Mad about India

With Belgian roots and a truly global upbringing, designer Valerie Barkowski’s life has comprised an endless absorption of cultural and aesthetic sensibilities from across the world — Russia, Morocco, India and more. “I think I am a citizen of the world, not rooted in one culture but with eyes wide open, picking up what I aesthetically like in any culture I come across,” she says and adds, “What I like are the simultaneous differences and similarities. One common point is that I love to dig into everyday life whenever I explore a new country or culture. That way, it becomes a part of me.” Her designs for online lifestyle brand No-Mad include décor accessories, vessels, candles, teapots, trays and more, that are inspired by and intended for daily Indian habits and lifestyles.

Valerie affirms that her passion for travelling has fed into her design sensibilities in more ways than one. And her brand of travelling is as un-touristy as it gets — not simply skimming the surface of places but taking the time to soak them in. “What I want to do is become a part of a place, living it from the inside. I don’t travel to see, but to live,” she says and explains that for her No-Mad collections, she has spent a lot of time in India, trying to understand and absorb its spirit. Ask her how she went about absorbing what everyday Indian life actually entails and she responds, “I shared many meals with friends. I also spent a lot of time in the bazaars, looking at all the utensils, crockery, furniture, habits and so on. What can be more beautiful than eating on a banana leaf or drinking tea from a clay kulhar One of the things I firmly believe in as a designer is that less is more, and India is the perfect interpretation of that. I am fascinated by the beauty of its simplicity.”

Coming as she does with such a diverse background of influences, how would she describe the incorporation of local Indian elements into her work “There is such a rich craft tradition in India that it is impossible not to be inspired by it and to integrate it into my creative process. Also, it is a sustainable process — by working with crafts you contribute to keeping the craft alive and give respectable work to craftspeople. I like this idea,” she shares and adds, “When I think of new designs and new products, I always wonder how the Indian audience will look at them. For instance, when I had the idea of making a paan-perfumed candle, many Indians initially asked me why I wanted to do that but very quickly understood the beauty of it. Paan is so common and so present here that once you pull it out of its context it becomes the smell of India, somehow.”

Based at the moment in Marrakech, Morocco, Valerie makes it a point to emphasise that none of her creative ideas could have come to life the way they did, if it were not for the rest of the No-Mad team working tirelessly to reach the aesthetics she wanted. “I send briefs, designs and ideas, and in India the NM team works very hard on them. I think it is important to mention that. Without this mutual understanding, no collections can come to life,” she asserts and adds that her most recent collection of Indian table art is one that she has particularly enjoyed working on. “For me, it is not simply a collection but a lifestyle that we are attempting to build up — a lifestyle that is deeply rooted in Indian culture but with eyes wide open to the world. Some fabrics have Japanese influences, for example, but everything is uniquely, typically Indian in spirit,” she concludes.