Tuesday, December 14, 2010

PURPLE TURTLES...a few bright ideas


It’s true! I am in love with anything related to home decor. And good lights and lighting... even more so. After all, the right lighting can add that extra zing to your home. And with a name like ‘purple turtles’ (purple incidentally is my fav colour these days) it’s tough to ignore this store when you walk by it. So the shop-sniffer that I am out, I sniffed out 'Purple-turtles' more than a year ago when I was doing up my place. I was kinda getting bored of the same old bulky/glass lighting stuff that one finds in most stores , not to forget the heavy-duty chandeliers. Naturally, ‘purple turtles’ came as a relief (though the prices at first didn’t ).




The store started by its sweet and unassuming owner, Radeesh Shetty houses interesting lighting options from desi designers across the country and its own produce too. They come in varying budgets right from Rs 1000 upwards. Here are some interesting options from what I saw – 







The highlight of the store was definitely these interesting lighting options from Jenny Pinto, one of the few handmade paper makers in India, based in Bangalore. Jenny designs her own range of lighting and home accessories using her own paper. She makes a unique range of beautiful, translucent and  textured paper from agricultural and craft waste fibres like banana, sisal, mulberry, various rivers grasses, pineapple and more.





One finds a fair variety of options at this store, right from the contemporary steel pieces by Mukul Goyal to screen-printed cloth lamp shades .


Made of raw silk/cloth


For kitsch-lovers, there are the canvas-painted spunky ones and ‘beaded’ ones too.
 canvas-prints. I have this one myself!!


In my experience, I have often found lamp shades with great designs; however the fittings and the lamp-bases in many a case turn out to be very flimsy. And that’s where I found 'purple turtles' delivering some fine quality products. Radeesh claims that the holders and electrical fittings are specially imported and hence the cost. What I liked most about the store are the fine-looking wooden lamp bases which though a bit expensive are totally worth it since they bring so much character and finesse to the lamp shades. 






So next time you are in Indiranagar, drop into ‘Purple Turtles’. Unlike some of its 'posh' counterparts which one would think twice before entering, this store is very welcoming and so are the people inside. And of course, do not forget to mention your source... You heard about them here. 


Address: #128, 1st main, domlur 2nd Stage, near Barbeque Nation, off 100 ft road Bangalore - 560025. Radeesh Shetty – 9741888668 / 08041528039
thepurpleturtles.in@gmail.com