Photos: In Jaipur, India, Bright Colors Are a Way of Life

Jaipur remains a site of pilgrimage for anyone even vaguely interested in shopping and, more important, discovering India’s inimitable material culture. India is almost unique in the world for the number and diversity of things that it still makes by hand—artisanry is a fact of daily life here, rather than an exception to it. All photos by Roland Bello.

By Hanya Yanagihara

Photography by Roland Bello

April 28, 2015

A custom made trunk lined in robin’s egg–blue suede at Trunks Company, which custom-makes gorgeous Italian leather trunks out of a dingy, anonymous building.
At Idli, owned by French expat Thierry Journo, clothes and home items in bright dip-dyed silks are all made in Jaipur.

Swags of silk and bright-colored dresses at Idli. Owner-designer Journo previously worked for Thierry Mugler and Andrée Putman in Paris.
Teatro Dhora is the Indian version of a concept shop, selling housewares, jewelry, accessories, and more from emerging young designers.

Bar Palladio pays homage to both the Mogul era and old European cafés.
More than just a fantastically picturesque place to have a Pimm’s Cup (made here with mango and pineapple) and a decent fettuccine ai funghi, it’s also a sort of glamorous public living room, a place where locals, expats, and visitors can smoke and drink the afternoon (and evening) away.

The lawn (with its tented tables) at Bar Palladio. The venue doubles as a performance space in the old European style.
The drawing room of the fabulously wallpapered Suján Rajmahal Palace. This 14-room property was once a guesthouse for visitors of the royal family.

Design is fundamental here: Rooms are splashed with 48 different styles of patterned wallpaper, antiques like Art Deco-era furniture, and silver polo trophies.
The bustling, colorful street scene in downtown Jaipur.

A streetside haircut takes place near one of the city's signature terra-cotta walls.
Fast times in crowded, lively Jaipur, where rickshaws and motorbikes vie for road space with cars.

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Color is a fact of life in Jaipur, whether it's on buildings or on the bright saris that women drape themselves in.
An elaborate door at the City Palace Museum, which is still the home of Jaipur's royal family.

Men gather outside yet another elaborate doorway at the City Palace museum.

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