Skip to content

Floral Glory

In this section, we’d like to share some of the things we love and cherish about our beautiful store– a place we regard as the home of Sarangi – a place where beauty quietly and serenely envelops you.

Flowers speak a language that is understood across borders, cultures and time. At Sarangi, it is for this reason that we chose the flowering tree as our store mural design, a motif that echoes through every room as floral vine borders, along the ceiling.

The mural’s color palette, in jewel tones of orange and green is reminiscent of the rich, deep hues so beloved of Kanjivaram weavers apart from also reflecting the colours of the Sarangi store’s decor. The flowering tree itself – an ever popular Indian textile motif – has a long, fascinating history.

Floral motifs travelled from Persia to India during Mughal rule. In the desert nations where Islam took birth, gardens occupied a special status. The Koran visualizes Paradise as a cool, shady place with abundant water, symmetric, formal gardens and lush trees bowed down with flowers and fruits. Overseas traders later took this floral imagery to Europe. 17th and 18th century Europeans fell in love with these pleasing motifs picked out in radiant colors on cotton fabric known as chintz. The flowering tree was especially popular, featuring a curving trunk, entwining branches and a sumptuous display of flowers, buds and leaves. The bel or floral vine is also a typical Mughal influence.

Traditional artisans would make close, detailed observations of plant structures, how buds emerge from a stem and leaves are attached, and then produce accurate, but stylized drawings. Borders are among the oldest decorative forms, mentioned as far back as the Rig Veda. Typically, the greater part of a border features a repeating motif enclosed by a narrow guard border above and below.

Previous article This Too...