Instagram Takeover #1: Suyash Srivastava

Dear Debby This post is especially for you - thank you for your encouragement and being such a wonderful inspiration VarnikaDesigns started its first social media colab with Suyash Srivastava, Textile Designer. He was completing his project from Siwan in Bihar, one of India's most sensational states, and gave us live coverage from there. His...

The Amar, Anthony and Ashdeen of Design

Amardeep Behl, Exhibition Designer, National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, graduated in 1985, is presently the owner of Design Habit. He has been designing immersive, experiential, entertaining, educational storytelling spaces, specialising in Museums, since his college days. His Diploma Project from NID in 1985 was guided by none other than one of India's most important...

National Handloom Day

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay established the Crafts Council of India (CCI) in 1964. She also laid the foundation for Sangeet Natak Akademi and National School of Drama. A freedom fighter, social reformer and feminist, champion for India's women and her Handloom and Handicraft communities, this lady from Mangalore was awarded the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibushan - the...

Meet my family: Chitku’s story :)

Hi, I'm Chitku 🙂 we've met before. This is my brother Kaachbo. We have been brought into this world by Priyanka Tolia. She is an Exhibition Designer from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and had studied History (Honours) from Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) before that. Priyanka often heard from the elders in...

Have you visited your local Museum yet? We have :)

March is here, everyone will get busy with their financial work in India as this month ends the financial year here. It’s a stressful time when you realise that most of your investments have gone wrong and the essential papers are missing! For a de-stressful time, visit the local museum in your city to marvel...

A 600 year old trek!

  Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson One Saturday morning, we went in our quest for the Kondapalli fort - if you had read the previous post then you would know why 🙂 yes, the crafts community that makes...

Design your History! Yes, you can :)

        For the History of Design course for the Industrial Design students at the National Institute of Design, Vijayawada, we strapped ourselves tightly and zipped onto a roller coaster time travel... yeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, like a virtual reality experience, especially customised for your personal choice 🙂 don't believe me??? then read on... One lazy...

What makes Indian Textiles so exquisite?

    A wide variety of beautiful textiles ranging from embroideried, woven, printed and painted comprise India’s rich textile heritage. For most of us, there is a familiarity with most of the textiles coming from all parts of India – like Banarasi, Baluchari, Chikankari, Kalamkari, Kanthas, Kanchivaram, Ikat etc. The skill of Indian weavers is...

#projectinterpret’s 3rd quarter

  In the months of July - September, #projectinterpret explored new avenues of Access through live coverage of talks, apart from the usual heritage, history, museums, arts and culture visits, explorations, workshops and postings. Knowyourcity challenge: started on VarnikaDesigns Instagram and Facebook social media profiles in the last quarter, this game continued with insights across...

#projectinterpret’s 2nd quarter

In the 2nd quarter of #projectinterpret, apart from the guided tours some new initiatives have taken root. These are: Knowyourcity challenge: photographs are regularly uploaded on the VarnikaDesigns Instagram and Facebook accounts to quiz on some historical monuments/sites/buildings to help people connect to the architectural landmarks of a city. Most of us have passed these...