The Guide runs you through two services that can give your home a funky and an eco-friendly makeover in a jiffy
The Guide runs you through two services that can give your home a funky and an eco-friendly makeover in a jiffy
Get Framed
When you walk into Chilli Billi, a fashion store in Indiranagar to stock your wardrobe with some bohemian clothes and accessories you will be in for a pleasant surprise if you happen to look around at the garage next door. This is where you will run into a plethora of quirky prints and posters framed and adorned on aquamarine and chocolate coloured walls. For Chilli Billi has decided to extend itself into another avatar: that of a design studio.
Quirkily named the Avant Garage by owners Jai Kapadia and Ankita Sarangi, the studio promises to perk up any wall in your home with its interesting range of prints.
"Ankita and I are from an advertising and marketing background and were always into art, photography and graphic design. This was like a further extension into a design space," Kapadia says.
According to Kapadia, there is a gap in the market in Bangalore as far as affordable interior solutions are concerned. He explains, "Either there are very high-end or very regular interiors available in the market. No one is doing funky, affordable art."
On offer are retro and new movie posters, prints of classic advertisements, pop art, vinyl art, designs done by artists and designers (commissioned by Avant Garage), traditional Indian handicrafts (Warli, Batik and Appliqu ufffd) and art replications and reproductions (such as Van Gogh's works) that are way past copyright issues. Kapadia and Sarangi have collected large number of these posters, prints and handicrafts on their trips around the world.
Avant Garage also offers customisation according to the client's space. Kapadia says, "We make suggestions based on the environment, whether it's a bedroom or a drawing room, the effect of lighting on the prints and the objects such as furniture, etc already in the space."
If you have a photograph or any print of your own, Avant Garage can turn into an unusual piece of art by framing it in interestingly shaped frames that they also specialise in. Prints are also given special treatments to make them look unique. The store Chilli Billi already has an album full of prints and posters that clients can leaf through when they walk in.
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At Avant Garage, Indiranagar
Call 92417 99105
Foru00a0 Rs 900 onwards
Sunny Side Up
In early 2009, when Bangalore was going through a massive infrastructural overhaul with a large number of flyovers being built and trees being cut down drastically, a group of techies and designers who were friends and green thumbs got together for a purpose. They wanted a sustainable solution to the growing problem of large patches of green being destroyed. Thus was born the gardening company, My Sunny Balcony. "The idea was not to just mourn the loss of trees but to create something sustainable. We wanted to build a green corner in homes so that it would be sustainable on a personal level," Sriram Aravamudan, one of the founders says.
The company decided to provide complete gardening solutions by creating green patches in balconies or making terrace gardens in people's homes. Though Aravamudan, an ex software specialist and his three friends Reena Chengappa (an ex-technical writer), Shailesh Deshpande (an environmental consultant) and Athreya Chidambi (a web designer) are not professional horticulturalists, they have been avid gardeners and "eco nuts" in Aravamudan's own words.u00a0
After the initial contact through email and explanation of the process, a visit is paid to the client's home where the sunlight patterns, the time the client is capable of committing and their wishlist in terms of what they want to grow is worked out. Aravamudan says, "We have observed that people's tastes are as diverse as their personalities. Guys generally prefer to grow vegetables and foliage, while women like pretty flowers, loads of accessories, trellises and creepers," he chuckles.
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Once all the information is in place, then a plan is drawn, vendors for pots and accessories nurseries and manure are contacted. The company specialises in providing pots designed by traditional potters in unique designs, wrought iron and bamboo walls and fencing, box and herb planters using recycled boxwood for balconies.u00a0
While the implementation takes place, clients can either participate from scratch and get a feel of planting something themselves or they can have it completely worked out for them if they don't have much time or confidence to do it themselves. Once the patch is done, then advice and instructions are given on how to look after the patch along with a plant maintenance kit.
At www.mysunnybalcony.com
email info@mysunnybalcony.com
foru00a0 Rs 12,000 onwards
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