styleNorth

StyleNorth reader Christie suggested a post about South Asian style in honour of Diwali, the Indian Festival of Light, which was celebrated over three days last week. Mike and I missed the party but not the colourful extravaganza of Toronto’s vibrant Little India (Gerrard Street East, west of Coxwell), which is where we started our style adventure.

Indian textiles are not for the faint of heart. If neutral is your mantra you’d do well to avoid this part of town. Bold, bright and saturated is where it’s at in Little India and one of the best places to stock up on full-force pillow shams, curtains, runners and bedding is Rang (1413 Gerrard Street East, 416.465.8837), which means colour in Hindi (pictured top).

Designer/owner Trish Mahtani caters to the neighbourhood taste and arranges her wares by colour family (above). She stocks an impressive range of patchwork wall hangings ($39 – $89, below left) and handmade mirrors (below right, small $15, large $25). And speaking of mirrors, Indians appear to love sparkle as much as they love colour—there’s a whole school of embroidery called shisha that incorporates small mirrors into the stitched patterns.

From Little India, Mike and I headed up-market to Liloo (734 Queen Street East, 416.466.8710) where owner Sapna Alim deftly melds the Indian aesthetic with western preferences in a range of bedding, window coverings and soft furnishings (below). Liloo’s goods are made in India and fair trade where possible.

I’m absolutely mad about the bedspread (below left), which is made using carpet weaving techniques with cotton rather than wool. The weight is medium and just a little stiff like a matte lasse, and the best part is the price–just $85 for queen size. Unlike at Rang, Liloo provides many neutral and quietly colourful options.

Sapna knows western fashion is embracing ancient pattern motifs right now and her colour choices are very of-the-moment; the beautiful 100-per cent cotton duvet set, below, is based on Indian rangoli patterns and is reversible. Liloo’s bed sets range from $165 to $275.

The last stop on our own little Silk Route was Kinna Sohna (266 Dupont Street, 416.545.0583) where owner/designer Sartaj Kaur stocks goods from India, as well as from Morocco, Thailand, Laos and Japan. Kinna Sohna carries sumptuous, colourful pillows, bedding and curtains like the other shops we visited but she also stocks felt and jute floor mats (below left, $10 each), colourful Jhumars to hang outdoors or in a child’s bedroom (below centre, $24.95) and enchanting parchment shadow puppets (below right, $29).

You’ll also find wood blocks for hand printing, below left ($5 – $80) and exotic stencils with which to adorn your walls ($5 – $15); decorative torans (door hangings) are believed to encourage good spirits and energy to enter the home.

Sartaj saved the best for last when she unraveled a large, silk embroidered wall hanging made in the village of Bihar. The “museum quality” tree of life is 90” x 108” and could be used as a coverlet. The $700 price tag seems perfectly reasonable considering the amount and quality of work that went into the piece.