Good Earth’s collaboration with British artist Rebecca Campbell is ideal for the holiday season
For Good Earth, 2021 is all about celebrating the brand’s silver anniversary. And it’s been quite multifaceted: with limited-edition launches, a reimagining of classics — like Iris Garden, a 20-year-old vintage design now revived with a new color palette — and the launch of a new collection, the Bosporus.
Most recently is a collab with British artist Rebecca Campbell for a line of tableware (as part of the Bosporus collection). “We worked together in the midst of lockdown, and through online meetings across two continents and time zones,” shares founder Anita Lal, explaining that it was the artist’s “whimsical yet poetic interpretation of nature and its many elements. It was that which attracted Lal to her. With many whimsical elements created by Campbell, “the collection evolved and evolved into a comprehensive collection of platters and bowls, with a lavish dinner service accompanied by a number of gift sets for tea and coffee”.
Rebecca Campbell working with watercolors
Edited excerpts from an interview with Lal.
Collaborating with Rebecca Campbell.
Rebecca Campbell has an eye for whimsy and detail. She hails from the lush countryside of Ireland, surrounded by endless flora and fauna. During his initial visit to India, he encountered iconic Mughal miniatures, which inspired him to incorporate animals, gardens, flowers and fruits into his works. I had seen and loved the range of his delightful miniatures during his visit to India. In addition to her amazing talent, I found Rebecca to be one of the best people to work with.
The shape of pomegranate is rooted in good meaning. How different is Campbell’s interpretation?
NS pomegranate The pomegranate or pomegranate has long been considered sacred, and revered as a symbol of fertility, prosperity and abundance. When I gave Rebecca the theme of pomegranates and roses, she built a tree laden with ruby red fruits associated with rose vines, and that was the beginning of a magical universe that included a pavilion and leopards and peacocks and hummingbirds and more. Rebecca used watercolors and sometimes gouache. Watercolor has such a wonderful luminous quality, and she wanted to keep the pomegranate colors sharp, fresh, and jewel-like. He used fresh pomegranates and roses for reference and to recreate it in the painting.
How did the collection develop?
There is a delightful Persian cookbook named pomegranate and rose, and both the book and its name have been with me for years. I wanted to create a tableware collection that would capture the joy of alfresco dining and incorporate it. Rebecca created intertwined images of two fragrant foods: ruby red pomegranate and deep pink rose, ingredients that elevate cuisine in Central Asia and the Mediterranean. Her beautiful drawings and artwork were turned into decals and applied to fine bone china dinnerware by skilled women craftsmen at Good Earth Atelier on the outskirts of Delhi.
From ₹3,500 on goodearth.in and Good Earth stores.
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