Shakiraaz - (Featured Homeware Products)

When feminine aesthetic gets infused with traditional glam and when self-directed observation and exploration take a leap,  a home ware brand like "Shakiraaz" is built. Shakiraaz has made that brilliant name by blending outstanding meticulous skills with an elegant projects imbued with great attention to detail and pride in home decor accessories. Captivating combinations with handmade designs and personalized prints fashions the space at Shakiraaz.   

Just because every successful story begins with a carefully devised past, having admired by Shakira's body of work, with that extra little zest, I reached out the lady Shakira herself to know few tricks of her trade.  

Shakira traces her passion of art since early years, where she used to draw, sketch and paint inspired by both of her parents’ amateur drawings. Her eyes still lit well up at the memory of recalling her mom’s days of styling vignettes and photographing from where she picked up the interest in home wares and décor. Fueling her interest by building a remarkable educational degree in textile designing, Shakira took a nosedive to pursue her passion and strike out a new path by opening her brand “Shakiraaz”.

It’s not a secret that being in a creative environment breads creativity. Shakira defines the initial moment of her business before she excelled the brand in her words:
"I actually started my business by hand painting designs each one off & exclusive on cushions, bags, scarves. Apart from friends and family, exhibiting my products in small galleries kick started my brand. Putting hours as an apparel textile designer for children's apparel coupled with my hand done work strengthen a lot to further my brand as well.”

Start-up comes with lots of uncertainties but giving never crossed her mind. She redrew boundaries of work and home when she welcomed her daughter. Shakira adds in her cautinary note about her success mantra:
"The only thing that has brought some success is my hard work and prioritising.....sometimes for a home based business your house work piles up and  you need to get to it...but setting the priorities with a sense of calm focus has helped everything fall into spaces.. Immense support from my husband has also helped in this; I could not do it without him! My husband is the one who put together a printing table for me (Bless him) and since then I am on a creative roll and I did not have to look back."

Shakiraaz design strategy focuses on strong shapes and patterns. Her lavish and feminine aesthetic has shaped the space with personalized designs and print textiles. Shakira crackles proudly about her design strategies:

"At Shakiraaz, I design blocks by hand or using the computer and get them handcrafted by Indian artisans. Each block is an aftermath of my own design. Hand screen printing is also a part of my designs in my studio. “Shakiraaz” home ware brand only practices on ecofriendly dyes with linen and cotton materials for most of the products. Art prints on watercolor is something we recently launched which illustrates my love of tribal design and fondness of succulents and cactus, is available now online."

Constant craving for creativeness and change has made Shakira source few of her designs from India as well. Though, expertise of running on an ethos of creating everything handmade and leaving a good carbon footprint echoes in Shakiraaz merchandises. Full proof formula of no mass creation and only handmade and handcrafted production is well served at Shakiraaz.

Delicious designs, pleasing patterns and yummy colors grace the work of a talented lady. Tending her own unique muse, she nurtured her creative spirit and built a remarkable brand name. As we conclude today's post, we wish "Shakiraaz" much more growth ahead along with warm thanks for letting us take a deep dive in her mushrooming brand. You may connect on her Instagram page here, place an order from her online store here and visit her itsy store here.

Until we meet again, stay connected, toodles!

(All Images: Shakiraaz)

Bristi - (Featured Brand)

Sinuously threaded cheerful mix of antique and modern pieces and a play on texture and colour with fanciful touches is what today’s post has to offer you all. Probably you pictured the post, which was destined to be out earlier but some action packed days held it back. Delve deep with me to discover some rare, quirky and an unrivaled pieces of accessories from a new designer based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat-Bristi!

When we started browsing furniture pieces for our new home, I, being one determined soul for perfect colors, harbored myriad of desire to get that complete look in our family room. Our search ended up with couches out of the world and perfect for our taste, desire and style but had to manage with oh so old school cushions. Scooting itch to change them kept on striking me. My approach to fancy higher end stores didn’t maximize the sight line for my quest on cushions. When I stumbled upon her page by a reference of a friend, her appetizing designs stole my heart with fabulous, livable and unique pieces. 

A fashion designer graduate from the Premier Fashion Institute in India-NIFT, Barsha Dutta is a creative head behind Bristi, who has offered her no fail decorating short cut by her pleasing and unified design style of accessories.

A gratified lady who swept away two awards for her collection marks in her own words about how she pompously incorporated her entry in the breed of designers, " This all started as we could not find cushion covers that would liven up our home, also that was produced in mass, and was available everywhere and not unique."  

My personal favorites are these pleasing and unified designed cushions. They are tailored enough to work well with any neutral background. Wouldn't you agree that she has turned her considerable skills to punch some stylish edge to an otherwise ordinary sofas. Barsha marries each of her schemes to a particular taste and desired appeals of her clients. Her talent and a designer's charm sets some nostalgic mood in a modern living/family room of many of her clients including me.  

The squash yellow cushions like above with personalized texting term are Barsha's specialty. Barsha declares with an underlying pride, "I have been with the designing field designing with NGO's and govt organization, later on joined as a visual merchandiser with future group  and then finally started my own little workshop where we designed handcrafted products like cushion covers, bags...etc. "

Propelled by the motto to create the piece only once just for her clients, she proudly claims, "We realize that each home has a different story to say about the people who made the house a home, and so to reflect the personality of the people living in the homes, we decided to go in for customization and create designs that spoke about them. We take care not to duplicate or replicate the designs for any one else's home so that the designs are unique and special." I love this concept of Bristi, the exclusiveness of cushions being made just for you to reflect what you love may evoke your innate flair for some signature collection in your home.

 

I was gravitated by her ingenious design plays with prized heirloom vintage sarees. Old styles usually elude when you introduce new pieces of décor, but such stylish treatment with traditional treasured pieces not only contribute their charm but reflect memories of a personal family collection as a focal point in the room.

In conjunction with cushions, Barsha also masters in refreshingly unique, quirky, and unusual accessories to add some strikingly stylish personality. Her talent and a real girl charm stimulates some attractively tempting bags, batwas and toys to grace your any occasion. These accessories can be personalized as per your requirement and necessity. These products are great as return gifts for bridal showers, weddings, or baby showers. Her eclectic collection delivers selections to match your palate and flair.

A woman with a vision addresses that in future, Bristi plans to design and print own fabrics that can add on to the uniqueness to your décor.

The mission statement of Bristi echoes her sentiments, "With the money earned , we give a part of it away to the needy, as the smile on their face, help us to design even better handcrafted products and there is a certain satisfaction to it."

  

Next time when you hit the search of cushions or accessories, be positive and remember that Bristi lies ahead to create a visual success from that stake to striking look.  Bristi will proudly interpret your dream design and translate them lavishly into reality.

Currently Bristi caters their services from home studio in Ahmedabad and Facebook page. You could also drop in an email at bristi.stylz@gmail.com for more inquiries. Signing out today wishing you all a wonderful day ahead. Until we meet again, stay connected to Pinkz Passion FB page for some décor focused inspirations, toodles!

Images credit and copyright : Bristi