Tent talents
Artistic tents, recreated by Clarissa Mitchell -a designer -capture the exotic and practical aspects of a nomadic tradition and provide a new expression to Rajasthani skill. Rajasthan, says Clarissa, has offered much in terms of designs, textiles, crafts and miniatures, among numerous other forms of arts.
"Everybody seemed to be interested in designing clothes and furniture, but nobody thought about designer tents," she says. Each tent is made by using water- proof canvas for the outer fly, with wood-block prints on cotton sheets for the interiors done in soft natural colours. The first tents were put up at Pushkar in 1993, informs Clarissa, who operates from Jodhpur and London - her home town.