Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Bangalore- The Garden City


Karnataka has had a history of Creating beautiful things, like in dance, music and sculpture , and the beauty shines through ages. Together with its heritage , the very first attraction of Bangalore is its flowering trees, and there are some blossoms to feast the eyes during every part of the year and during all phases of the seasonal change.

Bangaloreans have always been fascinated by flowers , and this shows through their  enthusiastically organised flower shows and in the way women adorn themselves with flowers.

The garden city title for Bangalore comes as much as the gardens, avenues , parks , traffic lights, etc within the city , as from the city itself being an entity that contrasts with its rural surroundings.




It is however the planned mix of big canopy shade trees, eye catching flowering trees , which gave Bangalore its deserved reputation of "The Garden City". 
It was Gustav Herman Krumbiegal and his string of able disciplines who invested urban horticulture with the character of landscape architecture.


Facts:

*TOTA , a kannada word which translates as garden, was by contrast “enclosed” and of 4 different kinds:

Tarkari Tota- the kitchen Garden
Tayngana Tota- the coconut garden (and other fruits)
Yellay Tota- Betel leaf garden
Huvina Tota- the flower garden (cultivated by locals who made flower garlands)


Some flowers like the marigold, jasmine, rose etc blossom all year round. These flowers find their way to other markets, homes and temples, but they also move around the city in women’s hair and on deities in vehicles. They are everyday adornments as well as marks of auspicious occasions and felicitations.




Lalbagh Botanical Garden






As my inspiration is flowers,I decided to meet Mrs Indira Chowdhury, who earlier this year had worked on a project in Lalbagh. She helped archive and compile all the old botanical illustrations and photography for Lalbagh.
My meeting with Indira helped me narrow down my vast inspiration of flowers in Bangalore.It also gave me insight to the history of the Lalbagh gardens.Lal Bagh was initially built as a private garden for Mysore ruler Hyder Ali in 1970.This garden was then further developed by his son Tipu Sultan and subsequently the British. During the British rule, alot of exotic flowers were brought , cultured and grown here in these gardens. Now its a home for a variety of exotic and tropical plants and trees, renowned centre for scientific study of plants and botanical artwork and also conservation of plants.

The botanical illustrations had a very Mysore/Tanjor painting style(the leaves are outlined with black) and were mostly done by an artist K Cheluviah Raju.

She advised me to read The Deccan Travisis ,Bangalore Walks and Blossoms of Bangalore.

Research Questions


 *Research questions:

The consumer and market
Who is the target audience?
How does budgeting and cost management work?
What is the value of flowers to other people?
What is their form of engagement with flowers?
What is your opinion on recreating flowers using relatively non perishable materials?
What are the kind of product/accessories available in the market that use flowers as a form?


Materials and techniques
What materials and print techniques will be incorporated?
How can prints be engineered to adapt to changing physical form?
What aspect of the botanical theme can be translated into print?
What kind of floral form is conducive to textile surfaces and the products they would create?

What is the potential of producing a fashion line that is open to transformation?
How can product itself be motivating for consumers to create something new out of it?


Transformation and utility
What are the various utility options possible with textile surfaces?
How can these surfaces be designed to provide for simple and effective transformation by the user?
What kind of techniques would be involved?
What is the extent of consumer engagement?
 Does one have to wait for the textile surface to age to create something with it?
How to effectively communicate the possibilities of engaging with the fabric?