Latest news with #Chinoiserie
Hindustan Times
22-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Hindustan Times
Let your walls talk: 6 stylish wallpaper ideas that turn interiors into storytellers
Walls form the foundation of your space. Don't relegate them solely to the role of a backdrop, thinking your decor pieces will do all the talking. You are missing out on huge potential if you don't utilise your blank walls to the fullest. Think of your walls like empty canvases, each waiting to tell a unique story. It's time for walls to become more than an afterthought. Walls have the potential to become great storytellers for your interiors, bringing more soul to your space. Wallpaper is one way to add character to your space. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Apourva, Co-Founder, Life n Colors, shared how one can amp up the personality of the interiors with the help of wallpapers. She said, 'More than mere ornamentation, wallpapers have the power to anchor a room's identity, shift its emotional temperament, and offer a glimpse into the soul of the home. Whether you're looking to bring in some whimsy, ground a space with cultural richness, or let nature spill in, the right wallpaper can do it all. Wallpaper is more than a backdrop, it's a personal statement that gives your home depth, character, and meaning. Choose styles that reflect who you are, and let your walls do the storytelling.' Apourva shared a detailed guide with us, listing out the 6 wallpapers and everything you need to know on the best suitable ways you can incorporate them into your space A post shared by Wall Curry (@wallcurry) Tropical wallpapers, with their sweeping palm leaves, banana fronds, and wild greenery, channel the slow rhythms of coastal life. They create a space that feels fresh, grounded, and full of natural energy. ALSO READ: Pinteresty walls 101: Complete guide on how to transform your interiors with aesthetic wainscoting A post shared by House of Ikari (@houseofikari) Inspired by traditional Indian mural art and miniature painting, heritage wallpapers turn your walls into storytellers. Think mythological motifs, hand-drawn figures, and age-old tales reimagined through a contemporary lens. A post shared by Mackenzie Zwick (@mackenziepageinteriors) These wallpapers draw from Chinoiserie art but may include Indian flourishes such as peacocks, flowering trees, and delicate vines. The result is romantic and stately, like stepping into a painting that quietly commands attention. A post shared by Life n Colors (@lifencolorsdesigns) A contemporary take on Madhubani and other folk traditions, this style blends intricate hand-drawn forms with muted clay or beige palettes. The look is earthy, minimal, and full of cultural nuance. Bridges heritage with modern aesthetics and makes your space soulful, decorative, and meditative. A post shared by Life n Colors (@lifencolorsdesigns) Timeless gardens featuring birds in mid-flight, flowering trees, and curved branches, this style is refined, familiar, and eternally elegant. A post shared by Paige Kontrafouris (@paigekontrafouris) Inspired by the golden-hour light, these wallpapers bathe your walls in cinematic sepia, those warm, amber-brown hues that feel like memories suspended in time. Choose designs with delicate floral silhouettes or faded foliage to bring in some drama and nostalgia. ALSO READ: Give life to your room with wall treatments: Complete guide on different types and how to choose the right one
Newsweek
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
The Continued Relevance of (Teaching) Duke Ellington
In an age where the term "relevance" feels like the single dominant tenant of nearly all of us in the education community, the significance of the work of Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington continues to be felt by thousands of students worldwide. Composing and arranging one of the most diverse bodies of work of any composer, Ellington's music endures as the foundation for modern jazz and as a challenge for educators at all levels. As the world celebrates the 126th birthday of our greatest composer, we should mark the lessons Ellington's music teaches us. Ellington's music was written for his unique group of musicians, and he tailored each piece to their personal idiosyncrasies. The luscious upper register of Harry Carney's baritone saxophone, the growling trumpet of Cootie Williams, and the sinuous lyricism of Johnny Hodges were all considered when composing music. They inspired Duke to the heights of creativity, and his work exhibited the best of his genius—the ability to create a canvas of colors that allowed his collaborators to be the best version of themselves. Trumpeter Marcus Printup (center) performs with students from Seattle's Roosevelt High School at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition in 2012. Trumpeter Marcus Printup (center) performs with students from Seattle's Roosevelt High School at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition in 2012. Photo Courtesy of Frank Stewart for Jazz at Lincoln Center As a young man, Duke was known as a painter. As an adult, he was the greatest musical painter of our time, creating portraits of places, people, and experiences. The combination of colors in Mood Indigo from 1930—low register clarinet, muted trumpet, and muted high trombone—went against all convention and produced a revolution in the experimental nature of jazz composition. In 1940's Sepia Panorama, the cyclical A-B-C-C-B-A form includes an otherworldly chorus of piano and bass call and response that predates bebop by half a decade and includes whole-tone scales and unheard of melodic bass played by 21-year-old Jimmy Blanton. His masterwork, The Tattooed Bride (1948), is a three-movement composed tome jazz poem tour de force of thematic development that utilizes a simple four-note motif as the basis for an 11-minute romp. Elegant, stomping, then tender, this piece is now being recognized as one of the greatest works for jazz orchestra. Composer Duke Ellington poses for a portrait at the piano in circa 1930. Composer Duke Ellington poses for a portrait at the piano in circa 1930. MichaelIn 1971's Chinoiserie, the 10-bar modal melody harmonized in