Saanchi Antiques and Treasures, in Langford Town, is pretty-as-a-picture and showcases a curated collection of vintage furniture and knick-knacks.
Started about a year ago, Saanchi is a housed at a charming three-storied building that reeks of old-world beauty. The store largely specialises in colonial furniture and antiquities. And we love that their handpicked collection is spruced up and that the display is well thought out {a rarity in antique stores}. On the ground floor, they have recreated the living room space with massive opium beds made with Burma wood and Pancharangi {yes, they feature five colours} chandeliers made exclusively for the sultans of yore. The adjoining dining space has elegant dining sets and sideboards with detailed work. At the back, there's a kitchen-like setup {many of the offerings here are budget-friendly} where you can stock up on enamelware, old-world butter churners, and spice boxes {that can easily be used to hoard your jewellery.
Up the stairs and you'll find gramophones that still work, heavy beds, bar cabinets and stools. They have an entire section on lamps including railways lamps and the petrol variety {these have been upscaled to electric ones now}. The third floor has a corner called Attic Shrugged where you can snap up knick knacks like vintage toys and hand painted lamp shades.
Saanchi is the result of owner - Parwathi Mirlay's 25-year long passion for antiques. And she is keen to share the love. So you can swing by for interactive sessions with collectors and antique lovers. These are free and all you need to do is be a part of their mailing list to get invited. They also have a small museum where Mirlay displays a few prized treasures from her personal collection. These include camphor chests {a favourite of hers}, miniature books, and chairs from a barber shop and a dentist from long, long ago.
If you are building your dream home, you can also source doors, pillars, and furniture for your place from their warehouse, called Building Blocks, in Jigani. They display a sample catalogue in the basement at Saanchi.
Saanchi Antiques & Treasures
5, Setlur Street, Off Langford Road, Langford Town, Shanti Nagar, Bengaluru
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The best of what to eat/shop/do in your city, delivered in a brown paper bag
Art collectors sit on church pews, prey on antiques and watch short films about indigenous handicrafts.
It's not a good time to be a have-not, you will realise as you walk through Saanchi, a new antique shop inside a yellow manor, replete with indoor ponds, tinkling fountain, stained glass windows and balustrade grills studded with figures of Indian gods and goddesses. Hey, bhagwan!
Wear your walking shoes to explore a basement, three floors and a terrace stocked with furniture and other home accents. You could even find a Pokémon on the ceiling, spinning around a plantation-estate fan or swinging off a gulabi-pink-fading-into-sky-blue glass chandelier.
When you're fatigued, lounge a while on a grand Opium Bed, linger on art deco sofa sets or check yourself out in a mirror framed by a border fit for Mendl's cake. If you want to discover little gems in little nooks, follow owner and antique collector Parwathi Mirlay to the display of clay figurines and Marapachi sandalwood doll couples decked for a wedding party.
Saanchi also boasts a small museum - "here, we wanted to house things that were special and not for sale" - a Dickens' Corner stocked with a library of first editions and Studio 5 where short films about art are shown. "We also host monthly talks by historians and collectors at Among The Treetops, our terrace," Parwathi says. At the first talk, Mrs. Ranee Pothan, a 96-year-old resident of Langford Town brought her personal collection of heirlooms - the original design for a puttu-maker, a bamboo stem tied with coir threads; coins from the Nizam of Hyderabad; and a superbly preserved, tiny, hand embroidered wedding dress that belonged to her mother, who was a teen bride.
It might take you a whole month's time and salary to go through the inventory at Saanchi, but you could make an impulsive buy if you check the attic alcove, which displays products on the lower end of the price spectrum. Bits and bobs like enamel soap dishes, pillar heads repurposed as bookends, betel nutcrackers, a duck-shaped case with secret compartments.
And after your musty meander, get some air on one of the balconies, from where you can wave at Langford Town’s antique residents sweetly minding their manors.
Getting there: Saanchi, 5, Setlur Street, Langford Town, call 22270550, Rs 1000 for a porcelain lampshade , Rs 10 lakhs for the opium bed.
Saanchi - The antique store, Kanjivaram Saree store and The Cafe.
In the last three years I have been living in this neighbourhood, in downtown bengaluru, I have seen this building come up since its inception and I always had the impression of some great house being built - very Indian and significantly historical in its feel. Being an architect myself the curiosity always shot up, the more it came close to its finishing -the more intrigued I was - circular windows, tinted Belgian glass, ancient Indian columns with carved capitals, traditional south Indian tile roof and earthy colour.
