Luxury Laundry Amuse-bouche
Newsletter 8.2024
After complaining about my stuck-ness in my previous newsie “Luxury Laundry Powder” and finding such delight in the results of my own detergent formulation, I decided to make two more editions — one for my friend Lily as a housewarming gift (her four year old twin boys will enjoy this very much!) and one for birthday boy, Nicolas.
Last year, I was so inspired by the swirliness of clouds painted in one 18th century Rajput painting that was on display in an exhibition at the Smithsonian. I carved little clouds — dark to light, just as in the painting — from slabs of soap, painstakingly painted each cloud with some soap dye, and then set them into layers to illustrate the night sky giving way to day break (pictured above).
Ofcourse, that creative exploration came to a halt as the Smithsonian’s Public Relations arm sent me an email that included an accusation and a threat. I had apparently violated their copyrights, if I did not stop being inspired by art in their exhibition, they would report my Instagram account, effectively shutting down a source of my livelihood.
I’ve already written about this curious case so let me show you some cute clouds I had leftover in my cupboard since then. I also wanted to revisit this stunning 18th century landscape to show you a section depicting the common-folk of Rajasthan going about their morning ablutions at dawn by the lake, bathing, praying, or doing their laundry. Some clothes are shown hanging on trees to dry, one garment in particular is precariously billowing in the wind!
*If Karen from the Smithsonian wants to threaten me again, she knows where to find me, but nothing stops me from sharing details of this spectacular painting from the collection of the City Palace Museum, Udaipur, as these historical artworks are meant for the public eye. If I am not mistaken, this painting was restored and shown for the first time in Washington D.C. in 2022-23 for an American audience. I have my doubts on whether this is on display at the Museum in India itself, unless someone can correct me. It’s probably gone into storage never to be seen again.
It seems there wasn’t a complete photo of the painting among my files, so I have tried to piece it together by joining various image-details. “Sunrise in Udaipur”, this watercolour painting on paper is dated 1722-1723. Its dimensions are impressive; framed, it spans a little over a metre.
Look at the pair of pyjamas laid out to dry on the rocks; I think the long red strip must be turban fabric. Additional yards of cloth lie next to it, one is flung over the branch of the banyan tree. And my favourite sensorial cue prompts the viewer to imagine a gust of a cool morning breeze - the billowing kurta clinging on to the banyan tree branch! I want to reach out and catch it before it flies away!!! You know that smell of clean cotton-linen? I can recreate it with some linalool, galaxolide and alpha irone.
Here, we definitely have a dhoby ghat where bundles of garments are being washed wholesale and dried over the hillside. We can see a pair of pyjamas, four kurtas and some red fabric laid out. Now, these fellows would appreciate my laundry powder for sure!
I prepared several colour-block soaps — pink, green, orange, yellow, blue — so that I get a funfetti version of detergent powder upon grating them fine enough to resemble rainbow cake sprinkles! And that sparked the idea for scenting the powder with a birthday cake fragrance! I added crystals of Ethyl Vanillin, Maltol and Coumarine to reinforce notes of cherry pie, butter cream, white chocolate, and milkbar-sensations!
Of all my inventions and innovations, I am most proud of this one! And what about the little 18th century kurta nearly flying off in the wind? — I caught it, it is in my hands:
Speaking of art history, flowers and scents, on Sunday, the MFA Boston revealed a selection of 18th and 19th century garden paintings and flower studies from their South Asia collection in a show titled “Flowers of Summer and Fall”. As an extension of his own research (and co-curation of Bagh-e Hind), Nicolas developed the curatorial information on each painting by identifying and categorising each plant, flower, their geographic origins, locations across North India, and the climate and season they would have thrived in, as well as their social and cultural significance. Our other collaborations across Lahore and Zurich will bloom later this year — more on that soon.