intervals of fourths is accompanied by a bass and drum groove that predates the "world music" movement by more than a decade. Jazz at Lincoln Center has played a major role in spreading the gospel of Ellington. This year, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our signature education program Essentially Ellington, a high school jazz band program and national festival that has distributed nearly 400,000 copies of his music. That music has been performed, studied, and played by over 1 million young people worldwide. Decades of Essentially Ellington have taught us that this music offers valuable lessons that are "deeper than notes." First, it's about the group. Duke understood that the individuals in his band were greater as a unit and that sacrifice was required. Often, the impact of a group of like-minded people is more profound, more lasting, and more important than that of an individual. To hear Ellington's band stomping through the opening of Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue or the sax soli of Cotton Tail is to experience a sublime understanding of the power of a group. The Duke Ellington Orchestra performs "Take the A Train" with singer Betty Roché in the film "Reveille with Beverly," released January 1943. The Duke Ellington Orchestra performs "Take the A Train" with singer Betty Roché in the film "Reveille with Beverly," released January 1943. Bettmann / Getty Images Second, your voice is unique and significant. Compositions featuring his greatest soloists including Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, Jimmy Hamilton, and Paul Gonsalves are portraits of artists that became archetypes for jazz. The freedom of expression that Ellington gave his musicians is nearly unprecedented. All styles of jazz were encouraged, from his own stride-based piano to the bebop influence of Clark Terry to Gonsalves' pre-Coltrane harmonic adventurousness—it's all there for one to experience and to make one's own. Third, the blues is always with us. Pain, suffering, and loss is an inevitable part of the human condition, and Duke wrote the blues into everything he created. His most sophisticated works incorporate the blues, sometimes in their "Sunday Best." He teaches us that it's OK to feel, and this music can help us get through some of life's toughest moments. By using the blues in various forms—in rhythms, colors, and musical elements—Ellington established a personal philosophy of self, or the ability to be oneself in all situations. This can help young people today, who may feel constantly bombarded to be something different than who they are to be themselves in any situation—and thrive! Music education is in a challenging moment. The increased pressure on educators and the cultural divides that saturate media continue to frighten, isolate, and separate us. And this has created a critical moment of inflection. The music of Duke Ellington has the power of multi-generational relevance. The lessons he taught the world nearly a century ago can still help us today. All of us responsible for educating our young people can continue to unapologetically seek out the very best of our art and use the music of our greatest composer to elevate, inspire, and challenge them for generations to come. Todd Stoll is an experienced performer, Duke Ellington expert, author, and educator. He serves as the vice president of education at Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) in New York City, which continues to afford him the opportunity to bring jazz education programs to people of all ages. Since he joined the organization, JALC has produced nearly 50,000 education events in the U.S. and around the world and an online educational portal that has attracted over 30 million views. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
South China Morning Post
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
These bespoke, hand-crafted wall coverings keep traditional skills alive
The Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris took two centuries to build; 15 hours to be almost lost to fire; and five years to reconstruct after that devastating 2019 inferno. But what does all this have to do with high-end wallpaper? Advertisement If not for traditional skills passed down through the ages, says couture-wallpaper doyenne Laura Cheung Wolf , one of architecture's greatest medieval achievements might never have been rebuilt. It's why the founder of home decor and lifestyle brand Lala Curio feels it is imperative to keep training new generations of artisans, like those who hand-paint and embroider her dreamy Chinoiserie wallpaper using a centuries-old gongbi (meticulous detail) technique. Lala Curio founder Laura Cheung Wolf debuted a Feuillage ('foliage') collection of wall coverings at Paris Déco Off in January. Photo: Rodrigo Rize 'That 800-year-old crafts can be revived in a five-year time frame is thanks in part to modern innovation, but also because these crafts – ancient woodworking techniques, hand-painted murals and restoration of stained-glass windows – have been passed down through generations,' she says, returning to her Notre-Dame reference. 'Europe has put so much energy in fostering these old crafts that when the skill is needed, it's right there.' The act of harnessing ancient knowledge for contemporary design and architecture is gaining traction as consumers seek connection to heritage and craftsmanship. Hand-painted Chinoiserie wall coverings inspired by traditional Chinese art and culture grace grand homes, royal palaces and luxury hotels across the Western world, extending to contemporary spin-offs. The secret sauce of these and other unique wall products, Cheung says, is their authenticity. Splitting her time between homes in Hong Kong and Washington, in the United States, Cheung was back in town ahead of the May 1 opening of the Lala Curio flagship showroom at The Peninsula Hong Kong Advertisement This year marks 11 years since the debut of her first Lala Curio in Wan Chai's Star Street Precinct, but it's been three years since her brand has had a physical shopfront here. (Not that Cheung hasn't been busy, rolling out Lala Curio globally with distributors in Britain, the Middle East, Thailand and the US.)
