Tag: shopstop

An Artists Heaven | The Source |

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I have always been a person who could spend hours in an art shop - the colours, the papers, the many mediums, everything - more than captivate, hypnotises me! 
And I am quite sure if you are a painter or in any way inclined towards art you already know about these two art marvel stores located at the two ends of Bombay (Mumbai) - stocked to the brim with all possible art supplies - Himalaya and Art Station an artists heaven!

The nostalgia of an old customer who has been going there for years….. Himalaya is one of the first and finest stationery shops I have been to that caters purely and “soul-y” to fine art supplies and/or to inspire the fine artist inside you 😉

Located near Victoria Terminus Station and opposite the J.J school of arts, Himalaya has been first of its kind in India, an old establishment that is now running short on space with their products stocked and stacked all the way up to the ceiling, which by the way has been spray-painted and in a way adds to the charm of the shop. They have the most extensive range of art materials and brands you can think of, here you will find Winsor and Newton oil paint, Liquitex and Golden acrylic paint, Gouache colours; all kinds of mediums and varnishes, drafting tools, easels, calligraphy pens etc etc as well as a decent selection of instructional books on art. One can never leave without having to buy at-least one new thing! 

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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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BLOCK AND PRINT – not just a clothing dye. |Inspiration|

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I have always thought the beauty of block printing lies in its tedious process - the detailed designing of the patterns, carving of the blocks, layering of colors and of course the history of its artisans!

Even though block printing is a widely known art of printing on fabrics and textiles not many are aware of its extensive use on wallpapers and leather products. In-fact block printing was the standard method of producing wallpaper until the early 20th century and is still used by a few traditionalist firms.

I happened to stumble upon an enlightening video on the Victoria and Albert Museum website that inspired me to write this post and share my two bits.
The V&A video shows the woodblock printing process William Morris went through to create some of his timeless wallpaper designs; for this pattern he used 30 different blocks, 15 colors and took about 4 weeks to complete the entire printing process!!!
(Sharing a few screenshots for a quick scroll but I encourage you all to watch the full video – linked above.)

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