Forty Red Bangles features on Jaypore

If you haven’t discovered Jaypore.com yet, then you must pay a visit now!

A wonderful, curated collection of unique handcrafted products from across India. We love their products and have been found shopping there a number of times! We love their aesthetic and their philosophy is similar to our very own. It seems we have found a kindred spirit! So we’re thrilled to me one of their featured collection this May-June. Check out the website and indulge in a little shopping

Who We Are

Conecting you to India’s most beautiful products.
Jaypore is about bringing the world a little closer together. We discover the best designs from artisans and craftsmen from all over India, and deliver them at exceptional value to our members.

What We Do

Everyday, visit us to discover a new story. We don’t like to call them sales. We are storytellers; about amazing product, and the people behind them.

What We Sell

Jaypore focuses on products with unique, high quality craftsmanship; unmistakably local designs that feel at home anywhere in the world. Our products include home decor, accessories, jewelry, apparel, gifts, vintage items and more.

Follow the Red Camel…

It’s Monday morning yet again and we’re all looking for inspiration other than the fancy typography splashed across Pinterest. At FRB (that’s Forty Red Bangles for the uninitiated!) we’ve been busy working on a new collection and we found that inspiration is everywhere. The sights and sounds on the streets of India inspire us with every step we take. It’s great to indulge in a little wanderlust sometimes in the name of work!

We like to think that there is a little wandering soul inside us, a little red camel so to speak, that slowly plods along with us, taking in all the unique experiences we’ve encountered on our travels.  Whether it is going down the winding lanes of Jodhpur taking in the intricate jaali windows and archways framing picture perfect scenes within or getting lost in the exotic smell of tropical fruits and local spices at a flea market in Goa or even narrowly escaping speeding traffic on the bustling streets of Mumbai.  Our little red camel is as curious as they come, craning his neck to catch glimpses of the extraordinary beauty in everyday life. With his help, we captured images and ideas that have been translated creatively across our new collection.

Before we showcase the collection in it’s entirety, we decided to give you a few sneak peeks to whet your appetite . So awaken your inner red camel and join us on a little journey through the latest Forty Red Bangles Collection…

Walk through the archway and discover an all new FRB, with new prints, new products and a new outlook.

We have created a series of FRB jaalis which on their own are iconic to Indian life and together form a delicate pattern that makes up the background of the collection. The jaalis are splashes across a variety of mediums to add texture, along with color and form. You can look forward to a range of elegant menswear and womenswear with coordinating accessories. There is also a stationery line with everything you need to get that important sentiment out to your loved ones and even home furnishings to bring the red camel’s story to your home.

This time, our travels also took us further than ever before and we decided to add our new favorite cities to our collection of four signature candles. Historic Delhi and carefree Goa join the “From India with Love” range of candles. Not only will these now come in cute, travel-friendly tins but we’ve been experimenting with new formulations to give you the best fragrance throw in an an all natural, deliciously fragrant candle. One whiff of these and you will be transported to Mughal darbars and tropical, sandy beaches!

The new members

The “From India with Love” Family

As for our kids collection, as we have just recently introduced the the Little Raja and Rani line, we will be adding a whole bunch of accessories to make it cuter and cuddlier (hint, hint).

We know you can’t wait to get your hands on everything but you’ll have to be patient for just a while longer while we put  on the finishing touches. But like all things good, it will definitely be worth the wait and we shall showcase each new collection in a fantastic way where all our fans can get involved and even win some goodies!

So watch this space and meanwhile, we encourage you to take your own little red camel for a walk and tell us, what inspired you today?

Mother’s Day the FRB Way!

Mother’s Day is around the corner, on 12th May and Forty Red Bangles will help you with the perfect gift!

 

For the yoga mum we have super soft organic cotton t-shirts, for the stressed-out mum we have lovely, all natural scented candles, for the glam mum there’s our exquisite collection of jewellery handcrafted from up-cycled saris, for the gardening mum we have pots and planters and for the mum who is impossible to shop for there’s always the Forty Red Bangles Gift Card- so she can choose her own treat from our website!

