Lounge
Find your unique Christmas aesthetic
Summary
Instead of going the classic route, allow yourself to feel inspired by unique books, films and art projects to curate a rich and deep Christmas look, be it in decor, fashion or food
What is your Christmas language—is it cosy and intimate or luxurious and decadent? Do you unspool your travel experiences on to your table setting, or is a warm corner in your study, surrounded by warm pichvais and minimal abstract paintings, the setting for your informal get-together? When the Lounge team members set out to explore each of their own festive vocabularies, we serendipitously arrived at a visual language, which was soaked in all kinds of cultural influences, but was cushioned by a deep Indian aesthetic. That, to us, embodied a nearly-perfect Christmas language—one which reflected a syncretic spirit of the festival—and spoke to all of us.
So, here we are, on the cusp of Christmas eve, offering a mood board of decor objects, ideas for table settings, and style accessories, informed by this pluralistic idea. Our inspiration lies not in the run-of-the-mill holiday staples, but in films, books and artworks, which address Christmas themes and iconography in a slightly different way.
The occasion is all about compassion, generosity and caring (including self-care), so there is a selection of fashion accessories—to be gifted to friends and family or simply to yourself—inspired by the Issanama, an art project that offers an Eastern gaze on Christian iconography. Commissioned by Sarmaya Arts Foundation and created by Manish Soni, a Bhilwara-based miniature painter, this series interprets stories from the life and times of Jesus rooted in an Indian context. So, you have saris inspired by the architectural motifs in the work The Birth of Christ, a headband fascinator that draws from the cave, and a pair of ajrakh jootis that reflects the shoes worn by subjects in the painting.
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Our table and decor settings have a slightly noir “Ho! Ho! Ho!" feel, with Merry Christmas, a bilingual mystery thriller, and Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather—book 20 in the Discworld series—colouring our palette rich and dark. Sumptuous velvets can be combined with tapestries, brass and fibre paper lamps to instil the decor with a subtle regional flavour. Explore the rich craft and textile traditions by considering using handcrafted pillars, candles and figurines.
So, this season, delve deep within, find your own holiday spirit—a culmination of all the experiences that have been part of your journey so far. No matter which tone dominates your celebrations—vivacious reds, sombre blues, flourishes of black or hints of grey—let it be part of a festive lexicon that truly reflects you.
ART COUTURE
If you look at the 32 paintings, which are part of the Issanama art project, you can see a dialogue between the past and the present, and the East and the West. The life and times of Jesus—from his birth to the moment he converted water to wine, and more—have been depicted in a miniature painting tradition, which was prevalent across the princely courts in India in the medieval period. However, these are not works from the 16th-17th century, but were created 2018 onwards, when Paul Abraham of Sarmaya, a Mumbai museum that draws from his vast collection and represents the diverse artistic traditions of the subcontinent, wanted to explore a project based on identity. “We do a lot of commissions, and Issanama was one of the big ones with Manish Soni, a miniature painter from Bhilwara, Rajasthan," says Abraham.
This passion project started with him dwelling on the fact that all of Christian iconography was so Western in its style. “I belong to a Christian community called the Knanayas, which migrated from southern Turkey in the 4th century and settled in Kerala. India is home to me, and I don’t think of myself as anything but Indian," says Abraham. “However, all the iconography that we are exposed to is very Western."
He believes the reason for it might lie in the way Christianity spread across the world. During Jesus’s life and immediately after, it turned eastwards. However, later, when the Roman emperor embraced Christianity, the power centre shifted to the West. Abraham had been thinking for some years about what a depiction of Jesus’s life, rooted in the East, would look like. And that started this one-of-a-kind collaborative project with Soni. The format of the paintings was based on the illustrated manuscript of Hamzanama, commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1562.
“Akbar loved storytelling but couldn’t read, so he commissioned artists from across geographies to convert all the big stories and epics into a visual form. While the style was miniature, the size larger than the conventional ones," says Abraham. So, Issanama followed in Hamzanama’s path, with the same size, stylistic learnings, use of handmade colours, and more.
Each work in the Issanama is an outcome of much thought and deliberation, with Paul sifting through the many stories from the life and times of Jesus to choose the ones that would lend themselves to this unique project. Together with Soni, they worked on the minutest of details—which works needed to feature a gold tint, which ought to be multihued and some that needed a minimal aesthetic. The scene in which Jesus performs the miracle of converting water into wine is set amidst a bustling wedding, with a marriage procession making its way in one part of the canvas, and vast crowds populating the imagery. In the middle of it all, one can see the lone figure of Jesus exuding a sense of calm as he gets ready to convert jars of water into wine to help out the host. In the diptych, The Dream and The Flight to Egypt, you feel as if you are leafing through an illuminated book of stories, with many tales weaving in and out of a larger narrative. From the prophecy by the Three Wise Men to Herod’s decree of killing every first born child to Joseph’s dream urging him to go to the land of the pyramids, each story has been contextualised in a way that is rooted in a regional context.
