Folk Designs from India

Roxana Lehri

Published by The Pepin Press, softcover, illustrated

Folk Designs from India
India, an enormous country and home to nearly one billion people, harbours a wide variety of ornamental and decorative styles. However, despite this vastness and diversity, India's cultural traditions demonstrate some distinct common factors, notably the tendency to adorn and beautify. The desire to decorate seems to be embedded within the country's society.

This applies in particular to personal appearance and to the home and its immediate surroundings. Examples of this are to be found in the intricate textile designs presented here, which are either meant for clothing or for home furnishing, as well as in the stunning wall and floor painting designs.
Often, Indian design has a religious or symbolic meaning, for instance, the floor paintings which are made in front of the entrances to many Indian homes, are meant to guard against evil forces, and to stimulate the good fortune and health of the inhabitants.

On page 288 a short bibliography is given for readers in search of further information on Indian art and design. However, as is the case with all Pepin Press Design Books, Folk Designs from India, is meant to provide a large selection of images, all in single-colour line drawings, which serve to display designs in their purest form. For all designs in this book, the state of origin is specified. See the map on page 3 for the location of these states. Furthermore, the captions may contain some unfamiliar terms, which are explained here.