Story of Reflections Reflected!

It seems like a weird title, ain't it? The whole post is about one of the most popular, innovative, utilitarian and aesthetic piece of furniture which just takes about a little space on your walls. I am talking about mirrors, the one thing I enjoy making. I always feel that when you look into a creative mirror and like what you see, makes you happy.

Most of the mirrors I have made so far, have always had some sort of a reason and inspiration. I love to pick ideas off the streets or from my travels and make it a part of my creation. From my collection, I have picked up some lovelies and their stories.

Bluesome Vespa


Remember the days when the almost one motor bike was the Vespa? When I made this mirror, I spotted a beautiful blue antique scooter on the streets of Mumbai. Thats when I thought, its time to revive the past...it is time to relive the moments even I spent on this moped as a child!

Colour Recycled


I am big into recycling. I try to re-use as much as I can. Every time my carpenter shaves off wood to make the surface smooth, these beautiful curls of fine papyrus wood get wasted. Hence, I decided to process and colour them so that they last, and stuck them on my mirror. Turned out to be a creative mixture of natural and recycled material.

Tashi Delek


In 2009, we visited Sikkim for 15 days. We ventured in to the remotest areas bordering Tibet. The experience was divine. I noticed A lot of hotels, restaurants, shops were called "Tashi Delek". Infact the hotel we stayed was called "Tashi Delek" meaning 'may good luck come to you' in Bhutia. As soon as I got got home, "Tashi Delek" had to be on my mirror!

Jaala


Round, rich and deep blue, one of my favourite mirror is Jaala, meaning water. Water being the most important element of life, civilization and prosperity had to be a part of my work. My visit to Hampi made me implement some elements of the Vijayanagara kingdom into my work which survived and prospered because of the infinite Pushkarnis or man-made water holes and a splendid water supply despite the barren land of Hampi. This mirror marks the infinite water reservoirs and the riches of the kingdom of Vijaynagara.

Zig Zag


I had always seen zebras on television. It wasn't the most fascinating animal I had ever seen. In 2010, I visited Kenya when I actually got to see herds of them. I loved them instantly and again, it had to reflect in my work!

Eva La Rosa


While I lived in the USA, I had a little Indian handicraft store in a Farmers Market in Dayton. Every Sunday morning, he would sell beautiful, fresh roses from his farm for just $6! The placard saying "roses for just $6" was written so artistically, that I copied it on to my mirror.

Horn OK Please


How can we ever ignore the lovely slow moving trucks of our country? They are bright, bold and gorgeous. I can say they are "shaan" (pride) of India! So, I dedicated an entire mirror to these giant beauties of India!

Sheesha Peetal


During my travel to Hampi, The most important metal used during those times was copper or peetal. This place was also full of temples where spoons, diyas or lanterns were made from copper. Hence, I thought, I should dedicate my tall, green mirror to the temples and the common man of Vijayanagara.

Peacock Plumage

I was shocked to see the overwhelming intricate doors on all the houses on the island of Zanzibar! I had to use it...the idea, the design! It came popping in into another deep green mirror I made, I call it Peacock Plumage!

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NDTV Profit features my home!

So..in the month of March 2012, I receive a call from Manasvi. She talks to me about being a part of NDTV Property Show. While I talk with her, I keep thinking, why would I be invited to a property show when I design homes? I also wondered why would I have a stall in an exhibit where they sell houses and offices? Anyway I thought I will dig deeper and ask her more questions. In my mind, I had decided that doing an exhibition at this time was not such a good idea! So, I call her up again to let her know that I would not be able to do the show. Before I could begin, she tells me about her show in details and why she wanted to feature my home! I almost stumbled with my words and asked her to repeat what she said. And yes!! She said she wanted to feature my home on NDTV Profit in the Property Show!! :)



So right after that, a date was fixed for them to come home. She told me it would take a few hours to shoot that particular room they had chosen to feature. It was the Leisure Lounge. The room which has so much thought behind it. A room that has a place for a study table, storage, book case, a podium for a large no. of drums, a funky bar and a beautiful cabinet for our shot glass collection.





On their arrival, we discussed what all we were going to talk about, the background of our collection and basically the entire idea behind that room. I spoke more about my work, the colours used and trinkets we picked up from our travels while Bipin spoke more on the lines of his passion for drumming and other little aspects of the room.





Finally after 6 hours of extensive camera and light setting, shooting the knick-knacks from our bookcase and of course the shot glass collection, Manasvi concluded the session. We couldn't wait for it to get featured. March 13th, 2012 was the day when it all came alive!



Here is the link of the video. I have cropped it so that you don't have to go through the entire show.

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