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It helped that Soni was not too well-versed with the stories from the Bible. Abraham spent hours chatting with him about the background to the stories. Soni would then look at the stories from the context of the miniature painting tradition practised in Rajasthan, and use his imagination to convert the stories into a visual depiction. The 32 works done as part of the project not just lie at the intersection of art and history but also highlight the plurality and syncretism that is inherent in Indian culture.
“We are more or less at the end of the project now. Twelve works were shown at the Serendipity Arts Festival 2018 as part of a larger show by Ranjit Hoskote. But this is the first time we are publicly talking about the entire series," says Abraham.
— Avantika Bhuyan
The paintings’ bright colours, flowy drapes, Mughal architecture, traditional objects and nature-influenced motifs inspire our list of beautiful accessories and garments you can gift your loved ones or yourself
Compiled by Pooja Singh.
STREAM A VINTAGE-NOIR MOOD
It’s hard to escape Christmas movies this time of the year. One of the elements that catches the eye is the decor of the homes that the plot is set in, such as the weathered yet cosy sofa with a throw flung on carelessly, the fireplace where the family or the romantic pair sits, the tiny adornments with a touch of whimsy. The colour palette of most holiday films, from Home Alone and Love, Actually to the Christmas-favourite, The Holiday, tends to be on the brighter side with a flush of bright reds, snowy whites and rich greens to convey the cheeriness of the season.
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This year, if you are looking to adorn your home for the festival, why not steer clear of cliched decor? Go instead for a vintage style, which exudes decadence. Choose a different kind of movie for inspiration such as Merry Christmas, the bi-lingual film directed by Sriram Raghavan starring Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi. The mood of the room, where most of this mystery unfolds, is noir, with deep colours dominating the palette. The reds in the curtains and the rich blue velvet spell luxury, and the patterned wallpaper adds a certain touch of intimacy to the otherwise opulent space.
Certain charming details can be part of your mood board as well—the quirky “caged bird", the typewriter tree ornaments, the Origami winged creatures, the Tiffany table lamp, the snowglobe, the Art Deco-inspired mirror, the vintage record player. These carry a whiff of a bygone era.
Sahiba Madan, principal architect, Insitu Design Studio, and founder, Kalakaari Haath, Mumbai, finds Merry Christmas a smorgasbord of decor ideas. She likes the ways in which the dark-hued furniture, layering of patterns on the walls, and mood lighting come together. Her advice is to focus on specific objects rather than making big changes to the decor.
“Go for cushions, art or decor pieces in deep maroons, rusts, mustards and emerald greens," she says. Mix and match objects and home linen—if one features patterns running all across, then ensure that the other has a minimal aesthetic with a centrally placed motif. Linen with embroidery and intricate thread work can add a touch of warmth.
Lighting is crucial to recreate the Merry Christmas feel. “Opt for low lighting, with different styles of table and floor lamps placed in the corners of the room," says Madan. “Candles are a great idea too—choose those with musky or wood profiles to complete the look."
Also read: How to plan the perfect serve for a house party
— Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran
A FABLED TABLE
Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather is a Yuletide story like no other. Hogfather is the writer’s version of Santa Claus and Hogwatch his Christmas, and Pratchett questions age-old beliefs reflected in children’s stories. The wildly imaginative plot involves Father Christmas being killed and then brought to life by the novel’s protagonist Susan Sto Helit, the granddaughter of Death. There is a nefarious plan to murder him by an assassin nicknamed Teatime and his gang of helpers, one of whom is called Chickenwire. If the dark theme is palatable to you, go off the beaten track to base your holiday table on this unusual book. The author has sprinkled multiple references to food throughout the book, thus offering a reference for setting a unique Christmas table.
Pune-based tablescape designer Shilpa Banerjee, who runs Etherial Experiences, suggests choosing decor items that capture certain elements of dark humour, elevated by accents by whimsy. The table cloth, which forms the foundation of the setting, could be a dark colour, like bottle green, midnight blue or maroon, preferably in a thick material. Opt for light-coloured pillar candles placed on vintage holders.
Pratchett’s books are filled with memorable quotes that could serve as great conversation starters, eliciting a chuckle or two. Sample this: “You might as well wonder why we have a God of Wine and not a God of Hangovers". These could be written on small pieces of paper and clipped to name holders. Or, they can be written on scrolls and inserted into bottles for a quaint touch.
Banerjee recommends using dried flowers, or getting dried roses, paint them black, and placing them on napkins. Extend the book’s theme further to your menu curation by naming dishes after the characters and borrowing inspiration from English dishes since Pratchett was British. For instance, you could serve chicken cutlets and call them Chickenwire, and end the meal with petit fours with tea and name them Teatime. The pig is a recurring motif—the Hogfather’s sleigh is pulled by four of them. To complete your tablescape, add one or two pig figurines. These will bring your Christmas meal alive with wry humour.
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If Prachett isn’t to your taste, you could choose any tale that’s your favourite and recreate its mood.
—Jahnabee Borah
