VarnikaDesigns has started ‘Jugnu’ - A monthly book club to read, reflect, and share knowledge. Books, books and more books for finding the Jugnu - the glow - in you 🙂
JUGNU: the book club by VarnikaDesigns – let’s find the glow in our lives
Designing Narratives: How ‘The Museum Memories Project’ Inspired Kareena Vaswani
Kareena Vaswani shares her insights on how ‘The Museum Memories Project’ has profoundly influenced her belief in the power of design as a tool for cultural preservation and storytelling.
Why MuMe Matters: Embracing Cultural Heritage
Why MuMe Matters: Embracing Cultural Heritage Usha Varia, Founder, Samoolam, shares with Poulomi, her strategies of empowering the youth of Gaya, Bihar, through cultural heritage by engaging them in what they like to do, from digital marketing to making reels.
Reflecting on Museums: Do They Still Matter in Today’s World?
Wishing everyone a happy, safe, peaceful and healthy 2025. VarnikaDesigns will be 15 this year! We will be reflecting, introspecting, discussing, debating - keeping following us. Thank you 🙂
International Museum Expo, New Delhi, 18 – 20 May, 2023
I was honoured to be invited by the Ministry of Culture as a speaker on International Museum Day to talk about the oral history documentation project called ‘The Museum Memories Project’ – it was found at the beginning of the Covid global lockdown that to bring the world closer through sharing of personal memories from museums visited by anyone in any corner of the globe. It is a free digital archive and resource platform of histories, heritage, cultures of all people, making them accessible and inclusive to everyone 🙂
Happy Women’s Day!
This 2023 Women's Day post is dedicated to the most awesome Priyanka Tolia and her Design Studio Chitku – a design and craft collaborative established in 2009. Wishing you, your team and this little girl the very best wishes for a peaceful life, full of love and safe women's day, every day!
The story of the dazzling ‘Gota’ embroidery: its past, present and future
Amidst all the glitter, glamour and glitz of yesteryear the shimmer and shine of Gota stands out! It has captured in its weave the fantasy of the times. Travelling from the markets of the Western Indian cities of Surat, Ajmer where they were manufactured, Gota came to be the ubiquitous accessory of every royal garment. Let us know of the history of the exquisite Gota embroidery based on original fieldwork.
Albert Hall, Jaipur
The Rajasthan State government run Central Museum in Jaipur is still popularly known as the Albert Hall. It was designed by architect Sir Swinton Jacob inspired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, in the Indo – Sarcenic style and opened as a Museum in 1887. It was built to commemorate the visit of Albert,... Continue Reading →
Early Indian photography history at Jaipur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9x_ht9eQas Dr Asok Kumar Das is an Art Historian, Author, Former Director, City Palace Museum, Jaipur. He is an expert with 40 years of experience in the field of museums, museology and curation. This interview reveals the history of early Indian photography through the work of Sawai Ram Singh II, the ruler of Jaipur in... Continue Reading →
Adieu, Karni
Adieu, Karni With heart wrenching pain, I write this tribute for one of India's greatest and youngest museum directors, Karni Singh Jasol 💔 s I write this, Karni was spearheading one of the most exciting projects transforming Mehrangarh into one of the super best museums in the world, and we were waiting with bated breath for its unveiling. He had already co curated some of the world’s most amazing exhibitions in the US, based on the Mehrangarh museum’s collection, he was on a spree to take Jodhpur to the world and winning.
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