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Ethnic Indian style.

© Madhavi Sudarsan

For centuries foreigners have invaded India. There were about 600 small and big kingdoms in the pre-British era. Then she was ruled by British for about 150 years. All this has resulted in a vast diversity, which made its impact in almost every aspect including design style.

British brought strong western influence on Indian design style. Almost all the structures built during that time were Victorian in style. The interior design too changed. The focus shifted from humble living to luxurious living. As people became aware of the concept of design styles adapting some style or other became fashionable. However, with the awakening of the country style things started changing. Preserving cultural heritage became the 'in' thing.

India has a variety of climates. At north there are snow-capped mountains while a long coastline surrounds south. Western India has desserts whereas Eastern India has lush greenery. Naturally all these elements have given birth to a variety of ethnic styles.

However, today western Indian design style has become the most recognized ethnic style.

Rajasthan, the western state of India is a dessert area. Colorful homes and fabrics have compensated this lack of color in the environment.

Houses are made up of mud and stones. They are usually painted white or pink. Then they are adorned by various motifs painted in brown or red color. The inner walls are decorated with the murals made of white mud and mirrors.

The bright colored, embroidered and mirror worked fabrics are the integral part of their designing. They use natural dyes to dye the fabric. The embroidery on these fabrics is quite intricate and painstaking. They use these fabrics for almost everything right from dressing up themselves to dress up the windows, beds, and furniture. Similar pieces with some theme are used as wall hangings. The main emphasis is on bright colors. This style looks more like a festival of colors.

Since marble and granite are abundant in this area, marble flooring and granite counter tops are common in houses that belong to higher income group. Sometimes marble and granite are also used to make built in sitting or work area.

In this original style the furniture is simple, hand painted, & bright colored. (this furniture comes from the place called Sunkheda) However, since the traditional carved furniture goes nicely with this style people prefer using it to the bright colored furniture.

For the sake of convenience most households have abandoned low level sittings however extra sitting is always provided in the form of mats and futons which can be rolled away when not in use.

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