Art of adorning windows
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Given the variety of accessories available, window dressing isn’t an easy go-about, unless you are informed on the variety available in the market, says RANJANI GOVIND
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— PHOTOS: MOHAMMED YOUSUF
OPENING TO A NEW WORLD: It is the accessories that make the curtains what they are.
If house-keeping is science, furnishing must be considered an art, says interior designer from Mumbai, Shoba Diwakar, who is involved with soft furnishing for films and television serials. Going by the variety available in the market, such statements no longer sound exaggerated.
“Furnishing would have been simple with a modest variety available, but these are days when choices are aplenty and there begins the coordination and visualisation snags. Professionals can not only help choose, but can do it by bringing a theme and thought to your dwelling,” says Shoba.
Although curtains do play a paramount role, it is the accessories that go with the curtains that make them what they are and help to evolve into an objet de art.
Accessories have a huge market and are clubbed and displayed in furnishing stores, for, the choice is done with a coordinated eye. So, at a time where accessories call the shots, window dressing gains more importance.
Character counts
Says Sobha, “When I take up a drawing hall for designing, I first make matters clear whether it has a French window, a window which opens to a step-down sit-out or a window which has a modest sill on which you could work wonders. Depending on the character of the house — ethnic, contemporary or modern and eclectic — the accessories are chosen.”
From metal strings hooked to windows to pelmets that are passé, today we have come a long way with sheer curtains, Roman blinds, scallops, tie-backs, hold-backs, tassels, channels and rods that make a statement, along with finials that artfully finish the running of the rods.
“These are times for tie-backs and tassels,” says Anil Kapoor of Saagar’s Furnishing whose signature is seen in several five-star hotels in India, Singapore, Thailand, several Gulf countries, and Sri Lanka and in movie sets, apart from some classic work in cross-cultural residences in the country. “We have people walking in and asking for sheers and matching scallops as shown in the film ‘Monsoon Wedding.’ Recently we had a man who asked for glass and bead tie-backs that was discussed in the popular TV programme, ‘Dream House.’ Media is a major factor in changing lifestyles,” says Anil, who talks of an assortment of colour, finishes and work that decide the prices.
Sheer curtains help cut the blinding radiance, and at Saagar’s they are in organzas, polyesters, georgettes and chiffons in crushed and crinkled varieties. Tie-backs and tie-holds for locking the curtains in pleats remind you of skipping ropes or horsetails. They are indeed artistic with woodwork, paint, beads, crystals and meenakari work on either side. Scallops for the upper portion with horizontal pleats are bordered with laces and embroideries.
Tassels that are narrow hangs are stitched on scallops, curtains and sofa-upholstery and are available in polyester and silk in vibrant colours — braided, beaded and twisted in ropes for edgings in furnishing.
Fancy stuff
Adds Anil, “At Saagar’s we have Europeans who walk in for khadi threads in tie-backs. We have custom-made designery for people on the other extreme asking for Swarovsky crystal embedding on wooden-holds of tiebacks. The fancier it is, the costlier it is. And for the modern and yet informal, we provide tie-backs that pass off as stoles and sofa-throws!”
Sourced from cottage industries in Delhi, Bhagalpur and Panipat, where even the physically challenged are involved in some units, tiebacks are in the range of Rs. 200 to Rs. 600 per piece while tassels are available from Rs. 200 to Rs. 400 per metre.
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