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3232197740417Borosil Forays into Home Décor Range
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https://vvdesigns.in/borosil-forays-into-home-decor-range/#respondThu, 29 Dec 2022 11:55:17 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=3016Whether your style is minimalistic, avant-garde, or simply surrealistic, nothing can add opulence to your home much like statement home décor pieces. When it comes to decorating the interiors of your home, giving it a personal touch is essential. Borosil Ltd., one of India’s leading consumer brands has forayed into a new segment of stylish ...
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Whether your style is minimalistic, avant-garde, or simply surrealistic, nothing can add opulence to your home much like statement home décor pieces. When it comes to decorating the interiors of your home, giving it a personal touch is essential.
Borosil Ltd., one of India’s leading consumer brands has forayed into a new segment of stylish yet simplistic home décor range, perfect for giving your home a makeover or adding small items around the house. With a range of 3 beautiful vases, namely, the Sienna Vase, Artisan Vase, and Skye Vase, these can be used to display plants or vibrant and colorful flowers. These artistic vases work as the perfect design element to add to a center table or a cozy niche in your home.
The glass is made of 100 percent borosilicate, and the wooden stands are made of high-quality wood, allowing for a premium finish. Transform your house into a home with this beautiful range of vases by Borosil and add luxury with these stunning décor pieces.
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https://vvdesigns.in/these-desi-brands-are-keeping-indias-traditions-cool/#respondMon, 28 Nov 2022 05:18:21 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=2987Contemporary clothing, accessory and homeware makers are writing the next chapter for India’s traditional crafts Today, Indian handicrafts and textiles are keeping up with the times as a wave of new-generation artists and entrepreneurs have found a way to make traditional crafts in a contemporary style. They are rooted in the belief in sustainability and ...
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Contemporary clothing, accessory and homeware makers are writing the next chapter for India’s traditional crafts
Today, Indian handicrafts and textiles are keeping up with the times as a wave of new-generation artists and entrepreneurs have found a way to make traditional crafts in a contemporary style. They are rooted in the belief in sustainability and being local. We drew up a list of brands that are making Indian crafts the next big trend.
Indian crafts made cool
Vakr
Coffee tables by Vakr – Nupur Agarwal
These lunar-esque coffee tables and sculptural, suspended shelves are designed by architects Nehit Vij and Devyani Gupta, who set up their experimental studio with a mission to combine craft and modern furniture. For their first collection, Lehar, they used design-modelling software to create wave-shaped concrete pieces and retrained traditional rattan weavers from Uttar Pradesh to make parametric textures. Website
Jodi
Gauri Verma and Karuna Laungani of Jodi – Nupur Agarwal
With their imaginative patterns and vibrant colours, Jodi’s dresses, jackets and menswear move beyond the stereotypical look of block-printed Rajasthani and Gujarati clothing into something modern and more conceptual. Its founders, former fashion stylists Karuna Laungani and Gauri Verma, are inspired by their travels across India to produce signature prints with pomegranates, Bengal tigers and parrots rendered in hand-block printing and clamp dyeing. Website
Heirloom Naga
Heirloom Naga
Jesmina Zeliang trained a network of more than 450 rural, home-based artisans to weave on the flexible loin loom, or back-strap loom, to create textiles and decorative pieces that are “a confluence of traditional practices and modern design”. Now stocked at Daylesford Organic and The Citizenry in New York, the range includes classic throws and cushion covers in tactile, natural materials such as cotton and eri silk, with a timeless aesthetic. Zeliang also makes fans and wooden figurines, bamboo-woven pieces and rustic woodwork. Website
Sangaru
Sangaru’s Flame back red chair – Sandeep Sangaru
Sandeep Sangaru knows that the key to preserving crafts is to instil the makers with pride so the younger generation will want to continue their lineage. “Craft had to go from something that hangs on a wall to something people use in their daily lives,” he says. His portfolio runs the gamut from intricate cabinets of Kashmiri latticework to a Channapatna bed made of 108 lacquered pieces; to complex bamboo installations showcased at Varana in London. He’s also been commissioned to create a bamboo café for Frankfurt’s Ambiente trade fair. Website
Sheetal Zaveri
Sultana earrings by Sheetal Zaveri – Gaurab Ganguli
Hyderabad-based Zaveri and her husband Hitesh are fourth-generation jewellers who work with artisans descended from the makers of the famous Nizam of Hyderabad gems. She creates intricately carved pieces with whimsical twists—her two-tone earrings, neckpieces, bracelets and rings are crafted predominantly from sterling silver with gold polish, in the kundan tradition, for which gemstones are set into gold foil. “I love religious motifs such as bulls and birds on contemporary chokers and charm bracelets,” she says. Website
