Nelly Sethna sits in her wheelchair, at her loom, stretching yarn between her fingers. Eventually her body would give up its struggle with multiple sclerosis. Sooni Taraporevala’s subtle portrait conveys the generative tension of much of Nelly’s working life, bracing her between a wall-mounted crucifix and a martial Rajasthani puppet, ready to mow down whatever comes in the way of the dance of life.
My experience of curating the first-ever retrospective of the all-but-forgotten fibre artist Nelly Sethna (1932-1992) has been, by turns, exhilarating and frustrating. Exhilarating because every new piece of material evidence—or clues held by fading marginalia—has corroborated a hunch that I was developing through my research. Frustrating because the evidence was so hard to come by, dispersed as it was across uncatalogued information, the fragmentary memories of those who had known her, and folklore that I had to verify against the chronology I was reconstructing.
This story is from the September - October 2021 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
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This story is from the September - October 2021 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
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BANYAN TREE VEYA, IN MEXICO'S VALLE DE GUADALUPE, IS A NEW WELLNESS RESORT THAT LOOKS TO THE LAND.
A two-hour drive south from San Diego, the Mexican wine region of Valle de Guadalupe-dotted with fertile vineyards and family farms-has remained mostly under the radar, even to food-obsessed Americans.
DESIGNED IN 1988 BY RENOWNED LANDSCAPIST MADE WIJAYA, THE GROUNDS AT AMANDARI IN UBUD, BALI, FOREGO MANICURED LAWNS FOR AN ABUNDANT NATIVE PARADISE.
Coconut palms and banyan trees in sizzling jungle greens, cascades of bougainvillea and the scent of frangipani in the air—a tropical explosion of foliage that would have led Monet to abandon Giverny.
BANGALORE CLUB'S MAIN LAWNS, WITH A MAGNIFICENT RAIN TREE, GET A NEW UMBRELLA BAR AND COLONNADE BY AD100 ARCHITECTS SANDEEP KHOSLA AND AMARESH ANAND.
Time appears to come to a standstill when one enters the Bangalore Club.
FROM HER STUDIO IN LLOYD WRIGHT'S 1927 HOME, DESIGNER VICKI VON HOLZHAUSEN IS REFINING THE SCIENCE OF HIGHPERFORMANCE, PLANT-BASED MATERIALS.
It seems not only fitting but poetic that Los Angeles-based designer and eco-preneur Vicki von Holzhausen chose architect Lloyd Wright's own 1927 studio and residence as the symbolic headquarters of her namesake company, von Holzhausen, a pioneer in the development of high-performance plantbased materials.
IN THE LADAKHI HAMLET OF TURTUK, A KITCHEN GARDEN SUPPLIES FRESH PRODUCE TO THE BALTI KITCHEN OF BOUTIQUE HOTEL VIRSA.
To get to the most exquisite yet humble meal of your life, you'll have to take a six-hour drive from Leh and reach Turtuk, one of the only four Balti villages that fall on the Indian side of the border.
MAKAIBARI'S NEW EXPERIENTIAL STORE IN KOLKATA IS DESIGNED TO EVOKE A TEA PLANTER'S BUNGALOW.
Smell the tea, feel the carpets, enjoy the space”—such is the invitation from Rudra Chatterjee, chairman of Obeetee and managing director of Luxmi Tea Group, at the launch of fine tea brand Makaibari’s experiential store in October, at the Taj Bengal in Kolkata.
ARTS OF HINDOSTAN PIECES TOGETHER A SHORT HISTORY OF THE MUGHAL FLOWER-FROM ITS ORIGIN IN ATELIERS IN MEDIEVAL INDIA TO ITS UBIQUITY ACROSS TIME.
The Mughal emperor Jahangir was famously enraptured by the beauty of flowering plants that he saw on his visit to Kashmir in the spring of 1620.
A FURNITURE-ARTWORK PAIRING COMES TOGETHER AS PAOLA LENTI'S CAMPANA BROTHERSDESIGNED BENCH IS REIMAGINED TO MATCH ARTIST HUGO YOSHIKAWA'S PLAYFUL STYLE.
Vegetation has been the central subject matter of many Hugo Yoshikawa artworks for the past few years.
FROM SCULPTURES TO JEWELLERY, ARTIST LYNDA BENGLIS'S DESIGNS FOR LOEWE FEATURED IN THE BANCA MARCH GARDEN IN MADRID EARLIER THIS YEAR.
This spring, when the gates of the private Banca March Garden in Madrid's Salamanca neighbourhood opened to the public, visitors could experience four monumental fountains, emerging from the ground and soaring towards the sky.
FERNS AND FLOWERS BLOOM ON TOD'S BAGS AND SHOES, A SPECIAL LINE DESIGNED BY RAHUL MISHRA― NATURE BEING HIS CONSTANT MUSE.
India was once called “sone ki chidiya” (golden bird) for its abundance of resources, wealth and prosperity.
