Planning a vacation? To the south of France perhaps? If you can’t get there, let the place come to you – the essence of it anyway – through a home makeover.
Thyme stocks wooden furniture reminiscent of what you might have seen at Pottery Barn and Ikea stores abroad. The similarities come as no surprise since Thyme’s manufacturing base in Jaipur supplies to these stores.
Solid, clean cut and very stylish, they use traditional inspirations (spindle legs are favourites) to create rustic furniture with a contemporary twist. Think beyond futons and coffee tables, to kitchen accessories, lamps, mirrors, and table ware.
So create your own beach front porch with a driftwood lounge set. Jazz it up with some blue silk cushions, slip in a Buddha Bar CD or two – and voila – you’re in Antibes.
Well, almost. After a mojito. Or two.
Thyme, 9A-9B, Laxmi Industrial Estate, New Link Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai.
Telephone: 26315007.
Prices: Rs 4,000-10,000.
Three hectic hours at the mall, and the loot is in those bags. You head straight for the salad bar for a sensible tuck-in. But did you know that a bowlful of greens that includes some cheese and a creamy dressing could run over 1,000 calories and 60 grams of fat?
Learn the art of turning out low-cal salads and dressings from Nita Mehta. This cookery expert and author of over 150 cookbooks will teach you – and cheerfully feed you – her killer pack of five salads and dressings. Salsa topped, red bean and chickpea, light meal pasta, crispy coconut and feta, and a true blue Hawaiian. That’s five trips to heaven, all in her three-hour session held once a month.
Mehta also conducts other classes, including sessions on Chinese, mocktails, snacks, sandwiches, and chocolates and desserts. Her culinary classroom is ultra-modern, complete with cameras and large screens, and always filled with students.
So get your foot in the kitchen door.
Nita Mehta Culinary Academy, S-240, Greater Kailash II, New Delhi.
Telephone: 29221645, 29221646.
Website: www.nitamehta.com.
Classes held every month. Next salad class: Saturday, October 14, 2006 from 3-6pm.
Price: Rs 1,000 per session.
All our mums hoped we’d embrace some of their traditions – keep and treasure our long locks, marry men (not women), learn how to boil water.
Newcomer store and brand Ruh is the ideal solution to the problem. It’s old meets new, East meets West, traditional meets contemporary.
Since last January, Ruh has opened stores in Mumbai, Kolkata, and now in swish Khan Market. Owner Puja Singhal says her plans to launch a new outlet every three months are on course. The fourth Ruh is due out anytime, in the swank new mall coming up in Saket, and after that, she’s looking southwards, to Bangalore.
Housing talent from the National Institute of Design, they’ve knocked out some fantastic clothing. We’re talking wraparound kurtis from a special weave of Maheswari silk and cotton that’s ideal for almost-everyday wear. Skirts, shirts and sarees. The cuts are clean and stylish, and incorporate unusual motifs in metal rivets and gota.
It’s like nothing out of your mama’s wardrobe.
Ruh, 73 B Khan Market, New Delhi. Telephone: 2460-1324.
Prices from Rs 800 - Rs 3,000.
Lucknowi chikankari is the stuff of legend. These elegant hand-embroidered robes and splendid Mughal-inspired churidar kameezes have filled the closets of courtesans and queens. Not to mention delicate Madhubala in Mughal-E-Azam or demure Meena Kumari in Pakeezah.
The Neemrana shop’s collection of silk bandhini-printed tunics in deep teals, magentas and rusts, and crushed skirts with beaded waist belts is bound to become legendary as well.
Walk through the turquoise shutter-style doors of this quaint boutique, which neighbours several other chikankari outposts in Opera House, and you’ll be drawn to the round wooden table that invites you to touch and feel the silks, chiffons, crepes and cottons.
Pick up georgette block-printed long tunics and blouses. Or drape yourself in dress material or saris, which are housed in a glass cupboard-style armoire (which oozes antique as well).
One thing’s for sure – Nostalgia makes for great fashion.
Neemrana, Purshotam Building, Ground Floor, New Queen’s Road, Opera House, Mumbai.
Telephone: 23677780.
Tunics and skirts start at Rs 2,500.
Are you in need of some exercise, but hate to work up a sweat? Kyoorius Exchange is a gym for your mind.
Its bright red and yellow exterior and misspelled signboard welcome design-oriented professionals and enthusiasts to gather and throw around a couple of markers or ideas to brainstorm.
Kyoorius Exchange is a library, lab and shop, filled with books on design, digital design software, art supplies, and reams and reams of paper. They’ve even set up Macs with access to royalty-free stock image websites – graphic designers rejoice.
Membership gets you into workshops and seminars conducted by design professionals from around the country, as well as other freebies. You can head over anytime inspiration strikes, or when you’re in need of a little creative grease to get those mental gears moving.
Warning: They can’t be held responsible for random acts of creativity – even if you’re inspired to scribble on your walls in crayon.
Kyoorius Exchange, E-119 Kalkaji, New Delhi. Telephone: 41315591/92.
Website: www.kyooriusexchange.com.