If you’d like help with what to buy, just send us an email at info@fortyredbangles.com and mention a few of your mum’s likes and dislikes and we’ll send you some options selected just for you!

Log on to www.fortyredbangles.com and place your orders now so that we can surprise your mum on Mother’s Day!

Buswallah: The journey so far

Anyone who has ever visited the bustling city of Mumbai would have happened upon (or almost been run over by) a big, red BEST bus. Once recovered from the close call, one marvels at the almost supernatural powers of this bus service. Like something out of a Harry Potter novel, these buses built to seat 45-60 passengers seem almost limitlessly expandable, carrying up to a 100! Regular features of a bus such as window ledges, door handles and steps transform into magical devices that allow extra passengers to travel with only one-tenths of their bodily surface area attached to the vehicle. Careening at inexplicable speeds, it is truly a wonder how they manage not to fall off. It is a testament to the extraordinarily busy lives of Mumbaikers that one would rather hang of the side of a bus than waste precious time waiting to sit comfortably inside the next.

Just another day

But it’s not all bad, as these buses, built more for durability and less for comfort, are invaluable to the functioning of the city. Transporting millions to and fro everyday, the bus routes are lifelines for the common man in Mumbai. They are greatly celebrated more than they are despised and as every bus-strike has proven, the city can scarcely function and comes to a standstill without them. As popular as the tomato red double-deckers of London, the BEST bus has also come to serve as an icon of the city of Mumbai. The name BEST might be a tad ronic but the buses actually make up the transportation wing of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST Undertaking)- started in 1905 as an electric supply company which then branched out to provide bus and tram services. And though they are truly a part of Mumbai’s history (with some buses seeming to have been plying since 1905!) they have been constantly revamped and modernized to now include a fleet of air conditioned buses, buses running on eco-friendly natural gas and a few even have advertisement looping television screens for your entertainment. Oh yes, these buses have come a long way from being horse-pulled tramway systems!

Artist Sudarshan Shetty’s “Flying Bus” urges you to ponder the two phrases on the side and front: “Every Object Is A Motive Hidden” and “From Here To There and Back Again”

So when we decided to revamp our own Aamchi Mumbai Collection, the BEST bus made the cut as a true symbol of Mumbai and was lifted to a prestigious cult status along with our Taxi, Chai and Tiffin prints. It’s time for the newly anointed “Buswallah” to begin it’s journey and you can be a part of the story too! Simply log on to www.fortyredbangles.com and make the Buswallah a part of your collection.

The Buswallah is made from super soft and cuddly, pure organic cotton printed with eco-friendly, GOTS certified dyes. Round-neck, unisex style with 3/4th sleeves and red button detailing. Available in sizes 1-2 years, 2- years, 4-5 years and 6-7 years. Priced at Rs. 1250/- ($23.00).

The Buswallah

The Global Local’s Perfect Gift

Today we were thrilled to receive a huge thumbs up from The GLobal Local! They’ve picked our ‘From India with Love’ candles as the ‘Perfect Gift’ and it’s now one of the products they love!

Check out their luxury lifestyle portal by those ‘in the know’ at http://www.thegloballocal.in/. It’s your social guide to Mumbai!

Happy Earth Day!

It’s Earth Day! The day when we can be super obsessive about being clean and green and people actually allow us to and commend us for it!

All we feel like doing is skipping in a field of green wearing nought but daisy-chains and singing praises of Mother Earth. Unfortunately, in Mumbai it would be impossible to find a field of green (perhaps a square foot) or enough daisies to link into a chain or even enough people interested in going green (though being in our birthday suits might attract hoards of unwanted attention!). But still, nothing can stop us from getting on our soapbox and urging our friends, family and fans to make the switch to sustainable living.

This time around, rather than urging people to save water/ save electricity/ plant a tree/ recycle/ compost/ buy organic, we’ve decided to put together some fun resources on how you can make Earth Day special for yourselves and fun for your kids. We’ve also included some great links for Earth Day activities and tips and tricks because the best thing we can do on Earth Day is simply spread awareness. It only takes a minute to make a small change and millions of little changes makes a big difference!

