Dear Nisha

I recently moved from my home in Chennai to my husband’s home in Jodhpur. To meld our design sensibilities, I wanted to introduce some ethnic touches to the living room. I’d like your help on what I can do to bring in a fusion style. Please advice.

I recently visited Bhubaneswar, and was hosted in a beautiful home by friends. To my utter personal disappointment, in the resplendent space and well-manicured gardens, there was not one representation of the stunning Oriya art or ethnic crafts that Orissa is famous for. So when you say you’d like to infuse ethnic touches to suit both cultures into your Jodhpur home, it is music to my ears.

The true splendour of exquisite craft pieces by the Indian craftsmen are being celebrated throughout the world, and have to be seen as a local accessory to be truly appreciated. To use these museum quality artworks, whose techniques sometimes hearken back to a prehistoric era, becomes not only a matter of ornamentation and drama to accessorise a home, but a journey in contributing towards our country’s dying traditional crafts as well.

You have the opportunity to create a home that brings together the arts and crafts of the north and the south to create true drama in your home. From Jodhpur you could curate some textiles and mount them on the walls and even use them as colourful throws. I’ve even used some mirror woven fabrics as upholstery for a single sofa to act like a focal point in an otherwise monochromatic room. I often wonder why we look outside or at synthetic options when we have such a rich traditional heritage of fabrics and textiles in our country. If we as Indians do not encourage our textile crafts, they are in danger of dying out.

To incorporate traditional textiles into your home, an unusual and dramatic option is to use it as upholstery, window blinds, lampshades, in contrast on chairs and sofas and like a collage.