Category Archives: green roots

in search of roof garden

06/08/2007 DesignFlute Leave a comment

I wanted to do today the post about Mumbai’s (possibly) only (organic) rooftop garden. There is a certain BPT building I was in search of. But I lost my way and came back empty handed.

I was caught in traffic wheel.

I lost my way into an unplanned concrete jungle.

After inhaling fumes of pollution for hours, I am so tired I want to turn myself into this green snail and rest in my cocoon.

I am angry too so I threw some flowers randomly into this pond. And afterwords set by this next dark green pond.

It all started with a fairytale.

Into this fairytale garden.

Two of them with kids lived in this home under the greens.

In the backyards the children did their monkey jumping up and down this green rope.

He, the one with greenest thumb sits there and paints the garden. She creats it.

Remembering this she came back from her fury, nice and slow this long stem slide.

All she wanted to do is sit in this romantic courtyard.

The courtyard is surrounded with vertical green walls.

designflute boasting: among about 200 apartments complex her balcony is the greenest!

(Images via Srajan, House of pictures, Turenscape, Richard Schultz, Petrick Blanc vertical garden, Tapestry landscape and GDU)

artist, ceramic, must haves

Eva Zeisel-playful works

06/08/2007 DesignFlute 8 Comments

It seems that all these pieces are about to speak to me. I sat there mesmerized after downloading a lot of images of her work. Designer, ceramist grande old dame Eva Zeisel’s work needs no introduction or great words. They just speak for themselves.

100 year old Eva Zeisel’s more than 75 years of extraordinary work is so alive that it just pushes us to sit up and think about our own life.

Her views on life “Everything is unexpectedly colorful. Life is a present. That is why one shouldn’t have scandals, one shouldn’t have ill humor, one shouldn’t be cranky–that is the moment that is life. One should respect it.“

“All my work is mother-and-child.”- Eva Zeisel.

Her functional objects bend, stretch, reach. They recall birds, leaves, pregnant bodies, belly buttons and fruit with a pared-down elegance.

“Everything I do is a direct creation of my hands, whether it is made in wood, plaster or clay.”–Eva Zeisel

Her exuberant designs (above-belly button room dividers) show her playfulness.

Just a little curve that is perfect and never a wrong curve, that is what her designs is all about.

She is called an industrial (machine age modern) designer and her creations show ‘friendliness’, ‘family relations’.

I keep wondering about her spirits and I keep saluting this unstoppable lady’s works!

A few sites to see her work- (1) , (2) , (3) ,(4)

Images courtesy (& via) Evazeiselorangechicken, SignonSanDiego, Nambe, Mindspring

design screw, green roots

power clay

31/07/2007 DesignFlute Leave a comment

Seemingly there is no correlation among these images and objects. But there is a very strong relation. The power of clay speaks here through its varied magical properties. ?? terracotta roof tile

The cute bird roof tiles are functional as well as decorative. These tiles are mainly used in State of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh along with simple ones. In fact these tiles are now sold as artifacts. These black and red clay tube shape tiles are partially hand made and partially wheel thrown and baked. These tiles give thermal insulation and reduce outside sound. A tiled roof has a sound reduction potential of 30 decibels.

paper ceramic loudspeakers

designer Yong Jieyu

ceramic speakers paper-waste

Ceramic, having one of the lowest sound absorbent co efficiency is one of the best materials for sound amplification. Here clay is used with discarded musical scores to produce thin paper ceramic loudspeakers. Designer Yong Jieyu also scores destiny and contextual meaning of his products.

ecocarat ceramic wall

Inax from Japan has developed this ceramic wall which they say breaths. It is made of a completely natural ceramic material that utilizes tiny holes to absorb excess humidity in the room and release it when the air becomes dry. The wall is called ‘ecocarat’ and it reduces unpleasant smells and harmful airborne toxins too.

What you say clay surroundings!

bamboo, Funtoosh

pop up

25/07/2007 DesignFlute 3 Comments

Heartthrob sculpture : a Mark Meckes creation in bamboo. Is not it fun? And in these images it is not complete yet!

artist, ceramic, utter bliss

simply rosy cute

25/07/2007 DesignFlute 2 Comments

Need I say these creations are simply beautiful!

The Sweden based artist Karin Eriksson mainly works with porcelain, stoneware and terracotta earthenware.

These two signe coffee beaker and one horned cup are great fun.

Karin also has a blog called karin’s style blog. Some everyday by the roadside photos from her blog are great.

This ‘wild strawberries’ is one of them.

design screw, eco, green roots, terracotta, water

beat the heat

20/07/2007 DesignFlute 11 Comments

Beat the heat and quench the thirst natural way. How do you drink water? Bottled? From the refrigerator. When I say I still drink water from terracotta pitcher or ‘matka'(in Hindi), I know you are going to think I am crazy. Or perhaps you would think I live in an era 200 years back. In India too earthen pot, to cool and store water is fast going out of fashion. It is not so with me and a few who swear by the water from terracotta pot. Water becomes cool and more tastier and it actually satisfies my thirst. The terracotta cools the water by up to 14 degrees through a natural evaporation process (More in surahi- another word for earthen pot- different in shape-narrow neck).

earthen pot I use- with tap

traditional matka surahi

‘Surahi’ or better still surahi made with black clay cools water faster and becomes much cooler.

With filter and stylish tap matlo-Doshi-Levien

This is Doshi-Levien terracotta water vessel with diatomite filters, brass tap and enameled tripod stand. ‘Matlo’ or ‘matlu’ is gujarati word for terracotta pot. I wonder why Doshi-Levien is not mass producing their ‘matlo’ in India.

I love my eco terracotta water cooler!

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