The Guardian
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Met reveals feminist take on porcelain that ‘has always elicited a strong reaction'
Chinoiserie – the European practice of imitating Chinese aesthetics – flourished throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, touching areas ranging from home decor to gardens, architecture and even the literary arts. The Met's fascinating new exhibit, Monstrous Beauty, takes an innovative look at the practice by showing the significant role it played in shaping modern womanhood, and offering compelling arguments about how it can revise our ideas of women and femininity. According to Iris Moon, who curated Monstrous Beauty, chinoiserie was first a part of the male domain, as 'princely' collectors would fill up neat cabinets with artifacts designed within the aesthetic. But as chinoiserie became more popular and moved more into the realm of everyday commerce, it was women who began to most spectacularly partake in it. Moon identifies Mary II, who ruled England alongside her husband William from 1689 to 1694, as a key player in the transition of chinoiserie from male-led collections to the stuff of everyday women. 'Mary II really personalized the language of chinoiserie,' she told me. 'She makes this consumption of exotic luxury goods a part of her power and presence.' It was while living in Holland that Mary first came upon chinoiserie, developing an extensive collection of the ceramics. When Mary was installed as queen following the Glorious Revolution, she brought this collection back with her, shepherding an entirely new aesthetic to England. 'She goes to Holland as a teenager with William, discovers this treasure trove of luxury objects that are being acquired through the Dutch East India Company, and develops her own taste,' said Moon. 'By the time she comes back to England to become queen, she makes sure to bring back all of her stuff. She makes this consumption of exotic luxury goods a part of her power and presence.' Monstrous Beauty advances the interesting argument that Mary, who had a series of miscarriages but did not give birth to an heir before her death from smallpox at age 32, birthed something quite different: namely, a style that women throughout England were profoundly influenced by. 'I wondered what would it mean to shift that narrative of giving birth, from giving birth biologically to giving birth to a style,' Moon said. 'We think of her as giving birth to chinoiserie as a way that women can shift their space by occupying it with all these porcelain vases and lacquers and things.' Through the popularization of the porcelain figures that were a mainstay of chinoiserie, the aesthetic filled women's lives with images of fantastic beings – goddesses, monsters, sirens and even cyborgs. This contributed to the way that womanhood was constructed in Europe, with consequences down to the present-day. 'The ability to acquire luxuries positioned women as consumers and gave them a kind of power,' Moon said. 'It was thought of as this unruly desire for foreign goods that didn't conform to a set standard.' Beyond figurines, one of the ways that chinoiserie was brought to the homes of middle class women was through elaborate tea sets – Monstrous Beauty features numerous beautiful and elaborate teapots, plates, cups with saucers, tumblers, caddies and more. As the exhibition's catalogue explains, this was in fact a primary way in which tea became synonymous with the British way of life. 'Consumption and taste naturalized this foreign commodity into a fully English habit, a process of domestication that took place in parallel with the transformation of porcelain from a coveted luxury good to a part of daily life,' Moon said. But not everyone was happy about what women were doing to English consumerism. Daniel Defoe denounced the newfound economic energy of women. 'Defoe complains about the fact that Mary created this trend for buying porcelain,' Moon explained. 'He called it a fatal excess, and said that these women were going to drive their families to financial ruin. He had a whole patriotic discourse about how you should be buying British products, not foreign goods.' Women's pursuit of porcelain impacted more than just the British taste for tea or home decor. Moon makes the interesting point that prior to the era of consumerist chinoiserie, the standard of artistic beauty was the nude female body. Against this dominant aesthetic, chinoiserie brought all sorts of fanciful forms – middle-class dining tables could suddenly be home to elaborate porcelain figurines striking dramatic poses, as well as monstrous creatures, like dragons, chimeras, manticores and others. Moon argues that these pieces shifted the aesthetics of the fine arts and opened up newfound creative potential. 'You could get away with saying more uncomfortable and weird things right at this miniature scale,' she said. 