Warm weather is finally here, lockdown is (I hope) over, and my brain is locked once again on travel and collecting new inspirations and ideas. I want to see something fresh and exciting after 15 months of lockdown, 10pm curfews, and face masks. After Corona is really over, I want to get on a plane and go to places like Japan, Australia, and India to learn and explore. All are very different cultures and places, yet they’ve intrigued and called out to me now for over 25 years. If there is one thing I’ve learned during this pandemic is that anything can change quite drastically overnight so it’s best to STOP talking so much and START doing, instead. Everyone I talk to feels the same. It’s a shared realization for sure.

I nearly traveled to Jaipur twice, the last time was a few years ago with my friend Leslie for an ACE Camps adventure where we would have studied block printing together. She went, but I stayed behind because my son was too little (still in diapers) and I couldn’t imagine leaving him behind for 14 days. Now that my son is much older (he’s 7!), I’m open to India again and would love to see it.

India fascinates me… I remember when I moved to Europe in 2009 and started seeing how cleverly Europeans mixed Indian prints with more modern, European styles. The French do this so well, along with the British, Dutch, and the Danes. It truly impressed me. That’s also around the time when I discovered Minna Hildebrandt.

Minna is the Founder of the Danish home brand Bungalow, I’ve visited their stands multiple times at the larger European fairs. Like me, Minna has always been fascinated by the beauty and colors of India, the sights, smells, music, people, sounds, and intrigued by their traditional crafts and handiwork.

Minna took her fascination a thousand steps further than I did because she built a brand around her passion and called it Bungalow.

Today, they’re known as one of the best for block-printed home textiles, “My real passion is the Indian patterns of paisleys, florals, borders, and repetition of motifs, and the art of block-printing was love at first sight for me.”

Block printing is thousands of years old and has inspired textile designers around the world for centuries. French Provencal prints are directly influenced by Indian block prints, for example. Minna creates contemporary designs for Bungalow by combining traditional Indian patterns, techniques, and motifs with modern colors and aesthetics - that are also trending here in the western part of the world. Minna also likes that the products tell a story and they were created by real people, not machines.

In addition to block prints, you’ll also notice many linens in solid colors at Bungalow, which adds a very laid-back, modern flair to the collection as a whole. Mixing in solid color helps to visually calm an interior space when you want to work with traditional patterns and prints (like block prints). It’s less full-on. It’s India through the eyes of a Dane. :) You can find cushions, lamp shades, storage boxes, table linens, bedding, and so much more at Bungalow, and everything is very easy to mix and match so you don’t need to be a color or pattern expert to get it right.

“My collections of block-printed home textiles are of the best quality block-printing available in India today and have been designed and produced in collaboration with the finest craftsmen.”

Above, you can see all of the beautiful images showing what Minna has coming up in her Bungalow Autumn/Winter 2021 collection… Yes, it’s June but those of us working in the world of interiors is already looking ahead… And with pleasure. :)

Have a lovely start to your new week!

(Photographs: Bungalow DK)