We visited the holy town of Rishikesh in the Himalayan foothills which is spiritually tranquil and also full of visiting tourists. It has popular adventure camps and is also one of the well known destinations for Yoga in India. Being a Hatha Yoga student, this was of particular interest. The relative coolness of the weather in the Himalayas was a welcome break from the 40deg C heat earlier. Rishikesh being a spiritual destination, the prayers in the evenings on the Ghats of the river are a must see, and very inspiring.
We have been posting about memories the Royal Tour has been bringing back and a post on the Queen’s 90th birthday is along similar lines. It reminds us of a time when we lived in Ooty, in the Nilgiris, or Blue Mountains, in South India.
The Mountains in Ooty are not quite as high as the Himalayas, but are very pleasant and are also known for their beauty, the lake and tea estates, amongst other things.
Picking strawberries, Plums from the plum trees in the back, peaches in a friend’s garden, picnicking on the picturesque spots such as Doddabetta and Lamb’s Rock, visiting nearby elephant sanctuary in Kodaikanal, travelling up using the narrow gauge Nilgiri ‘Blue Hills’ train, and enjoying beautiful flowers including hydrangeas and morning glory in the garden is a fond memory.
Picturesque Emerald Lake
As children we were intrigued with the Queen’s head being featured on British stamps, (as most other stamps we came across were pretty varied)-the only difference appeared to be the colours of the stamps. These consistently appeared from time to time as and when new stamps were issued. Quite similar to those stamps, the quiet dignity with which Her Majesty carries on with her duties year after year (several of them in any given day), almost seems to tie in with consistent regularity of the appearance of those stamps.
Having seen the Royal family constantly equated to ‘any other family’ and knowing that a lot more is expected of them despite this ‘equation’, we would like to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday with sincere congratulations.
As quoted by someone quite rightly on being the longest reigning Monarch, the Queen has had ‘a singular reign, and a singularly successful reign at that’. And we think it is fitting that we use the image that made the stamps from our childhood in the Nilgiri Hills so intriguing and unwaveringly constant. Happy birthday, Your Majesty! (All images of the queen Courtesy Twitter; images of Ooty, Courtesy Wikipedia)
As the Royals visit the mountain Kingdom of Bhutan, it reminds us of an idyllic childhood spent for a while in the mountains in India, just on the other side in equally beautiful Arunachal Pradesh. The mountains we looked onto towards the west were the kingdom of Bhutan. The beauty of the mountains, pristine streams flowing through the valleys, children and people wearing Baku (traditional dress) all reminds us of the beauty of untouched nature we grew up with there which continues to inspire us.
Bhutan is well known for being a very friendly neighbour to India and we are pleased that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting the country. It is naturally protected by the Himalayan moutons which form its boundary.
We recall the pretty traditional clothes and patterns that the locals wear which brightens the atmosphere up, despite the weather being increasingly cold with altitude. We also love the beautiful weaves that that the traditional shawls are made of. These are very special and as with all artisanal products, are handwoven and labour intensive.
We drank yaks milk, as there are no cows here and there is not a rickshaw to be seen. Single file traffic crawling up the mountains due to the incline is often in convoys and quite restricted. Hence our fascination for rickshaws, trucks and autos (tuk tuks) as we had never seen them in the mountains before. It used to take us all day to start from the plains all the way up to the high mountains where we lived in a beautiful valley high up in the mountains. This part of India is called Arunachal Pradesh, and this means ‘Land of the Rising Sun’. (All photos are courtesy of Arunachal Tourism and The Duke and Duchess’ photos are from Tatler.) The untouched beauty of the mountains was brought home by the Royal Tour, and we are pleased the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have experienced this part of the world as well.
Hopefully the Royal couple will go back inspired from the mountains as well. This is a nostalgic post, but tells you a little bit about some of our inspiration that derives from the Himalayan mountains.
Its lovely to see the Royal Tourof India going so well-it looks like it is with sheer delight that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have taken to the bright and beautiful country that is India if the images on BBC News/Daily Mail/Hello Magazine/NDTV/Tatler are anything to go by!
We love this picture of the Duchess in the hand block print dress in Tatler the best! (Photos of the Duchess Courtesy Tatler)
You can see more pictures of their tour on BBC News here
The first day of the Royals Tour in India didn’t just involve floral garlands and meeting celebrities from Bollywood, but also visiting the site of the Mumbai attacks in 2008 including the famous Taj Mahal Hotel.
