Closely looking up at the captivating ceiling of Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, British designer Alice Cicolini sensed how it resembled that of a grand palace she had visited in Agra. She is now displaying jewelry inspired by the Silk Route in a tribute to glorious inherited traditions. Her work is part of a significant international showcase, entitled ‘Inspired By India’, hosted by Sotheby’s in London.
Moving between an old Jaipur haveli, where she collaborates with one of India’s select master enamellers Kamal Meenakar, and the luxury outlets of Matches in London, Alice Cicolini indeed epitomizes the accretive impulse to borrow on part of craftsman. One of the many artisan artists who draw from all varied sources and find acclaim in artworks created out of their stay in India testify ‘a shared global design language’. Artists, just like gypsies, have traditionally appropriated even as they move. And the ‘Inspired By India’ show well exemplifies today’s global designer’s magpie eye. It features contemporary design from, or essentially evoked by, India.
The participants include established work like the fabulous fabrics of Kolkata-based Sabyasachi Mukherjee and the khadi tones of popular US design house Dosa and, as well as new designs like Delhi-based Gunjan Gupta’s Mughal-inspired thrones, German-born Pia Wüstenberg’s jewel-toned stacking vessels, and Dutch-born Els Woldhek’s striking tables. They all seen to combine Indian and Western or European sensibilities.
Curator the event Janice Blackburn has been quoted as saying, “All the designers I have selected share a passion for India and have produced work which is a successful marriage between the best of fine, original design without compromising the rich tradition of India’s hand-making processes. “ She has mixed designers from India with those truly ‘inspired’ like Barber Osgerby (designer of the Olympic Torch). She feels the urge to preserve Indian craft through meaningful international collaborations without compromising the rich history. The idea is to do it in such a way that (it) does not look and feel ethnically Indian but rather global.
There is a valid fear of craft-related traditions fading out, just as there are apprehensions that ‘modern Indian’ as a design aesthetic might fail to take off at home as some of the hereditary skills degrade with each generation, not keen to dedicate itself to rigors of craft making.
Moving between an old Jaipur haveli, where she collaborates with one of India’s select master enamellers Kamal Meenakar, and the luxury outlets of Matches in London, Alice Cicolini indeed epitomizes the accretive impulse to borrow on part of craftsman. One of the many artisan artists who draw from all varied sources and find acclaim in artworks created out of their stay in India testify ‘a shared global design language’. Artists, just like gypsies, have traditionally appropriated even as they move. And the ‘Inspired By India’ show well exemplifies today’s global designer’s magpie eye. It features contemporary design from, or essentially evoked by, India.
The participants include established work like the fabulous fabrics of Kolkata-based Sabyasachi Mukherjee and the khadi tones of popular US design house Dosa and, as well as new designs like Delhi-based Gunjan Gupta’s Mughal-inspired thrones, German-born Pia Wüstenberg’s jewel-toned stacking vessels, and Dutch-born Els Woldhek’s striking tables. They all seen to combine Indian and Western or European sensibilities.
Curator the event Janice Blackburn has been quoted as saying, “All the designers I have selected share a passion for India and have produced work which is a successful marriage between the best of fine, original design without compromising the rich tradition of India’s hand-making processes. “ She has mixed designers from India with those truly ‘inspired’ like Barber Osgerby (designer of the Olympic Torch). She feels the urge to preserve Indian craft through meaningful international collaborations without compromising the rich history. The idea is to do it in such a way that (it) does not look and feel ethnically Indian but rather global.
There is a valid fear of craft-related traditions fading out, just as there are apprehensions that ‘modern Indian’ as a design aesthetic might fail to take off at home as some of the hereditary skills degrade with each generation, not keen to dedicate itself to rigors of craft making.
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