Puppet Making Workshop and Sunset

Native to Rajasthan and one of the most popular forms of Indian puppetry, Kathputli is more than a thousand years old. The Kathputli Nagar (Puppet Colony) is a cluster of tiny one or two room buildings tucked away in a corner of Jaipur and is named after the families of puppet makers who have lived…

Spices and the Bangle Maker

We headed back into old Jaipur to visit a bangle maker and to see a demonstration of his craft. Before that, we nipped into to a spice shop to stock up on perfect gifts and packets of spice mixes to encourage us to explore Indian cooking when we got home. Just off one of the…

Gota Patti Workshop

We started the day by heading to Aari Tari for a Gota Patti workshop. Gota Patti, whilst being strongly associated with Rajistan is thought to have originated in the Punjab before spreading in popularity to neighbouring states. The handcraft is actually centuries-old, and was traditionally the domain of the royal family and members of the…

Laxmi Misthan Bhandar and Bar Palladio

After our visit to the Observatory and City Palace, Isha took us to the Laxmi Misthan Bhandar (LMB for short) for a Thali lunch, traditional in Rajasthan and consisting of a number of dishes served on a big platter. LMB is one of Japur’s oldest restaurants and the vegetarian meal consisted of Papad Mangori Soup,…

The Observatory and Royal Palace

After the riot of colour that was the wholesale market, we walked to the Observatory and the Royal Palace. Wherever we turned today there seemed to be monkeys pinching things or cows wandering about – just how you’d imagine India to be! I loved the lady we walked past sitting in the street making cotton…

The Vegetable, Flower and Wholesale Markets

To start the morning, before we visited the Observatory and City Palace, we headed to the markets. Jane and Mandy were keen to share this experience that they had had from a previous visit so Isha squeezed it into our already busy schedule, and it was definitely worth it. First of all we visited the…

PRISM Warped Workshop

On Monday Ross delivered a free taster workshop as part of PRISM’s free workshop series that accompanies the present exhibition at the Art Pavilion, Mile End. It was a great success, with far more people arriving through the morning than the 10 places we had planned for (we did actually deliver the workshop to 12…

PRISM Warped

Wednesday was the Private View for the new exhibition ‘Warped’ by fine art textile group PRISM. Opened by renowned textile and print artist Sumi Perera, who gave a fascinating talk about her own practice, this exhibition at the Art Pavilion Mile End showcases work from around 50 artists. The work ranges from stunning large scale…

Dabu Printing and Indigo Workshop

After the red and black traditional Bagru block printing, we headed across the square used to dry the large lengths of resist printed indigo dyed fabric lengths to the Dabu workshop a few streets away. Dating as far back as the 8th century, Dabu (which comes from the Hindi word Dabana meaning to press) is…

Bagru and Block Printing Workshop

After a bit of a break to write up our birthday extravaganza, I’m back writing up the wonders of my Indian trip with my wonderful Mum. Having wanted to visit since my Grandpa returned from the Second World War with carpets and carved elephants, this really was her trip of a lifetime. After a busy…

Birthday Weekend – Burghley House

On the Sunday, after our stay at the Upper House, built in 1845 for Josiah Wedgwood’s grandson Francis and a visit to Mow Cop (with amazing views across the surrounding counties), we crossed country again to Burghley House. The Estate is centred in the beautiful market town of Stamford in Lincolnshire so that’s another county…

Birthday Weekend – Wedgwood

After our wonderful breakfast at Sat Bains, we drove across country to Stoke to visit the V&A Wedgwood Collection and the World of Wedgwood. Owned by the V&A following a successful fundraising campaign spearheaded by Art Fund in 2014, the collection is on display at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent. Kevan has been researching four basalt medallions owned…