{"id":6348,"date":"2018-02-19T15:01:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T20:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/margaretdonaldsoninteriors.com\/?p=6348"},"modified":"2018-02-19T15:01:47","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T20:01:47","slug":"alexis-finds-design-inspiration-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/alexis-finds-design-inspiration-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexis Finds Life and Design Inspiration in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

As much as we love Charleston, we believe that getting out of our comfort zones is the best way to find design inspiration.\u00a0In February, MDI interior designer Alexis Wilks had a fantastic opportunity to travel through India and Nepal with family.\u00a0 Her stepfather founded an eye clinic in the area that serves the poor, and she was able to do a little humanitarian work as well as sightseeing. <\/p>\n

Her journey took her through iconic cities such as Mumbai, Calcutta, Agra, Jaipur, Katmandu, Delhi, Durgapur, Khajuraho, Udaipur, and Varanasi.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

She loved meeting kids in the area, had a great time teaching them to play basketball. Their joy and resiliency moved her, and as the mother of two, she came away with a new depth of gratitude for everything she has. The creative innovation of the culture also moved her. In fact, one of her most striking memories was seeing a beautiful temple in a slum village dedicated to Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, made only out of sticks and bags of colored water.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Alexis got to see another temple that fueled design inspiration. Yes THAT temple. \u201cWe went to see the Taj Mahal at sunset and sunrise,\u201d she says. \u201cThe stone changes color as the sun is setting and rising; it is truly a color experience. It was incredible to witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The color experiences just kept coming too. \u201cJaipur was my favorite city. It\u2019s called the pink city because it\u2019s still required for everything in the old city to be painted pink. I loved it. Everywhere you look everyone is selling textiles, jewels and spices, and it\u2019s all a million fabulous colors,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

She was also impressed by the intensity and longevity of the colors and materials used in art, textiles, and architecture. \u201cIn so much Indian art and textile printing, they\u2019ll use paint made from minerals,\u201d Alexis says. \u201cThe temples and palaces have art that is original and holding up because the colors were made from crushed minerals and stones. They don\u2019t fade; all of this art is holding up to pollution, sun, and monsoons. Their materials have lasted hundreds of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexis loved Nepal and was surprised at how much earthquake damage was still apparent (an 8.1 earthquake centered in Barpak struck in 2015). \u201cNepal is beautiful, and Katmandu has an interesting history,\u201d she says. \u201cThe city is huge, so much better than I thought it would be. There\u2019s much more of a Buddhist impact. It wasn\u2019t as planned as other cities were, so we just wandered. Everything is built around itself. Things are squeezed in, and there are surprises around every corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her final stop was Mount Everest, where she got to take a helicopter ride to Base Camp. Alexis\u2019 favorite thing about Indian and Nepal, however, were the people. \u201cEveryone was so kind. There\u2019s beauty everywhere. There\u2019s so much happiness,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"\"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Welcome home, Alexis \u2013 we can\u2019t wait to see how your adventures inspire this year\u2019s design!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As much as we love Charleston, we believe that getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,36],"tags":[627,628,629,42,38],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6348"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/box2483.temp.domains\/~urbanar5\/mdi-maradesignco-com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}