Injiri
Wool jacket and tunic by Injiri – Wrap and design pvt ltd
Growing up in Rajasthan, a state known for its handicrafts, Chinar Farooqui developed a deep appreciation for such skills and founded Injiri in 2009 to celebrate India’s living craft traditions. Her goal was to create and nurture long-lasting relationships with artisans producing Madras check cotton, Dhakai jamdani muslin, Kachchi bandhani tie-dyed fabrics, Lucknowi chikankari embroidery and Bhujodi turban weaves. The result is a collection of vibrant dresses, jackets and stoles in relaxed, trend-defying silhouettes, plus timeless pieces for the home. Website
Mianzi
Sustainable bamboo trays by Mianzi – Shashank Gautam
This prize-winning outfit produces lights, home accessories and slick modular furniture using the craft of bamboo weaving from India’s north-east states. “As a child, I spent a lot of time in my grandfather’s rickshaw repair workshop, watching him solve problems with his hands,” says its industrial-designer founder Shashank Gautam, who has also created a prototype for a bamboo e-bike. Website
Ikkis
10ft Bamboo chandelier by Ikkis – Gunjan Gupta
Gunjan Gupta’s collectible chairs have been displayed at Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and the Vitra Schaudepot in Germany. She is known for sleek products that are machine-made and then finished by hand—terracotta-coated brass jugs, hand-enamelled chai cups Champagne flutes and brass-and-marble bucket vases. Limited-edition pieces made in collaboration with master crafters include stone carvings, bidri (metal) work and terracotta pottery. Now she has launched Ikkis, an accessible homeware line that blends the Indian aesthetic with international style. Website
Orvi
Orvi Flora Collective – Sanjeev Agrawal
This Jaipur-based homeware brand works with lesser-known crafts such as tarkashi—for which copper or silver wire is inlaid into wood, micro mosaic and Japanese raku-fired pottery. Founder Sanjeev Agrawal wanted to help artisans in danger of losing their livelihoods and invested in research and development to introduce technology to age-old crafts. “People love handcrafted things but you need to give them the right aesthetic,” he says. The bestsellers are intricate floors and surfaces, inlay furniture, bookends and vases. Website
Karthik Vaidyanathan’s Bengaluru boutique is filled with an innovative homeware range inspired by 200-year-old Channapatna lacquer work: paper-towel holders; door stoppers; bar accessories—all gleaming with natural dyes in tones of mustard, indigo and forest green. His toy collection goes beyond decorative dolls to make engaging games based on Montessori and Waldorf philosophies. Website
SMR Days
Outfit from SMR – Anubhav Syal
Stocked at London stores like Harrods and Browns, this menswear brand subtly mixes textile crafts such as chikankari and ikat with contemporary resort-wear shapes. It is known for its breezy separates in breathable fabrics including cotton, silk and linen. Founders Adam Shapiro, Dan May and Gautam Rajani visited more than 27 factories, weavers and artisans all over India before launching, and they work with the Sangraha Institute in Lucknow to produce playful motifs such as palm trees in traditional needlework. Website
Boond Fragrances
Handmade packaging by Boond – Krati Tandon
Siblings Krati and Varun Tandon started this label in their hometown of Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, a place regarded as the perfume capital of India, in 2021. The brand links makers of ittr, perfumes made with the thousand-year-old deg bhapka method of distilling petals, with new sources of income. The deeply nostalgic scents include motiya (jasmine), maati (petrichor), khus (vetiver) and gulabi (Indian rose). They are sold in boxes wrapped in handmade paper, with a hand-written poem penned by the duo’s father. Website
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https://vvdesigns.in/weekly-design-inspiration-inspirationsweekly/#respondSat, 27 Aug 2022 15:49:35 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=2952 Business Process Builder Mobile by Halo Mobile Cybersecurity platform: dashboard by Viet Dang Metrium — Landing Page UI by Bogdan Falin Nimula App Design by Lisa Jacobs New Milkinside web site by Gleb Kuznetsov Curiosity by Dmitrij Imaginary Lands 🌈 by Hurca!™ Selected Illustrations 2019–2020 by Alex Krugli ANDRÉ PRANDO • COVER ARTS by Caramurú Baumgartner Nature Illustration 2020 by FEBIN RAJ №8 Nootropics ...
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The post Weekly Design Inspiration #inspirationsweekly appeared first on VVDesigns.]]>https://vvdesigns.in/weekly-design-inspiration-inspirationsweekly/feed/02952Indian weddings go green with new tree-planting traditions
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https://vvdesigns.in/indian-weddings-go-green-with-new-tree-planting-traditions/#respondTue, 14 Jun 2022 12:43:09 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=2902Indian communities are planting trees to celebrate local customs and events such as weddings and funerals to help restore degraded land BIKANER, India, June 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – With saplings in hand and faces veiled by colourful sarees, Suman and Sarita Takariya’s relatives sang traditional songs as the sisters planted small shrubs at their ...
