Cocoa and Jasmine – Issue 2

Cocoa and Jasmine Issue 2 is available now on loremnotipsum.com. A year ago, The Craft Project was born out of my personal interest in material culture, especially textiles. The project took me on a craft journey across north India, meeting people like the craftspeople themselves, connoisseurs, buyers, and other stakeholders. The project soon took on a life of its own and shaped itself into a series of interviews and documentation, followed by two curated textile exhibits and a panel discussion.

In this issue, I wanted to offer a glimpse into the various themes that are shaping contemporary visual culture, and tap into this intangible dialogue through a long-form journalling of conversations and collaborations. This is a compilation of everything I’ve experienced and learnt this year about creative entrepreneurship, independent spaces, multidisciplinary artists and designers, intercultural exchange, global identity and diversity due to migration and travel, material anthropology, and thoughtful travel. People and places continue to inspire me and feed my curiosity. And so the Cocoa and Jasmine universe continues to expand — through questions, critiques, contribution — and through bringing a creative community together. I hope you feel the love I put into this.

Cocoa and Jasmine magazine is from India and facilitates multi disciplinary and cross-cultural collaborations and conversations between various creatives, organisations and cultural entrepreneurs. We engage with the community both online and offline, for which we started with an independent publication last year that focuses on visual documentation of crafts, arts, and design with relation to place and travel. Our content includes interviews, photo essays and journals, design guides, special projects on material culture, events and artist features. Through the publication, we offer an alternative approach to Indian arts and culture. We also curate independent exhibits and discussions open to public that brings together a community of creatives in different cities around the world, thus Our initiatives connected new networks. Our boutique consultancy, conceptualises and executes many multi cultural projects that involve documentation, curation and art direction with institutions, foundations, collectives, artists, brands and spaces. Our Mission is: To voice contemporary Indian arts, crafts and design globally that are rooted in tradition on a global platform, thus making them more accessible and inclusive. Celebrate diversity in culture through materials. Facilitate collaboration and dialogue within the creative community of makers and curators globally, thus a promoting cross-cultural work and exchange of ideas that have a socio-cultural impact. Understand the value of cultural documentation. Create an ecosystem to support design led slow living. Promote creative entrepreneurship with a focus on women. Contribute to developing cultural and creative infrastructure in the country in a meaningful way. Provide a platform for people to question and critique the cultural environment we live in.

Content

CONVERSATIONS
Making soulful brands
Anita Lal of Good Earth
Shamil Thakrar of Dishoom

The Sari
Rta Kapur Chisti
Sanjay Garg

Experiential Retail
Gautam Sinha of Nappa Dori
Samyukta Nair of Clove

MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
Museums of India and Architecture of Diversity
A Legacy of Art
Textiles Narratives
Duleep Singh at Kensington Palace
In conversation with DAG and Sotheby’s

TRAVEL
Design Journal
Living at the barbican

Wellness Journal
Vana

Spiritual Journal
Maheshwar

CRAFT
A Heritage Atelier from Banaras
Art and the Artist, Mata nI Pachedi
Block Printing and its many interpretations Journey of Maheshwari textiles
Bengal and textiles
A Social Enterprise
A Textile Dialogue

OUR STORY
Making Indie Magazines
Majestic Disorder
Suitcase

Women Entrepreneurs
Farzana Khan
Shilpa Sharma

Independent Curators and Writers
Dal chodha
Riya Patel

FOCUS
London Design Festival
Design Futures
Made in India Collective
Indian Artists
Cafe and Bookstores

Details: Cocoa & Jasmine – Issue 2

196 pages