Month: April 2015

Fine handworked linen for the home: DIT STORE |SOURCE|

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“Has this shop always been here?!” I mumbled while trying to recall as I walked into the small, quaint store. Looking at all the exquisite linen products, i felt like i was stepping into my grandmother’s cherished linen closet, not a store at Colaba causeway. I have spent a large chunk of my college days roaming around causeway making it my second home and having wonderful memories with friends, food and shopping at every corner!  So imagine my surprise when I was recommended this store by colleagues (while working on a film) who are not even originally from this city… it is one of the things I value most about what we do, sourcing these fine old gems everywhere we go.

DIT was established in 1942 by Mrs. Josephine Mendes who began her career as a seamstress at the store and managed it all the way through her 90’s! why call it DIT? “Well it was mom’s pet name ” explains her son Frank who now runs things here. He was a commercial pilot back in the day and swooped in to help Mrs Mendes at the shop when things at home started to go south.  Mr.Frank loves reminiscing about the old days.. talking about everything from his friends and family, to his travels around the world and how fabulously his mother used to dress up the store windows.

dit-05 dit-06

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A Reluctant Super Hero- Himanshu S. |Inspiration|

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I am a traveler, with an office as my car and the ride my two feet. Every single day I go from one corner of Bombay (Mumbai) to the other crossing many roads, streets, lanes, by-lanes, malls, stores, shops, events, exhibitions, pop-ups etc; to source and plan for the work I do. I say I am a traveller only because I meet a million different faces, interact with them, know their happiness and sorrows and see this world with them – Stop . Share . Shop.

Lately…. I have been coming across these zines and booklets which are all about straightforward, sharp and somewhat thought-provoking one liners, messages and dialogues.

“Everyone is an Artist” he says, “There are no dirty words only dirty minds” he adds.

“Stop Making sense” he says “Lets be awkward together” he adds.

“Orgasms are very nice but revolutions are better” he says “Drop out!” he adds…

These are few lines, in fact titles to the booklets that I first laid my eyes on – I won’t lie – they appeared pretty cool and clean, type printed on a pamphlet paper, one lined, bound together and very reasonably priced – so I bought them all! (at least the ones that were on display)
Easy to read and sometimes re-read. Every line, every page intrigued me to read on and they became not just some weekend flip of pages but very impactful messages written in the simplest way there could be.

the purpose is just to be... and in doing so
turn on everybody who can be turned on and 
turn off everybody else...

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A treasure trove of nautical antiques- The Hesperus |Source|

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Since ‘Many Many Things’ is on a mission to reveal the best kept secret sources for all things design and art related.. it’s our pleasure to shine some light on this great old source.

Personification of the evening star; Venus- ‘The Hesperus‘ is owned by Mr. Saifee Jarwala and son Abbas who take great pride in their carefully selected nautical products that are salvaged from decommissioned sea vessels and collected over time. They stock a wide range of truly exquisite articles like ship lights, industrial lights, sextants, compasses, portholes, engine order telegraphs, vintage phones, lamps, classic clocks, telescopes, nautical paintings and many other interesting marine antiques.

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At Hesperus you can easily expect to react in words like ‘ ooo what is THAT?? And WOW.. how interesting!  – its close to being on a treasure hunt! I still remember the experience of walking into their Chor-Bazaar (Mutton Street) shop years ago for the very first time – a small space for the amount of wealth it holds and everything I laid my eyes on was nearly alien to me yet so fascinating, I had to know where it came from and what it was used for!

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Event Decor Design – Tanvi Gupta |Inspiration|

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A massive open ground, abundance of ideas, limited resources, NO TIME – the story of an event decor designer’s life.

To be frank, I relate to this and literally live it everyday but there is a small but significant difference i.e. of ‘control’ which a production designer/ space stylist enjoys and an event decor designer often doesn’t. Control that clearly dictates a ‘rule’ over all others on a film set; that except for the design team NO ONE TOUCHES A THING. PERIOD! (of-course excluding the actors that need to interact with the given environment ;)). I can only imagine myself giving threatening and hostile looks to the crowd if something gets displaced from where its supposed to be. However, this ‘rule’ absolutely cannot apply to event designing which is wholly based on an interaction with the audience. Interaction with signage and directions, seating and movement, spaces and scenic elements.

Having explained this… Did you go visit ‘The Lil Flea‘ on their 1st anniversary event held at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) by Mumbai Mirror, in Mumbai (Bombay) over the weekend?!?!
And did you notice all the play with those big alphabet cutouts, floral swings, pretty hanging cane and net lights, bamboo shade square umbrellas, pathways created by many colored fabrics, curtains bordered with woolen tassels, and all the entrances made with collages of fabric attached to household utensils and the likes?? ….If you din’t…. scroll down to see some photos 🙂
Zeb and I were all smiles to see how these little interactions in the space made people so happy, they were designed to not only perform a function but also form the perfect looking backdrop for their photographs. We think it was a great show put together by the decor team which was headed by a dear friend Tanvi Gupta; who in my book is a complete go-getter!

The Lil Flea_day-04 The Lil Flea_night-05

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Defining Spaces: Bead Curtains |The Source|

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If you don’t already know, I work on art directing confined spaces and locations to their best potential use, and style them to suit a script/ character of a film or advertisement. The biggest challenge always is space division and the only thing that gets me thinking over and over and over again.

I like to believe I have the space planning part nailed, though creating a great depth, function and connect of one area to the other by experimenting with newer options is what keeps me in check. While we can use different styles of screens, glass doors, furniture, drapes, lights, sculptures etc. to divide and define spaces; Glass Bead Curtains are on my hit list these days because I just LOVE the way they catch the light and glisten up like a perfect tease to a space. It is a pleasant layer that allows privacy yet a subtle disconnect.

As beautiful as this may sound it is an uphill task to source bead curtains to the right dimensions and style. And if you want to make them on your own – local wholesale markets like Pydhoni in Bombay (Mumbai) help, but its just tedious to get ‘glass’ beads in this china made world that we live in and then to string them together! – don’t even want to get to that……

This week MMT introduces you to “Memories of A Butterfly “ by Sreeti Mondol who says that it is a simple and malleable concept – the bead curtain.

What we love about bead curtains is that they not only allow for a play with color, light and texture, but also enable us to create natural connectors between spaces. They have the ability to create privacy without disconnecting an area from the rest of the house, office, bar or restaurant. - Memories of a Butterfly

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One should note that all designs by MOAB are hand-made and every piece is customized so as to suite the clients’ design and functional needs! Sreeti surely has created an edge by exploring extensively, in style, material, dimensions and design. The variety of materials used includes– Pure Glass, Crystal, Australian Shell, Bone, Treated PVC, Stained or Sprayed Acrylic, Acrylic Crystal and Wood, just to name a few.

You can work along MOAB to design a bead screen to your tastes or better, just pick from her creations to suit your space. MMT’s favorite is the BlueGreen MOSAIC Glass Bead Curtain because of its intricate and modern design. Her other designs include, ‘Moroccan Blue’, ‘Bold Polka’, ‘Champagne Gold’, ‘Glass Crystal Multicolored’, ‘Pomegranate Gold’, ‘SeaBlueGreen Aztek’, ‘Topaz Leaf’, ‘Acrylic Crystal’s’ and ‘Chandelier Decor’.

View much more and contact Sreeti Mondol – Director and Principal Designer for Memories of a Butterfly through her facebook page linked here and/or her website www.memoriesofabutterfly.com; having been at this for almost a decade, you can be sure to find the advise and help you need from Sreeti.