Porcelain figurines, lighting and fragrances — Spain-based porcelain giant Lladro is offering all this to its Calcutta patrons. Rosa Lladro (inset) — the daughter of Juan, the eldest of the three brothers who started the company, and the president of Lladro — was recently in town to unveil a figurine of goddess Saraswati, as part of the Spirit of India collection. Made of high porcelain, the figurine is priced at Rs 7.5 lakh, and only 720 units of it are available worldwide. A chat with Rosa Lladro at the brand’s South City Mall outlet. 

What was the inspiration behind the Spirit of India collection?
The Ganesha was the very first one in the Spirit of India collection, launched in 2002. It was a success and so we continued making gods and goddesses from India. We get requests for Shiva, Balaji and they are mostly from India but we also have a following in the US, UK and Europe. It is a popular collection for the Indian communities settled abroad. Other people buy the pieces because it is a very beautiful line. I would love to add figurines of Bollywood dancers to the collection.

How do you decide on the themes for your collection?
It’s teamwork. We have a creativity committee. In that committee, we decide whether we want to discontinue making something or introduce something new. There are a total of nine master sculptors in Valencia who come up with ideas and propose them, with sketches. It is a combination of creativity and feedback from markets. Lladro is all about emotions and all the good things in life, which is what we try to portray in our pieces. The development of each piece is very detailed. It goes through several steps, stages and prototypes. We do everything by hand, for years. It’s all about tradition. 

What else do you have on offer?
Figurines and sculptures are our main highlights. Apart from that, there is lighting. We add colours and the porcelain adds quality to the light, which makes it different in the world of lighting. We have many lighting options from the Spirit of India series too, like Ganesha lamps.

Tell us a little bit about your line of jewellery and fragrances...
We do some jewellery pieces. We are relaunching our fragrances with scented candles, offering new fragrances and new designs of candleholders. We have four designers but we also collaborate with artists and designers often, to bring in some variety.

Deborima Ganguly
Pictures: Pabitra Das

 

THERE IS TURBULENCE ON THIS FLIGHT!

 

You might recognise Rupesh Tillu from his minor role as Ajay from Stockholm, in Ship of Theseus. It’s his first visit to Calcutta and, apart from looking for hot rosogollas around the city, he had the audience both in splits as well as in ruminative silence with his one-man act, EnFlightenment directed by Ulf Evren, on October 3 as part of The Park’s New Festival.

In this bit of physical theatre, he invites the audience to accompany him on his journey to find himself on his European sojourns. That quickly becomes a simplistic journey to find the man or woman who is controlling the world.
 
First stop, Poland. Tillu is detained for assuming that he could get by on a Schengen visa. From there we are taken on a roller-coaster journey on his helicopter-bicycle to Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Jerusalem and the United States. The audience is compelled to contemplate questions such as Why is it wrong to kiss a stranger? and Do we have a choice? or If we are puppets, who is the puppeteer?

While his content is grim, his methods are capricious. With fluid body movements, gibberish, mimicry and magic tricks, he shakes the audience out of its complacence, encouraging them to rethink anything they took for granted. t2 caught up with the “actor-creator” over breakfast the next morning... 

 

When did you realise you wanted to be an actor? 
I wanted to be an actor even when I was a child. Once cinema was my first love but by seven I knew I wanted to be on stage. My dad used to take me to a lot of theatre…. One evening, after the show ended, my father put me on stage and I ran around touching everything and everyone. I was so curious and amazed by it all. I still feel like that when I’m on stage.

Your most memorable show? 
I remember the time we went to Zaatari, a refugee camp in Jordan for Syrian refugees, to entertain the kids as clowns. It was horrible. Around 10,000 people were waiting outside to get in. Inside the camp, 7,000 were waiting to go out. But no one could go anywhere. 

Favourite genre of theatre? 
I love comedy. Not comedy simply for the sake of comedy, but something that will move people to think. Theatre has a responsibility. It should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

Greatest influence in your life?
My teacher, Alok Ulfat. He’s a theatre personality but he didn’t teach me to act. His life lessons have been invaluable; I understand them now as now I’m as old as he used to be when he was my mentor. 

What have you discovered about Calcutta on your first visit here?
I took a cab to Dakshineswar. I was on the Howrah bridge. I asked the driver to show me the narrow alleys. There were crumbling old houses and it was beautiful. I looked for hot rosogollas but couldn’t find any. I have to come back for it next time. The pace in Calcutta is slow. Everywhere else, people are in a frenzied rush. Here, people like to do things in their own time. I like that because it means they’re their own people and no one can make them do what they don’t want to do. I can respect that. Life is too rushed these days. 

Ramona Sen
Pictures: Anindya Shankar Ray

 

A DIY MAKE-UP GUIDE AND TIPS FOR SKINCARE 

What is the most effective way to beat ageing? What should your skincare regimen be like? Christine Valmy International Academy of Beauty addressed such queries at a ladies’ coffee meet at Dalhousie Institute recently. The takeaway from the interactive session was make-up tips and tricks. A “high-tea look” — blueish-grey eyes, nude lips and tonged hair — was also demonstrated on club member Samina Humair (picture left). Nazreen Ahmed, CEO, Christine Valmy International Academy of Beauty, presided over the afternoon. The coffee meet was DI president Denise Smith’s first event after she took over the reins. “From students of an aviation academy who wanted those beauty tips to homemakers seeking ways to give their skin that super ‘lift’, office-goers who just about have five-10 minutes to get ready for work to fitness instructors always on the go — the Christine Valmy reps had solutions to every concern!” said the first lady president of the club. 

What we learnt:

1) Always sanitise your hands before cleansing, toning and moisturising. 
2) Don’t be stingy and buy cheap products. It’s your skin after all. 
3) Liquid foundation is best for normal to dry skin, and cream-based ones for oily skin. 
4) Though it varies from person to person, it’s always preferable to apply the concealer after applying the foundation. 
5) Apply a highlighter on the bony areas of your face. It will catch the light better, make your face look sleek and will result in great pictures.
6) It’s very important to have well-groomed eyebrows. 
7) When using two colours as an eyeshadow, apply the lighter one on the inner corner and the darker one on the outer corner. 
8) For an on-the-go look, instead of matching the eyeshadow with the colour of your clothes and applying it on the eyelid, dab a little bit on the black kohl outlining your eyes. It looks classier. 
9) When applying a blusher, pull your cheeks in and then apply it on the part that doesn’t go in.
10) To mask a double chin, blend some brown blush-on. 

 

Text: Riddhima Khanna
Pictures: Pabitra Das