Indian Pacific

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday November 4, 1999

Helen Greenwood

A love of the subcontinent and its culture has led to a gallery overflowing with eastern promise.

Lin Macara is passionate about all things Indian. Even before the present madness for mirrored bags and sari fabric drifted into general mayhem about anything floral, she was importing textiles from the subcontinent. And especially the block-printed cloth

of Brigitte Singh.

Macara, a fiery-haired woman draped in an Indian choga or coat, began bringing Indian artefacts into Australia five years ago and selling them from her shop, Soshu's. The turning point came when she secured exclusive rights to Singh's masterfully

printed textiles.

Singh is a Frenchwoman who studied Islamic art at Cairo University and in Paris. In 1980, she received a two-year grant to study miniatures in Jaipur. Shortly after she arrived in the region, she met her husband, Surya Vijay Singh, an expert on that Rajasthani art. They married, bought a stunning havelis, or townhouse, in Amber, the ancient capital of Rajasthan, and renovated it.

Singh became fascinated by the local handicrafts, particularly the techniques of block-printing cloth that were the basis of a thriving 18th-century industry, but whose practices were slowly dying out.

She set up a workshop using trained locals to translate her designs into exquisite fabrics. The mainly floral motifs are a subtle blend of old and contemporary with a touch of Provencal style.

In 1982 Singh was commissioned by Colefax and Fowler to create a range. Then, in 1987, Beatrice Jaunet set up a shop in Paris called Le Jardin Moghol for the sole purpose of distributing Singh's designs for interior decorative use.

Macara met Singh on a buying trip to Jaipur in 1996 through one of her suppliers. The linen, wraps and clothes have been an instant success.

"People love her things," Macara says. "They are ideal for our climate."

Macara sells Jaipur quilts based on classical Moghul designs ($150-$450), pique and cotton bedcovers ($95-$495), cushions ($30-$150), curtains in cotton ($140-$175) and chanderi (voile) ($135-$160), table cloths and napkins (12 places, $175-$335) and a dainty crib set of sheet and pillow case for $110.

The other great find in Macara's shop is a range of superb furniture and objects made in, of all things, papier-mache. Macara stumbled on this extraordinary traditional craft on a trip last year to Kashmir.

"I had been buying pashmina shawls for years, and wanted to go to the source. A friend there asked if I would like to see some papier-mache and I thought, 'Ho-hum.' What I saw in the showroom was overwhelming."

The work, deceptively, looks more like porcelain relief than paper. The colours are fresh and beautifully painted, varnished with a brilliant gloss. Macara stocks a small number of chests ($1,050), tables ($750), trays ($350), screens ($950) and lamp bases ($550). Christmas bells, balls and baubles range from $5.50 to $25.

Soshu's, 2/1112 Barrenjoey Road, Palm Beach, 9974 1573.