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Indian communities are planting trees to celebrate local customs and events such as weddings and funerals to help restore degraded land
BIKANER, India, June 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – With saplings in hand and faces veiled by colourful sarees, Suman and Sarita Takariya’s relatives sang traditional songs as the sisters planted small shrubs at their combined pre-wedding celebration in a remote Indian village.
Suman, 21, and Sarita, 19, who married their husbands in a joint ceremony, are part of a growing trend in the western desert state of Rajasthan in which families gift and plant native trees as a new addition to their local customs and rituals.
“They are a part of our family now,” Sarita said as she cleaned her muddy hands after planting an oleander shrub.
“We will leave for our in-laws’ place, but they (the trees) will be here for our parents.”
The sisters’ wedding card said: “Protect nature and nature will protect us”.
Sarita Takariya (L) and Suman Takariya (R) pose with their combined ‘green’ wedding card in Runiya Barawas, India, May 2, 2022. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Annie Banerji
From weddings, births and funerals to festivals such as Holi, and even family achievements like buying a new car, plants and trees have become centrepieces of local culture, helping to breathe life into the sandy soils of northwestern Rajasthan.
More and more villagers are adopting the practice as they see the benefits, whether easy access to fruit or cool shade, said Shyam Sunder Jyani, the man behind “Familial Forestry”, which aims to connect trees with families and their rituals.
But soil scientists warn that planting trees alone is not sufficient to combat the growing problem of land degradation.
Rajasthan is India’s largest state and also the most degraded when it comes to land, meaning it suffers a persistent decline in soil quality and its capacity to be productive.
Factors such as climate change, over-grazing, excessive cultivation, deforestation and urbanisation play a role in land degradation and desertification.
The problem affects people’s food security and incomes, and leaves them vulnerable to weather-related disasters such as drought.
“That is why it’s important to build green infrastructure because it creates a knock-on effect, combating everything from food insecurity to climate change,” said Jyani in Bikaner city, which is near the rolling dunes of the Thar Desert.
Shyam Sunder Jyani, an environmentalist, helps plant a sapling in Rajasthan, India, October 2017. Handout via Shyam Sunder Jyani
Trees can increase organic content in the ground, recycle nutrients, and boost the water-holding capacity of soil, as well as absorbing climate change-fuelling carbon dioxide emissions.
Soil also naturally absorbs carbon from the atmosphere through a process known as sequestration which not only reduces harmful greenhouse gases but also creates more fertile soil.
Jyani said a proven way to ensure more tree planting was by making trees “green members” of families.
“When we personify a tree, then it connects the family emotionally … and that makes the tree a part of them,” said the 43-year-old sociology professor.
“By clubbing tree plantation with rituals and festivals, which are pillars of our social life, we make people empathetic towards their local ecology and surroundings.”
FRUITFUL GAINS
Rajasthan has few forests compared with other states. They make up just 8% of its total land area, government analysis and data show.
But in the last 16 years, more than a million families from at least 15,000 villages in the state have planted about 3.5 million saplings as part of the “Familial Forestry” project.
More than a dozen participants in the programme told the Thomson Reuters Foundation they were literally enjoying the fruits – and flowers – of their labour, seeing increased ground water levels, improved crop yields, and ultimately more income.
“The trees have changed my life. The fruits are as sweet as the ones I had as a little boy. Birds that I had not seen in decades are back,” said teacher Brij Mohan Singh, as he gave out saplings to guests at a lunch event for his son’s wedding.
“This is for my grandchildren, for the next generation. We have to leave a healthy environment for them, especially as the threat of (global warming) increases every day.”
Singh said he had planted five saplings at home and helped his school plant more than 7,000, which provide a cool canopy for students in the scorching summer heat, as temperatures often soar above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
“They say they feel like they are sitting in an air-conditioned room,” he added.
Laxmi Kant Sharma, a professor of earth sciences at Central Rajasthan University, praised “Familial Forestry” for tapping into India’s age-old roots of conserving forest resources.
But he warned that it was important to only plant indigenous trees as others often “become killers of native species of the desert” and can harm wildlife habitats.
Jyani, who won the Land for Life award from the United Nations’ anti-desertification agency last year, said he teaches communities to plant only native species such as the Khejri, Rajasthan’s state tree, which requires very little water.
RICH SOIL, HEALTHY LIFE
India vowed to restore 26 million hectares of the country’s degraded land – or nearly 27% – by 2030 when it hosted the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) conference in 2019.
Almost 30% of the land in India is suffering degradation, a report by state-run space agency ISRO found last year.
Rattan Lal, an Indian-American award-winning soil scientist whose moniker is the “Godfather of Soil Science”, is urging the government to start a scheme that would pay farmers 2,325 rupees ($30) for each tonne of carbon dioxide their land absorbs.