'What kinds of associations did people make in seeing these figurines while they were eating? I want to reclaim the historical language that had been applied to chinoiserie around the monstrous as a form of artistic empowerment.' Bringing these aesthetic debates to the present, Monstrous Beauty also showcases contemporary works that Moon sees as springing out of the legacy of chinoiserie. One such piece is Jennifer Ling Datchuk's take on how hair plays into beauty standards, Pretty Sister, Ugly Sister, which shows two porcelain plates sprouting black Chinese hair that has been bleached blond and dyed blue. The hair on one plate is copiously long, the other cropped short. Another standout piece is Lee Bul's remarkable sculpture Monster: Black. 'It's precisely because these works are not chinoiserie that they can illuminate these historical styles,' said Moon. 'They're meant to be a critical lens on to the past, in dialogue visually with the historical works of art.' While Moon is an expert in chinoiserie and has curated a wide-ranging and complex show into its history and contemporary importance, she is not necessarily a fan. 'I don't actually like chinoiserie,' she told me with a smile. 'I've always gravitated to the neoclassical.' Yet, she felt that, as an Asian American woman, it was something she had to examine. 'I knew I was going to have to confront it on some level and ask why I felt such discomfort around this style. Curating this show, I asked, how do I negotiate my own self in relation to this history of the exotic. And I'm not alone. Chinoiserie has always elicited a strong reaction, from its very inception. There's very few people who feel neutral about chinoiserie.' Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie is on show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York until 17 August
Gulf News
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf News
Jumeirah Carlton Tower brings swinging sixties energy to London Fashion Week with Mary Quant tribute
Supplied London Fashion Week has arrived, and Jumeirah Carlton Tower is throwing it back to the era that changed everything. The Knightsbridge hotspot is paying homage to Dame Mary Quant - the queen of the miniskirt - with an exclusive lobby exhibit featuring one of her rare vintage dresses, on display until 28 February. The tribute is a full-on, immersive fashion fantasy that blends British style heritage with high-end hospitality. A flashback to swinging London Mary Quant was not just a designer - she was a movement. With her daring cuts and playful patterns, she defined the rebellious, youth-fueled energy of the 1960s. The vintage dress on display at Jumeirah Carlton Tower captures that revolutionary spirit, offering a glimpse into a time when fashion was fun, fearless, and anything but ordinary. To match the vibe, the legendary floral designers at Moyses Stevens have crafted a gorgeous installation, channeling the dress's punchy colors and bold aesthetic. Fashion you can taste and sip No fashion tribute is complete without indulgence, and Jumeirah Carlton Tower is serving it up in style. The Chinoiserie is offering a limited-edition dessert, featuring layers of vanilla and tonka, almond sponge, exotic fruit cream, and white chocolate flowers in Quant's signature purple and orange hues. The Afternoon Tea experience is a celebration of nature, craftsmanship, and sustainability. Each delicacy is crafted with precision, from the flavourful selection of savoury bites - such as the Coronation Chicken sandwich infused with aromatic spices - to the signature scones, paying tribute to British tradition with creative twists like honey and thyme sour cream. The patisseries, inspired by seasonal botanicals, highlight exquisite pairings, including the Blackcurrant Mont Blanc and Raspberry & Chocolate Cake. Complementing the menu is an expertly curated selection of teas, ranging from the delicate floral notes of Yin Zhen white tea to the rich, aged complexities of Pu-erh. Beyond the culinary artistry, the service is nothing short of impeccable. Attentive yet discreet, the staff anticipate every need with a seamless grace that enhances the experience. From the moment guests are seated, they are guided through the menu with warmth and expertise, ensuring every tea pairing is perfectly suited to individual tastes. Every detail, from the elegant table settings to the precise timing of refills, is executed with a level of care that transforms the Afternoon Tea into an unforgettable indulgence. For those looking to toast to London's most stylish week, La Maison Ani presents 'The Modette' - a cocktail as chic as its inspiration. Created by Bar Manager Matteo Corsalini, this violet-hued concoction is a mix of all that delights. Where fashion meets five-star glamour As Fashion Week takes over the city, this Mary Quant showcase is the ultimate blend of nostalgia and now - where British fashion history meets next-level hospitality. If you're in London, consider this your official invite to step into a piece of style history. For more information, visit Jumeirah Carlton Tower. Sign up for the Daily Briefing Get the latest news and updates straight to your inbox
