that lie deep within the country's s fibre.

Fortunately, the foreign and fresh perspective showed Romania how special and still wearable is the "clothing item" IA! A myriad of fashion designers started incorporating ancient Romanian designs into their collections. Starting with Tom Ford and now with chain stores as H&M, the symbols on the IA are gaining widespread popularity and this phenomenon made Romania realize that it has got to claim this moment.

In this zeitgeist, a simple Facebook page called "La Blouse Roumaine" wanted to promote Romanian femininity through the IA and achieved massive support right from the first week of its conception. It's beautiful portrayal of its design's simplicity and juxtaposition of peasant women sowing with fashion models posing started moving people to action, inspiring them to proudly wear the IA again and promote this unique craft epitome of the Romanian heritage. Along with "Semne Cusute", a blog which documents all the lost symbols online, "La Blouse Roumaine", in just 8 months became an authority and a voice that is heard by museums and embassies. On the 24th of June, the community inaugurates and celebrates the Universal Day of IA, coinciding with the Midsummer and an ancient pre-Christian holiday, the Sanziene.

The aims of the community until now have been to make Romanians all over the world celebrate this day, be proud of their heritage and introduce it to other nationalities. After the first Universal Day of IA, the focus will be more international, so that Romania can "export" its values and create a new country brand. This gathering of people online, fighting for a common and beautiful goal, has made Romanians like me more united and proud of our identity, more connected to our past and happier to be alive.

The Romanian Blouse is a perfect example fusing a country's culture and history with its present and creating a strong fashion statement!

Written by : Alma Andreescu, Our Romanian Travelista

Rajeev Aggarwal of Bottles Not Empty is the happiest when at his canvas- bottles! His beautifully designed, ecofriendly, once discarded bottles, can add a glamorous touch to every decor. From contemporary to traditional, every bottle tells a different story. Here is the master has to say about his art.

Tell us something about yourself and your design venture.  
I've always been inclined towards pursuing my hobby of giving back to the environment by the way of upcycling as recycling on the other hand requires more energy, machinery and  trained labor to create similar products and to pursue this, I voluntary retired from the Gurgaon company where I was the director.
I wish to train like minded people in what I am doing now and also looking to learn from other people working in similar lines. For me bottles are a 3D canvas and believe that part of the story is hidden at the back too. Putting creativity and design on a bottle is a challenge until and unless the design is flowers. Few more people are doing designs on bottles but my effort is to bring at least one new design everyday.

What are the products you are currently offering? Your future plans with  regards to your label?

Presently we are doing only glass bottles and as the label suggest these bottles are rejuvenated once again and are full of life because they are filled with colors and are no more empty. It would be difficult for anybody to throw these graceful bottles rather they will find place on a rack, table or mantle!

What according to you is the USP of your label? How would you describe your label in one word?

For us the creativity is more important and selling of these might will come naturally. These bottles should command respect in the market and though appreciation comes naturally, we believe demand will also be created once awareness is there.
We are happy with three words of our label "bottles not empty".    

Tell us what inspires your designs. When not designing, how do you recharge your creative batteries?

Nature, magazines, newspapers and meeting people generates ideas and ideas are converted into designs . Creativity on bottles today recharge batteries for the next day!

If there is one dream destination (any city, culture, country) which you would like to inspire your designs, which one will it be?

Having explored only parts of India and few countries in Europe, I believe that India is the best place for culture and creative diversity. Apart from my mother-land, I am inspired by Italy because of the great designers there who have created marvels.

Where can we buy your products?
Few online stores are selling our products. They are 

fabulloso.com, simplysizzl.in, indiebazaar.com, itshandmade.in, greenngood.com, thevault.in

Occasional sales at: styletag.com
Very soon at: unwrapindia.com and praangan.in

You can email us at bottlesnotempty@gmail.com

Tanushree Nair's innovatove products

Founded by Tanushree Nair, Karaashilp, the winner of Designer Travelista Contest in the audience's choice category, is a lifestyle label offering contemporary hand made products. The denim bags are designed such that you can't help but fall in love with them! Here is what Tanushree has to say about her label.

Tell us something about yourself and your design venture.


I am a "retired IT professional" who found my calling in hand crafted products. I was exposed to art & craft right from my early age as I saw my sister & mum doing it actively. As a kid too, I used to save a little bit of this n that and would craft up something out of left over materials. Meaning the ground for recycling/upcycling was set very early in my life. After an almost 9 & half year stint in the corporate world, I decided to call it quits and since I was not the one to sit idle, started dabbling in sewing, crochet. I found my hubby's old disposed denims & an old torn bandhani dresslying around from some time and decided to make a bag out of it. Thats how my first product came out (Thanks to my hubby!!! :)). And I went on to make some more. The bags found acceptance in the market and thats how Karaashilp came in to existence on 1st September 2011. 

"Karaa" means hand and "Shilp" means craft in sanskrit, literally meaning "Hand Craft". The idea is to make Karaashilp a one-stop store for contemporary, eco friendly, functional lifestyle hand made products. Our flagship product - Upcycled denim bags are still the most adored, hot selling products.

What are the products you are currently offering? Your future plans with regards to your label?

Currently Karaashilp offers two ranges: Eco & Premium, each having sections in bags/totes, home decor, jewellery & accessories. Eco range caters to all things upcycled and Premium range caters to our new line of products. We are focusing on the Eco range right now as everybody loves our Denim range products. We are planning an entire gamut of products not just for the fashion-savvy women but also for the cool men-folk and the adorable kids!!

What according to you is the USP of your label? How would you describe your label in one word?

The USP of our label has always been exclusivity and uniqueness in design with functionality going hand-in-hand without compromising the beauty.Our products and brand oozes "Passion".

Tell us what inspires your designs. When not designing, how do you recharge your creative batteries?

Anything and everything around us inspires my designs. Elements of nature, people, everyday situations...anything. One just has to be alert to absorb the vastness around us. I generally love to unwind with a coffee and a book or jump on to our very own WWW and browse around aimlessly!!!

If there is one dream destination (any city, culture, country) which you would like to inspire your designs, which one will it be?

Venice  for its beautiful setting, architecture and artworks

Where can we buy your products?

You can buy our products from our online store: www.karaashilp.com.
Like us on FB: www.facebook.com/Karaashilp 
Follow us on Twitter:  @karaashilp