So enjoy our little celebration of Earth Day!

1. Go to google.com and check out their Earth Day doodle. It’s a little long but you get really into it and it’s very pretty as well as relaxing to watch. Hint: It’s the changing seasons!

 

 

2. Make your kids a healthy and fun and earth-friendly lunch using organic ingredients and a go green theme!

 

 

3. Make one small change to help the Earth and pledge to follow it no matter how lazy you may feel…then make another! For today, why don’t we all switch to a reusable tote and get rid of those pesky and messy plastic bags that keep piling up. So pick one up when you’re out today or simply put one together using any old fabric you have lying around!

5. Check out this site  (click now!) to see how you can celebrate Earth Day everyday! It’s only a page long and has amazing ways to be green while saving tons of money too. Now that’s how we all like to “go green”!

6. Ponder on this quote for two minutes. Think about how what we do affects not only us but our future generations as well, and wouldn’t we all want to leave a better planet for our kids?

7. Print out these “7 ways to go green at work” (on the back of a waste sheet of paper!) and stick it up in your office! There, you’ve done another good deed for the day.

8. Follow this link (it’s fun we promise!) to make toys from trash and spend the day playing with your kids! It’s great family time and you can teach your kids the importance of recycling in a fun way. No kids? No worries! Make them for yourself and have fun! We particularly love the 2 litre sprinkler for the summer- but remember to go easy on the water

9. Stare at this beautiful picture of Earth from space (click to make it bigger!) and give thanks for all that we are and how lucky we are! Makes you feel rather small doesn’t it?

10. Give yourself an Earth inspired treat! You deserve it for being a clean, green, Earth-saving machine!

Aamchi Mumbai: Revisited

In 2013, Forty Red Bangles is all new. New website, new collections, new aspirations and yes, even new updated versions of the classics.

Probably one of our most iconic prints is the Taxiwallah. Coveted by moms everywhere and gleefully clung to by their kids the Taxiwallah, already a classic symbol of Mumbai, has now become a classic symbol for our Aamchi Mumbai collection of kids pyjamas. We think back to the time, almost 3 years ago, when we looked at Mumbai through the eyes of a designer. We found inspiration everywhere- but capturing the true essence of the city was harder than anticipated. But we finally got there and through blood,sweat and tears came out with our first clothing collection. Four prints- Taxiwallah, Chaiwallah, Dabbawallah and Aamwallah- splashed across a structured and beautifully tailored style of pyjamas.

Now don’t get me wrong, we love our good ol Aamchi Mumbai collection (though the pictures make us cringe ever so slightly), but we though they needed a makeover. So we got rid of the fidgety chinese collar, made the fabric even softer and cuddlier than before, added bright spots of colorful buttons, added a smaller size and introduced a new cast member- the Buswallah. Unfortunately, we had to retire our majestic Aamwallah, as even the most loyal mango enthusiast seemed to mistake them for “bubbles” (um what?)! So those of you with the Aamwallah hanging in your kids closets, hold on to it! They are now collectors items! We regretted our harsh decision to cut the Aam but only until our little red bus began flying off the shelves. It seems that you embraced him openly and we couldn’t be happier!

So without further ado, it is our pleasure to introduce you to the new collection- Aamchi Mumbai: Revisited! And you can be sure that the posts to come will tell you their stories and introduce you to the mysterious past behind the new Buswallah!

One small happy family!

Taxiwallah Twosome

Tea for two with the new Chaiwallah

The Dabbawallah now twice the fun!

We see the not so distant future! The all new Buswallah

 

Tell us what you think of the new collection and of course, we’d love your feedback on our new Buswallah design!

The new Aamchi Mumbai: Revisited collection is available on www.fortyredbangles.com. They come in sizes 1-2 years, 2-3 years, 4-5 years and 6-7 years and are priced at Rs.1250/- (approx 23 USD, now that’s a steal!).