Father’s day special: Fun notebook for dads!

Here’s a lovely product for Father’s day! Read more and shop away at http://www.tinyurl.com/giftsforpaa 🙂

The Phoenix Company

Fun Notebook For Dads!

This year, let’s spend some quality time with our dads. The Phoenix Company brings to you just the right medium for a quick and easy way to make time in between our hectic routines. A four-part owl doodled notebook with fun activity sheets in between. The book, when opened has a  photo frame on the left and a thank you letter to your dad on the right.

The frame is a perfect way to remind him of your favorite family photo and the letter besides it is an expressive piece portraying all the wonderful things you love about your dad. The book contains 200 unruled pages held together by a wiro-bound. The glossy activity sheets with motivational snippets are sure to inspire your dad to take a little ‘me-time’ and get creative.

There’s a doodled activity sheet after every 25 pages!

1. The ‘Let’s do this’ list 

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Gifts for the secret Superhero

The Phoenix Company

Our dads are our superheroes in disguise. They are always ready to put on their red cape and swoop in to save the day. Whether it’s a bad day at school or work, whether is a small dispute with mom, or whether it is simply an excuse to go on a spontaneous outing, our dads know exactly what to do. They seem to be the silent whisperers of the house, keeping secrets, sharing stories and knowing exactly when we need a pep-talk!

This father’s day, remind all those superheroes how important their role in our life is. Without them, as kids, we would never have learnt to believe in the impossible, never tried to work harder than we do, and never believed that a little magic can be found even in the darkest of times.

The Phoenix Company brings to you two very special mugs for our very special dads.

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The process of Ajrak block printing

The Phoenix Company

Traditionally, in Rajasthan, Ajrak printing required various stages of dyeing with the help of natural material-based dyes. The most common colours used for Ajrak printing are Indigos and blues. These dyes are painted on carved wooden blocks which contain intricate designs and patterns. Earlier, this process required professional wood carvers, but over time and due to a larger demand for the product, a lot of men and women artisans have acquired the skill of wood carving and block printing.

• Step 1:

The cotton cloth is thoroughly washed to rid it of starch, by soaking it in a solution of camel dung, soda ash and castor oil. It is then spread out and kept overnight. By the next morning, the cloth is semi-dry and the process is repeated once again. The process takes place about 7-8 times until the cloth foams when rubbed. After this for a final time, it is…

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Know your fabric: Ajrak block printing

The Phoenix Company

Ajrak printing is a unique form of woodblock printing technique that originated from Pakistan and neighbouring Indian districts of Kutch in Gujarat and Barmer in Rajasthan. Ajrak printing is embedded into the culture of Sindhi people owing to the traditions of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation. Just as block printing, the process of Ajrak printing begins with designs expertly hand-carved into wooden blocks before being dipped in dye and printed on fabrics primarily of cotton and silk.

Source: Secrets to creating the perfect Ajrak print

The term Ajrak is derived from the Arabic word ‘Azrak’ which means Indigo or blue. This reflects Sindh’s historic reputation as a dominant producer of indigo dye and illustrates the extensive use of the indigo shade of blue in traditional Ajrak print, which is still common to this day. The essence of Ajrak printing comes out with its intricate designs of motifs which mainly symbolise…

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A doodled mug for Mother’s day!

The Phoenix Company

Ever thought of surprising your mom with breakfast in bed?

Your mom, who takes care of all your silly tantrums, bribes you into doing work with an extra piece of cake, cooks your special meals and pampers you when you’re having a rough day. She’ll laugh at all your silly jokes and support you, always vouching for your innocence!

You’re in luck, because The Phoenix Company is here to save you this Mother’s Day. Gift your mother a cute doodled mug, celebrating your beautiful relationship with her and making it as personal and as useful as possible.

Transforming this mug into her special needs: 

1. A good old coffee mug: 

 

This Mother’s Day, a little breakfast-in-bed pampering is a must. Luckily, we have just the right mug for you to make a steaming hot cup of coffee for you mom. This mug will instantly remind her of that little secret…

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36 days of type – Mosaics

Hello! I know I’ve been irregular in updating my blog. But here’s some good news. I’m doing the @36daysoftype challenge. I’ve chosen mosaic art as my theme. Take a look at my work on my Instagram page www.instagram.com/phoenixinindia/

The challenge (how I can it) involves a visual representation of 26 letters of the alphabet and numbers 0 to 9.

Mosaic art is not easy when made by hand. It requires immense concentration, effort and patience. But the end result makes it worthwhile. Do take a look at some of my work!

Nature doing its magic yet again!

So here is what I did on my second day in Singapore.

When you’re on vacation, you make it a point to wake up late. No hassles, no deadlines and best of all, no work. Well, at least as of now. So we woke up well past 9. H’s aunt and grandmom has whipped up some delicious cheese and capsicum sandwiches for breakfast. We ended the meal with their signature hot cup of tea. After lazying around, we decided to plan our day. Finally we decided to visit this breathtaking place called Gardens by the bay. We left after a sumptious meal prepared by sweet old granny whose enthusiasm and energy is quite inspiring. 

OUR SITE IS UP!

It gives me great pleasure in telling all of you that my company’s website is finally up. You can now show online with ease and choose from a variety of products. My doodles are available as products too. There are beautiful ikkat jackets, traditionally-made Ajrakh stoles and a lot more in the store.

It will be great if you guys can take a look and pick something that you like!

Here is the link:

www.thephoenixcompany.in

#Veganuary: Day 6 (all meals)

Meeting deadlines have kept me from writing regularly. But today I am going to finish writing the remaining portions of my tryst with vegan food. 

In the morning I had dosa again. So I’m going to skip writing about how it just makes life easy for a vegan when they love dosas.  

Lunch was a normal south Indian combination. There was rice, sambhar and curry. You miss your dollop of ghee on rice but when the food is hot, it’s really not that big a sacrifice. 

Mom, dad and I stepped out for dinner. We went to a rather well-know vegetarian joint in Besant nagar called Eden. They have continental dishes and Indian specialties. They have an impressive new menu. The Podi vegetable uttappam (recipes of which can be found online) is a new addition. So my mother and I ordered one each. 

We asked them to make it as crisp as possible. It was garnished with green capsicum, finely chopped and finger-licking podi generously smeared on the top. All this put together almost always gives you a burst of flavours in your mouth. 

Do try it out next time!

#Veganuary: Day 5 (All meals)

It was Sunday. But I woke up rather early since I had a presentation to make. My mother made some crispy, hot dosas. This time I ate it with some dry yellow dal from this quaint restaurant in Alwarpet, Meena Tai’s. It’s got a nice spread with a cuisine that is completely different for the South Indian palate. I’d say, step in there and experience the refreshing flavours of authentic Maharastrian delicacies. 

I had a friend come over for lunch. So my mother made a bunch of pooris to go with a potato-onion-tomato gravy. It was splendid. Eating it while it’s hot is an unparalleled joy. 

Since some of these pooris were left. I decided to eat them for dinner. While my mother and I pondered over what vegan recipe we could dish out, we had our Eureka moment when we thought of making tacos out of pooris. 

So that’s exactly what I did. I put a base of vegan pesto, topped it with chopped tomatoes, put a slice of vegan cheese on it and slipped it into the oven. Once out after 25-30 seconds, I put some spicy potato chips on it for the added crunch. I recommend that you try it too. I think that the joy of making something new all by yourself, is what makes the whole process all the more exciting. 🙂