Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Branching out

Bangalore's energy enthuses an architect-turned-designer to come up with a furniture collection

INSPIRATION Micaelan Davis finds the contrast of the old and the new stimulating

There's no quarrel with the fact that India leaves her mark on visitors. So it is with Micaelan Davis, a young American architect. Inspired by the energy of Bangalore and her subsequent travels in Karnataka, she has designed a set of furniture.

All her creations are a signature of her love for detailing in wood in crisp clean lines of international appeal, juxtaposed against Indian-inspired ornamentation and patterns.

"Some things are amazing in Bangalore, there is a traditional stream that concurrently flows with the modern lifestyle emanating from the IT culture and the beauty is precipitated in the amalgam. For an architect, the joy lies in recreating some of the feelings, and nothing would be better than wood," says the lady from Massachusetts, Boston.

Micaelan graduated in architecture from the University of Texas in 2004 and has since dabbled in designing, her favourite being furniture.

During her stay in Bangalore last year, she chanced upon Maram, a boutique specialising in furniture, especially recycling and remodelling antique furniture. The owner couple, Sheila and Krishna Baru, impressed by Micaelan's passion, asked her to come up with her creations this year for the store. "It's lovely to know that the creations are being released with my signature tag in a store not only made up so ethnically but also believes in principles like reusing antique furniture to suit contemporary lifestyles. This would naturally bring down the felling of more trees."

Lotus motif

Micaelan's line includes a coffee table with five layers of wood that evoke a lotus. The whole flower is embedded in the wood and is seen from top that is fitted with glass.

Her foyer bench with a butterfly-winged backboard was inspired after she observed the graceful insects on plants that glistened in early morning dew in Cubbon Park.

Her bookshelf has Islamic influences with circles of repeating patterns that overlap. While the bar cabinet is patterned on the lines of long plaits, the coffee tables are actually converted from old doors.

But what really impressed her in Hampi were the musical pillars and carvings in stone. And that brought forth a pair of stately chairs with a crowned head rest, upholstered in silk.

The boutique Maram itself is modelled on Kerala's splendid architecture, with the roof tapering down on both sides. The uniqueness is seen in its line of furniture too that underlines reuse, recycle and refurbish.

Antiques sourced from across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra are given a facelift to suit modern homes. Priceless rosewood and teak get a makeover — a Chettinad door can be transformed into a headrest for a bed, a bookshelf or a mirror stand. Cartwheels are promoted to centrepieces for settees, old cradles into seats, and pillars into dining tables.

Micaelan's work is being showcased at an exhibition called Garden City Collection at Maram, 57, 4th Cross, RMV II Stage, Block I, till August 20, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Maram can be contacted on 23411427 or maram_India@vsnl.net

RANJANI GOVIND

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail