There's something quite universal about childhood summer vacations. The slow afternoons, sticky fingers from melted ice cream, cousins crowding around board games, postcards, piggy banks, handwritten journals and the feeling that time itself had paused for a while. For their curation from Kala Curry, the team from Open Close Magazine revisits these deeply familiar memories through handcrafted products that feel tactile and intimate.
Your curation for Kala Curry is all about the nostalgia of summer vacations, something which is as an emotional memory for a lot of people. What first drew you towards that theme? And what was your criteria of choosing the products in your curation?
We came up with this theme because of the shared feeling of summer. There are so many memories we all associate with summer - from vacations, to time spent at our grandparents' houses, or even just being at home with your friends. To be able to put it in a collection was so tough, but we're so thrilled we could encompass that feeling through the products listed on KalaCurry. We chose these products based on a single marker - how nostalgic does this feel? We wanted to bring the Summer from our memories to you.
What's your fondest memory from childhood summer vacations? Is there a particular place, object or activity that instantly takes you back?
Zarah - It was always being able to go see my family in Ahmedabad. Just before the Summer holidays began each year, my cousin and I would always make an unrealistic (and frankly, overly ambitious) plan involving camping in the garden, going to the mall and everything in between.
Nakul - it would be spending time in Kochi at my grandmother's home and going to the beach with my cousins.
Is there an object in this curation that feels especially close to your younger self? Something you know childhood-you would have instantly gravitated towards?
I know for a fact that younger me would have loved the Across the Stream Hand-Stitched notebook to journal in. I loved writing all through growing up. You should see the stuff 7-year old Zarah wrote in her Strawberry Shortcake journal.
Do you think people today are subconsciously trying to return to those more physical and emotionally grounded ways of experiencing life? As we did during our childhood?
Absolutely! Ironically, I feel like it is the adults that are trying to go back to experiences. We've seen life lived solely through experiences, and we've seen life through our screens - and while the screens are here to stay, I think more people are gravitating towards the organic and grounded moments they once loved. On a side note - how fun would it be to go to a birthday party again with a plate full of cake, samosa, chips all mushed into one?
The idea of "summer vacation" also carries a certain temporary magic - a feeling that eventually fades. Were you interested in capturing that emotion through the curation?
We've all seen this a million times. The best time of every year growing up always comes to an anticlimactic end and leaves you wanting more time. We realise that there is no way of bringing any form of closure to this feeling, but by curating products that carry on the magic of summer long after school begins and normalcy resumes. The Terracotta Cow Money Bank is one that will remain with you, along with all the savings you made through the summer months! The Mumbai Postcards are a great product to have because what is summer if you can't share the feeling with your friends and family?
