For the Garden ~ From Shopo.in ...

     By now, I am sure that most the bloggers and non-bloggers would have heard of the great online shopping website Shopo. For those who donot know, Shopo is a market place for Indian handicrafts and designer products. Be it apparel or home decor products or jewellery , they have items in almost every category one can imagine !!! If you are looking for something unique and Indian, then this is definitely the place to be. It is also one of my favorite online shopping sites that I frequently visit, and the first thing I look for is their latest garden products. So, when Shopo asked me to feature some of their products, naturally I accepted, and I wanted to do the post on one of my favorite topics- Gardening !!!

 

Here are my favorite picks from the Garden Section of Shopo.in ... Hope you like them as well.. ;-) ;-)

 

 Quirky Watering Cans from An Indian Summer .

 Handmade Bird Houses from Elan - Love the little metal bird on top...

  Metal Railing Planters in bright colors from Green Essence .

Garden markers from Elan ... Btwn.. Who does not love chalkboard works ??  

 Jungle Fever Collection of terracotta planters from Nature Nurturer .

 Pretty Mini Planter from An Indian Summer ... Looks like a pineapple right ?

 Metallic Planters and Garden Mushroom from Green Somethings ...  

 Write on me Planters from Poppadum Art .

 

Note : This is not a paid review or feature. All Image Copyrights belong to Shopo . You can visit the Shopo website here and follow Shopo on facebook here.

Gardening in Small Spaces ~ Simple Vertical Garden Ideas !!!

     A couple of weeks back, when I had been to a nursery that I haunt at times, I found these beautiful vertical gardening concepts and I simply had to share them with you all !! Vertical gardening solutions can be very useful when there is not enough space at a home to spare for a garden.  

Idea #1 : A wooden mesh or a wire mesh can be used to house planters. These semicircular planters have two holes at the back and can be nailed or tied to the mesh. This is a great solution if you do not like hammering nails to the walls. These planters can also be fastened to fences, grills etc., What a lovely idea isn’t it ?

 Planters fastened to a mesh made of Bamboo stems ....!!!!

A fern plant in a wall sconce planter .... !!!

Idea #2 : These lovely colorful planters from ‘Options’  are available in 9 different colors . They can either be fixed to the wall or can be used as regular planters. They have matching drip plates as well . The approximate price of these planters along with the plates is ~100. These planters are available at Green Sentei , Shakambari Gardens , Odyssey etc., 

 There is a transparent clamp that is available to fix the planter to the wall.

Love the colorful planters lined up on the wall .. !! 

Idea #3 : A vertical plant stand made of metal or wood, used to hang colorful hanging pots is also a good space saving option.

Vertical Plant Stand made of bamboo stems ...!!

The Hook with which the pot is hung is seen here in the picture ... !!

Love these purple flowers.... yellow and purple form a great combination ...!!

This is nowhere related to vertical gardening , but I simply had to post the picture of this multi-tiered planter that has many varieties of plants in it… ;-) ;-).

Hope these simple ideas inspired you enough to create your own vertical garden at home. If you do try out something like this, send the pictures to liventhingzup@gmail.com - I would be delighted to see them ;-) ;-) .

D'Hut - The treasure house of World Handicrafts .....

     D'Hut is a store on the ECR Road, Chennai that sells a wide variety of handicrafts sourced from all over the world. Run by young couple, Neethirajan and Reshuma who are passionate about art , this shop is an one stop destination for buying  hand crafted items. What looks like a quaint little shop from the outside is actually a two-storage treasure house of hand made products and as you enter the shop, you will soon be spell bound by the amazing range of items they have to offer. The store was initially started  to exhibit African masks and now has various handmade artifacts from Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, USA, Indonesia, Thailand, China, SriLanka and many more countries which include mirrors, wall hangings, figurines, gift items, candle holders etc.,

     This is what Neethirajan says about his shop ... " D'Hut basically has collections of handicrafts from all over the world, especially African masks. It was an outcome of my personal collection when i sailed to the African sub-continent as a marine engineer. The beauty and uniqueness of these masks made me a compulsive buyer till my collection could not fit in the house any more. The collections slowly began to include artifacts from Iran, Papua New Guinea, South America and other countries. 

