India

At SHELTER we are constantly surrounding ourselves in exciting environments, good vibes, the wild outdoors, and friends and family. It is what we surround ourselves in that greatly influences what we do on a daily and how we strive to be a better design and build company. One of the most influential and beneficial things we do is travel. It allows us to reset from our normal routines and to feel something new and different. The change in perspective heightens the senses and makes us so much more aware of all the fine details and characteristics that make cities, countries, and people the way they are. It is these characteristics and irregularities of space that we hold close and savor, forever influencing us in some way or form.  We have several countries under our belt now, all of which we would like to start sharing with you. 

The start to our travels, reaching beyond our country’s own border lines, began with a month long trip to India a few years back. During our travels we explored most of the west coast of India, up North from the Pakistani boarder in Gujarat on down to the southern tip in Kerala. With this trip we were diving into something completely new and foreign for what our eyes had ever seen. It was a major cultural shock and mind bending visual overload. There was so much to see and experience each day it was hard to ever want to sleep. Over the four weeks of traveling by plane, train, boats, ricksha, and foot, we got to work with many artisans in the northern regions, learning severals crafts alongside some of the most colorful people. The abundance of different scents we smelled, the untamed street markets, wild countries sides, and some of the busiest and overwhelming cities in the world, all lent hand to a powerful experience. There is so much to share about the journey, but for now we would like to give you a little teaser with a few photos. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a short visual film of our time in India and the creative inspiration we brought back with us.