And well these curiosities were just hidden in some corner of my mind as I thought it was someone’s house, so I shall never know how it is.
Well things changed last night. I was on a usual walk that I take after my dinner, an unwinding routine for me to be away from all the mundaneness of the world and be by myself, and I see a signage popping out of this place - THE CAFE. I am like what on earth is this ? The second sign says - an antique store and the third sign follows - a kanjivaram saree store. While I was still absorbing this, I thought lets come back tomorrow for a brunch and check it out.
A beautiful day on the onset of spring in blr, soft sun, light breeze and a weekend to look forward to, I leisurely pack my jhola around 11 and leave my house to explore this place ready to do something.
As I enter the place, I am taken aback by the scale and volume of objects, Its like warehouses of Jew street from fort kochi just crawled into blr and tried to fit itself completely in this 3 storied building. One after the other insane antiques from all around the country can be found.
I admire the thought put into while designing the architecture as well as the interiors of the place. the relationship of the windows with coloured glass and display of furniture in relationship to it.
So, the 2nd floor houses the saree store. I dint check it out but it did look something fancy and good quality stuff.
Coming to the Terrace, I finally reach the cafe, and the best part is the feeling you get is as if you just went up to the terrace of your own house. 7 small tables with chair, lots of plants with beautiful flowers and the amazing tile roof filtering the afternoon sun.
The delicious panini and a pot of Darjeeling tea.
A swing to relax and chill out with classic 90’s music in the background, a book rack with varieties of books offer you the best homely feel you could get. (the cover image of this post)
Book shelf in the making, but has some really nice books already to browse through..
pasta just the way you would love to have it.
The food and beverages are good as well. A great place for me to be out of home but still have a homely vibe. A perfect brunch place to be in if you live in downtown blr and want to just chill and do your stuff or have a peaceful and relaxed time with your friends.
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Hope you guys find this interesting and hey...go out and explore this new cafe in town.
The owners of the cafe kyoumars and farooq are a delight to spend time with.
Its definitely worth your time and experience.
Museums don’t have to be boring. You just have to look for the right ones. So, go out, make music, count the age of trees, pose like a star, learn about antiques, and experiment at these hubs we’ve rounded up for you
The museum scene in and around Bengaluru is getting hot. A museum displaying the heritage of HMT watches and the evolution of packaging industry each is slated to open next year. Work is on to build not one but two separate hubs of cars, bikes, cycles, and transport accessories – scoured from the past, restored in the present, and shrunk into miniatures. Then a gallery is stacking up the art of the pre-modern era, the tribes and the contemporary times as well as textiles, crafts, and photographs.
Even as you wait for these museums to go public, take a quick tour of the lesser-known gems in Bengaluru.
If you can go to any lengths for Instagram-worthy shots, we say just beat the traffic and get to Whitefield. Click Art Museum, to be precise. We aren’t joking but it is really only meant for photo-ops. It is a 3D interactive ‘Trick Art’ museum. Which means, it has huge photos of optical illusions that can result in funny, embarrassing and daring photos, depending on which angle you click them from and how dramatically you pose with them. Sample the results: A crocodile eats your head; Charlie Chaplin pokes your stomach with his walking stick; Mona Lisa pours you a glass of water; Harry Potter’s magic wand against yours. Needless to say, you must carry a DSLR or a high-end phone to make the most of these 24 trick images mounted and laid across two rooms. Keep a friend or a selfie stick close too, because there is no cameraman assigned specifically for the job at this museum.
WHERE: Click Art Museum, Third Floor, Virginia Mall, Whitefield Main Road
WHEN: 10.30am-10.30pm, All days
ENTRY: `50 (kids), `80 (adults), and `80 (one adult plus one kid)
CALL: 7625087122
The latest addition to the city, actually the whole of India, is Music Museum. It is one of the three verticals at Indian Music Experience; the others being a sound garden with 10 sculptures such as xylophones, wind chimes, and gongs, which you can play and make music with, and a learning centre of classical music and instruments. Back to the museum, which is divided into nine galleries to cover all aspects of Indian music in the best possible manner. At ‘Contemporary Expressions’, find Daler Mehndi’s performance costume. ‘Living Traditions’ demystifies the world of sruti, raga, tala, gharana, dhrupad, khayal, and kutcheri. ‘Melting Pot’ displays a leg harmonium, and the story of nottuswara. ‘Instruments Gallery’ has over 100 musical pieces under its roof, including a snake-shaped nagphani. Learn how birth, puberty and even death were commemorated through folk songs back in the day. Pore over Mahatma Gandhi’s letter to MS Subbulakshmi, adore Bismillah Khan’s shehnai, or pose with legendary musicians and a gramophone set. Music Museum is sure to ring in your ears for long.
