The bird and the bees are here. So are the green creepers blooming with plethora of flowers. The latest collection by Mumbai based designer Shabnam Gupta’s Peacock Life—Jardin (French for Garden)—lives up to its name.
“Each piece is hand-painted with charming creatures perched on dainty vines and leaves, eating the sweet fruit from the trees, capturing the beauty of a summer garden, where the playful birds and bees abound, reminding us of the simple pleasures of life,” says the 50-year-old designer. Her inspiration was the time she spent in her home garden back in the day, and the collection is an outcome of her longing for that serenity in today’s urban surroundings.
The palette exudes a sense of calm. Gupta has chosen the soft English sea green as the base colour and accented it with pink and blue blooms and birds. The decorative oval tray meant to be used as a serving dish, doubles up as a showpiece when decked up with candles, flowers and tea lights. The tissue holder, the edgy planter bin and the magazine holder, are other products that serve both functional and ornamental purposes. “Whatever I design or source, I ask myself whether I’d enjoy keeping it in my home. If the answer is no, it doesn’t make it to my store either,” says Shabnam.
It isn’t surprising that she is picky; most designers are. What, however, stands out is her determination to never settle. That is what led her to launch her own store.
“I was driven by the desire to create pieces I couldn’t find elsewhere. Peacock Life was launched in 2010, and since then, it has satiated by appetite for high-quality, artistically conceptualised decor,” she says.
One of the significant lessons she learnt soon after opening the store was the necessity for new collections. The diverse range of client queries highlighted the unique needs of people. It became clear that satisfying customers couldn’t be achieved with just a few product lines; we had to constantly innovate to keep up with the changing requirements,” says the designer. With a third store on the cards—launching in Karjat soon—Gupta is all set to meet every customer's expectation.
Availability: Peacocklife.com