Annual membership fee: Rs 2,500 for professionals and Rs 1,500 for students.
Are you in need of some exercise, but hate to work up a sweat? Kyoorius Exchange is a gym for your mind.
Its bright red and yellow exterior and misspelled signboard welcome design-oriented professionals and enthusiasts to gather and throw around a couple of markers or ideas to brainstorm.
Kyoorius Exchange is a library, lab and shop, filled with books on design, digital design software, art supplies, and reams and reams of paper. They’ve even set up Macs with access to royalty-free stock image websites – graphic designers rejoice.
Membership gets you into workshops and seminars conducted by design professionals from around the country, as well as other freebies. You can head over anytime inspiration strikes, or when you’re in need of a little creative grease to get those mental gears moving.
Warning: They can’t be held responsible for random acts of creativity – even if you’re inspired to scribble on your walls in crayon.
Kyoorius Exchange, 5 Garment House, 37/43 Dr Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai.
Website: www.kyooriusexchange.com. Telephone: 24912732/33.
Annual membership fee: Rs 2,500 for professionals and Rs 1,500 for students.
You’ve tried the skin products you’ve seen on the flawless models in the pages of Vogue. Admit it – those creams and masques don’t cut it for the humid weather in our city.
But there’s new hope – Dr. Clara L. Chee designs skin care products specifically for Mumbai’s tropical climate at her new Clara International Spa, which opens in Powai this weekend.
Trendylicious got a sneak peek at this Malaysian import’s white walls, bright lights and signature quiet atmosphere where facials, skin treatments, massages and slimming techniques will be available. Everything is 100 percent natural (the words squeeze, peel and bleach are blasphemy here.)
Clara’s offers treatments and products for every skin group – they’ve broken the usual labels of normal, oily and dry down into more specialised categories. Try the blue lotion for tired eyes, or the gentle face wash.
Soon you’ll have the models wondering what your secret is.
Clara International, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai. Telephone: 40052427/8787.
Website: www.clarasalons.co.in.
Skin treatments start at Rs 750. Hair and nail styling, waxing and men’s services also available.
Your idea of exercise is a sprint to the fridge to grab a snack during the commercial breaks in Friends. Sure, you’ve tried gymming, but that’s not really your scene. Yoga? You’d love to.
Two reasons to try artistic yoga at the Bharat Thakur Institute: they offer private classes in your own home and techniques that burn mega calories.
Before you start, one of the institute’s eight yoga instructors (all trained by Bharat Thakur, himself) will assess your fitness goals and chart out a programme just for you. Each hour-long class combines static exercises with isometric or dynamic techniques to help you really sweat it out. Focus on different body parts, like abs and lower body (say bye-bye, big butt), cardio, strength training, and a constantly changing list of asanas will ensure that you’ll never get bored.
It’s just what you need to get yourself up and running.
Bharat Thakur Institute, S-168, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi. Telephone: 9810374432, 9810125887. Website: www.bharatthakur.com.
Personal classes cost Rs 1000 per class. Group classes are also available at the studio for Rs 2500 per month.
Pre-Diwali card parties, Laxmi Pooja, visits to exchange Diwali gifts. Lots of reasons to want to look your best.
Score stand-out outfits after you tour the three-day Fashion Ex’06 at Delhi’s Park Royal this weekend.
Stalls offering kurtis, saris, suits or western outfits by young and old designers will answer your wardrobe worries. And the accessory section will help you complete your look. Wares from fashion designer Umesh Vashisht, veteran designers Satya Paul, Ashima & Leena and jewellery designing duo Mumtaz & Pallavi are sure to catch your eye.
There will also be help on hand for your visage – makeup and hair expert Ambika Pillai will give individual consulations.
And just in time for the festivals, check out the décor section to dress up your home as well.
Already making that long shopping list, are you?
Fashion Ex’06, October 6-8, Intercontinental Park Royal, Nehru Place, Delhi. Telephone: 9811199002.
Free entry.
When the wind rustles and the thunder rumbles, you would usually want to run for cover. That is unless you’re at Tetsuma, Japanese for tornado, and the newest Japanese restaurant in town.
Tetsuma’s elegant lounge bar greets you as you walk in, as does their cellar of exotic imported wines. Potted Frangipani plants and a statue of Buddha add to the serene, stylish atmosphere. With sliding glass partitions between each table, your gossip will remain as private as your dining.
Owners Aditya Kilachand and Vikrant Choughule blended elements of various Japanese fine dines from abroad to create their Mumbai offering, paying attention to vegetarian fare as well. Begin with the sushi, the Yamyam chicken in Korean sauce, or the crispy corn water chestnut in schezwan sauce. For the main course, we recommend the Bulgogi, sliced beef Korean barbeque, and Phat Tung Nuok, bean curd and bean sprout stir-fried with garlic soy sauce. The icing on the cake is definitely the blueberry cheesecake.
Tetsuma is surely cooking up a storm.
Tetsuma, 41/44, Mon Repos, Minoo Desai Marg, (Next to Prive) Colaba, Mumbai.
Telephone: 22876578, 22876551.
Prices: Approximately Rs 2000 per person.