WHERE: Indian Music Experience, JP Nagar 7th Phase
WHEN: 10am-5pm, Mondays closed ENTRY: `250 per head; `100 for students and faculties from schools and architecture colleges
DETAILS: 40908054
They say we are shaped by our thoughts. Still, what shapes our thoughts and how? Get all your answers at the Brain Museum at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (NIMHANS), the objective of which is to popularise the field of neuroscience, stem the stigma associated with mental health, and promote organ donation. A warning though: If you squirm at the sight of biological specimens, it might be wise to keep away. Because, in this big, white room, you will not only get to see more than 400 kinds of brains in transparent jars, but also get the chance to hold and touch a real brain. But who do these brains belong to? Chicken, duck, mouse, rat, and a cow, to start with. A section is dedicated to fetal brains of different ages. Brains affected by Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and even tapeworm eggs are also on display. These samples have been collected from donors over 35 years, the oldest one dating back to 1975.
WHERE: Brain Museum, Neurobiology Research Centre, NIMHANS
WHEN: Public, guided tours on Wednesday (2.30pm-4.30pm) and Saturday (10.30am-1pm & 2.30pm-4.30pm). School and college trips open on weekdays but prior appointment is must. Closed on Sundays, second Saturdays
ENTRY: Free
CALL: 26563357
Take a walk in the woods. Wood Museum and Interpretation Centre redefines the phrase like no other. It has on display a 780-year-old tree trunk from Mysore, timbers weighing from 1,000kg per cubic meter in the case of red sanders down to 300 for Balsa, fingers, doors and other tools carved out from them, and seeds of all kinds. A day at this hub will leave you wiser about the origin of earth, the evolution of forests and trees, how mankind has depended on it forever, to the vast diversity of woods, and the different properties and features of wood such as the density, colour and the knots, and just how differently one log weighs from another and why. Don’t just hop from one exhibit to another. You also get the chance to learn how to count the age of a log of wood. Tree rings, remember? The aim is to educate young minds about the centrality of wood in human civilisation, and inspire architecture students to explore wood effectively.
WHERE: Wood Museum and Interpretation Centre, Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Malleshwaram West
WHEN: 9am-5.30pm, All days; Group tours available on Saturday-Sunday
ENTRY: Free
DETAILS: 23341731/22190158
Jugaad. We love the sound of the word as well as the intention of it. If you like it too, then bookmark Amma Saraswati Loka. It’s a ‘hobby museum’ for all things science and innovation, set up by PD Ravindra, a former mechanical engineer from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, all by himself. He has been running it for 26 years to explain the concepts of science to curious minds. Across three floors, find sofas and chairs that turn into desks, a pedal-operated battery charger and an exercise cycle, which operates a wet grinder and a water pump, an exhaust fan attached to a long plastic bag to show how compressed air works, a periscope made with drain pipes, a steering game that tests dexterity, a
swivelling writing board, and so many hacks. He has plans to build Centre for Bhartiya Ancient Wisdom on the first floor, which will exhibit Indian scriptures, classical dance, music, and yoga. The museum is closed for repairs and will reopen in 15 days.
WHERE: Amma Saraswati Loka, 8th Main Road, 2nd Stage Banashankari Industrial Area
WHEN: 2pm-4pm on weekdays; 12pm-2pm on weekends
ENTRY: Free (prior appointment is must)
DETAILS: 9482514883
Travel back in time with this store-and-museum of antique furniture. Set up and collected by former techie Parwathi Mirlay, it houses English, French, Portuguese, Dutch and a couple of Indian pieces from the colonial era – all originals. Muse over a palanquin (palki) in Burma Teak from almost two centuries ago, used to carry idols. Move on to an Oakian bed, which comes from the opium dens of the far-east, and is carved from rose teak, cedar and sandalwood. Or gawk at a Chinese wedding bed. The space is filled with everything from writing desks and shoe racks to foyer pieces, decanters, European lights, carriage clocks, Persian carpets, crockeries of the early 1900s, to traditional board games, etc. What more? A cafe upstairs dishes out Parsi and Iranian food.
WHERE: Saanchi Antiques & Treasures, Langford Town
WHEN: 11am-7pm, all days
ENTRY: Free
DETAILS: 41202086/ saanchiantiques.com