It was then that my wife and I decided to exhibit them in a shop which we later named D'Hut  keeping in mind the nature of origin of the items. We were pleasantly surprised to see that  many more people enjoyed and shared our appreciation of these artifacts. As a shop we also took into account the likings and preferences of our customers. And so we now also have a variety of things from Java, Indonesia, Thailand, Srilanka and of course India.

We  are now working upon adding more rare and interesting things to the collection. And of course when one piece sells I am able to keep my passion for buying them alive by replacing it with another piece.
We hope this helps in preventing the cultural art of different countries from disappearing and can be enjoyed and appreciated by our future generations."

 

     

All Image Copyrights belong to Liven Things Up - Please do not re-use without permission.

The items that we purchased for our home from D'Hut have become a favorite among our family members and the best thing that I like about this shop is the variety of items they have to offer, the customer service the and of course the "affordable prices ".  So if you ever visit Chennai, don't miss out this shop - It's a great place to shop both Indian and world handicrafts at reasonable prices - And don't forget to ask them to show their two-floored storage house too ....!!

I am linking this post to the blog party :  "My favorite Things " at Colours Dekor.

22.2 Acccessories : { Indian Look Vs International Design}

     22.2 accessories is the brain child of Bangalore based Richa Dubey - a National Award winner accessories designer from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi. Apart from being an expert handbag designer she is  a  fashion illustrator, potter and educator and have been conducting design workshops for various organizations and International schools. At 22.2 accessories, she fashions stylish clutches, sturdy but pretty tote bags in organic cottons, canvas, jute, raw silks, Mangalgiri fabirc and block prints in hand painted leather embellishments. Her unique and functional line of handbags are available in rich, bold, bright and beautiful designs and colors and her designs rely heavily on Indian traditions, culture, textiles and craft and have a unique Indian look with International design sensibilities . Her products are so appealing that its not surprising to see that most of her fine-looking products in Shopo are sold out… !!!

 

A three corner clutch with angular graphics 

painted on leather...

 Silk tote with  hand painted Anaarkali detail ...

 

     This is what Richa has to say to us about her brand .. .”I am not big on birthday celebrations but was fed up with my family members and friends who kept forgetting the date !!! As a sweet revenge 22.2accessories was conceptualized so that I need not remind them again .22 Feb is my birth date. I wanted to start an accessory line which truly utilizes Indian textiles and craft in a more contemporary fashion. I wanted to go beyond the bollywood prints and heavy decoration.  Our local artisans are doing some amazing work and I wanted to bring that in popular culture but with a fresh twist .There is so much to learn from rural India and I wanted to bridge that design gap. My work with craftsmen across India has made me realize that unless we provide fresh twist to age old traditions of craft ,they wont survive for long.Our effort is to bring these crafts on the front row of international fashion. 
     As a label we have revolutionary ambition and sky high expectations from ourselves. We are constantly working on to refine our products technically and aesthetically.Each of our products are handcrafted and  known for their earthy and whimsical look . Being an Eco aware label ,We Try to use materials not very far from their natural finish. So its about organic cottons ,canvas, jute , raw silks, Mangalgiri ,block prints etc. The leather used is most basic finished  veg tanned leather and is sourced directly  from tanneries. We have in-house facility where we customize fabric and leather prints for our collections.
      I get inspired by the women I design for. I think of their moods, way of living or certain needs. There is no point to design for design’s sake. A product is meant for someone and as a designer its my duty to find that connection. I only follow one rule while designing -  "EYES WIDE OPEN". I  am always driven to push forward. It’s a high to translate ideas into real products and I am a design addict.
      As our first step we are retailing handbags ,clutches ,Crafted footwear.We are very soon starting our Men's accessory line…”  We wish you all the best Richa, with your future endeavors. 

 

 Ethnic clutches in block printed fabric ..

 A drool-worthy clutch with Angular graphics

painted on leather ....

  Handcrafted triangular clutch bag with

hand drawn 'Surya' motif in 'Mabhubani' style ..

 All Images via 22.2 Accessories

     Apart from her online shop 22.2 accessories is  retailed from various stores across Bangalore, like EKA Lifestyle,Mogra pret,Mother earth stores and very soon they  are Coming to Hyderabad and Delhi. …. If you are interested in Richa’s products, you can shop them online at Shopo –  She is also reachable at bagsinfashion@yahoo.com and you can see her work on facebook here.