What caught our eye most, and we can’t help it, is the beautiful array of dresses worn by the Duchess, including the lovely hand block printed dress which we think is very elegant. Its in keeping with our ethos of an ‘artisanal chic‘ lifestyle-which is true of Jasmine White London product ranges-both homeware and attire which promotes ethical production values and allows rural communities to survive. We recently launched new designs in Ikat and Hand Block prints, the Gaia, Freya and Laxmi range and are delighted to see some similar designs on the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton.
Our hand block print range is coming soon…so email us if you would like to reserve any items before they arrive on enquiries@jasminewhitelondon.com
As you all know, our design range called Indian Street is inspired by traffic on the streets in India. It carries motifs of tuk tuks and trucks and a variety of symbols found on the high street in India, including the famous sign ‘Horn Please’ imploring all traffic to blow their horns! Here’s a photo of a table cloth and double oven gloves in this range.
We were fascinated to find an interesting piece of news on the BBC news website which relates to just this issue of Indian Street traffic and a race between a Tuk Tuk and an Uber driver to see who would win, the uber equipped with a SatNav to guide it of course! Read here to find out who won http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-35976128
“Horn Please!” from Indian Street by Jasmine White LondonIndian Street Design cushion by Jasmine White London.
Its Holi, Festival of colours in India, so we thought we would blog a little about this. It is said that on Holi, people come together to celebrate by throwing colour, playing with family and friends, and of course spreading good cheer all around.
Holi celebrationsHoli-Colours
This year, PrinceHarry celebrated it in Nepal too!
Holi, like many festivals around the world at this time of year, is a celebration of the onset of spring. This is where it runs parallels with Easter which also signifies the onset of Spring. Blossom on trees, hatching chicks and Easter bunnies all signify the abundance of life around us.
Easter eggsJasmine White London hand painted easter egg decorations
You can celebrate the arrival of Spring with our colourful collection of enamelware and matching textile designs, Bright Red Floral Splash and Duck Egg Iris. #Happy Holi! #Happy Easter! #Happy Celebrations!Bright Red Floral Splash CushionDuck Egg Iris Pom Pom Cushion
We were thrilled to have been chosen as ” website of the week” in HeartHome Mag. Heart Home is such a lovely online magazine, it’s wonderful to be featured alongside some really fabulous other handpicked websites.
We love the fact that they not only love our product ranges, the high quality and finish, but that they also appreciate our ethos of working towards sustainable production, which is what we strive for in our products.
Our beautiful new ranges are showcased , including our Birds of Paradise cushions in different colour ways alongside our Stars textiles as well as our new Easter decorations,.
We look forward to welcoming HeartHome readers to the world of Jasmine White London, we hope to provide them a variety of gifts to choose from, ranging from textiles to cushions to hand painted boxes and vibrant enamelware. A special offer code 10% off all orders with code jwheart until May 1st 2014
http://hearthomemag.co.uk/blog/website-of-the-week-jasmine-white-london/
Well, 2013 has been about us steering the business and reorganising ourselves for a re-launch! What started out as a hobby selling scarves and pashminas and jewellery to friends and family took a life of its own. Our friends came to us looking for exquisite gifts you couldn’t find everywhere. At about this time last year I decided I wanted to produce my own designs and ranges which would make lovely gifts to homes they adorned.
So I got started in January with the designing, which took absolutely ages, as I wanted every aspect of what I wanted to be perfect. Most people who indulge themselves in this fashion will know how exacting it can be, although at the same time watching your design take shape gives one immense satisfaction. Thats how Leaping Reindeer and Indian Street came to be, and we have a kitchenware range in these.
Along the way we joined up with new /old friends and took their advice on a variety of things, and developed ideas where we thought it was right and on we went.
We pre launched our vibrant enamelware range in the summer at the Wimbledon Village Summer Fair which was extremely well received by our customers.
We relaunched the company and presented our finally completed designs to trade at Top Drawer in September 2014 where we were very well received indeed, for which we are grateful. It is satisfying to see the fruits of your labour being appreciated by your peers.
Since the re-launch of the company and our online store, we have been going from strength to strength (with a lot of learning, organising and hard work thrown in). This is in no small way thanks to our customers and stockists (and our extended Jasmine White family working behind the scenes). So on New Years Eve, we say bye to a year that was all about our renewal, and say hello to the New Year 2014 knowing we need to march on forward and keep doing more of the same…Wishing you all a very Happy New Year 2014. #NYE2014