Such “carbon credits” are increasingly popular financial instruments, with companies or governments that want to “offset” their own emissions paying others to reduce or prevent the release of greenhouse gases for them.
Credits can support things like solar farms or planting trees, allowing farmers to monetise the carbon their fields soak up – though accurately measuring and verifying emissions reductions remains tricky.
Still, such credit systems can incentivize people “for doing good”, Lal said in a video interview from Columbus, Ohio.
Farmers often feed their crop residue to cattle and use it to make homes and fences – or even for cooking – when it could instead be returned to the soil to boost its organic matter.
Lal also suggested schools include more nature-oriented literature to spread environmental awareness early on.
Celebrity Indian spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev – known as Sadhguru – is on a one-man mission to spotlight the issue.
He recently finished a 30,000 km (18,640 mile) trip across Europe, the Middle East and India by motorcycle to raise awareness about the deteriorating state of the world’s soil.
“Healthy soil and healthy life are inextricably connected,” Sadhguru said at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. “In the next 10 to 15 years we can make a significant turnaround.”
Om Prakash Siddh, a groom of a ‘green’ wedding, poses for a photo in Bikaner, India, May 4, 2022. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Annie Banerji
In Rajasthan, Harinath Siddh said he had played his part by gifting and planting saplings at his wedding earlier this month.
“I wanted to show (my wife) that I care about the environment,” the 25-year-old said.
“And this way we will be able to care for these trees like they are our own children and watch them grow.”
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https://vvdesigns.in/vertical-gardening-at-home-heres-how-you-grow-fresh-veggies-in-plastic-bottles/#respondWed, 08 Jun 2022 14:37:08 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=2885Ankit Bajpai, who lives in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, was fond of trees and plants since childhood. After completing his studies, he took up a job in Mumbai, but his love for gardening never died. In 2017, he returned to his hometown after leaving his corporate job, and started terrace gardening at home. Gradually, he filled ...
The post Vertical Gardening at Home: Here’s How You Grow Fresh Veggies in Plastic Bottles appeared first on VVDesigns.]]>Ankit Bajpai, who lives in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, was fond of trees and plants since childhood. After completing his studies, he took up a job in Mumbai, but his love for gardening never died.
In 2017, he returned to his hometown after leaving his corporate job, and started terrace gardening at home. Gradually, he filled his 390 sq-ft terrace with several trees and plants.
In his rich and beautiful garden, there are flowers like rose, marigold, lilly, as well as vegetables like brinjal, capsicum, coriander, spinach, broccoli, potato, radish, tomato, green chilli, cabbage and lemon.
Along with the garden, Ankit also manages a YouTube channel with 4.5 lakh subscribers, where he gives tips on growing these varieties of plants.
Where to start?
“In order to start gardening, choose an open space with good sunlight. Nowadays, you can do vertical gardening even on the wall or in your balcony. Just ensure water is available,” says Ankit. “Winter or spring is the right time to start gardening.”
now is teaching vertical gardening to those who stay in apartments in big cities so that they fresh vegetables and upcycle the waste.
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Ankit Bajpai, who lives in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, was fond of trees and plants since childhood. After completing his studies, he took up a job in Mumbai, but his love for gardening never died.
In 2017, he returned to his hometown after leaving his corporate job, and started terrace gardening at home. Gradually, he filled his 390 sq-ft terrace with several trees and plants.
In his rich and beautiful garden, there are flowers like rose, marigold, lilly, as well as vegetables like brinjal, capsicum, coriander, spinach, broccoli, potato, radish, tomato, green chilli, cabbage and lemon.
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Along with the garden, Ankit also manages a YouTube channel with 4.5 lakh subscribers, where he gives tips on growing these varieties of plants.
Where to start?
“In order to start gardening, choose an open space with good sunlight. Nowadays, you can do vertical gardening even on the wall or in your balcony. Just ensure water is available,” says Ankit. “Winter or spring is the right time to start gardening.”
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What to choose?
For beginners, Ankit suggests trees and plants that do not require much care. “Gradually, you will start to develop a friendship with plants and then automatically plant more.” Marigold, basil, mint, aloe vera, money plant, potato, spinach and moonshine are some plants that are super easy to grow, he says.
What about the soil?
Coming to soil preparation, which is most important, mix sand and cow dung manure or vermicompost in the soil. “Remember that the ratio of soil, sand and compost should be 30:30:40.”
Will terrace farming cause damage in the building?
“If you are using pots, grow bags or planters, then you do not have to worry. Your roof will not be damaged,” he assures.
How to be creative?
For people living in small spaces and apartments, gardening might feel like a strenuous process. “But I want to tell them that you can easily do it on your own small balcony or terrace. Put in some time and effort. Everything will fall into place,” he says.
“Vertical gardening can be done on the balcony wall. Any plant can be grown by hanging old and waste plastic bottles on the walls. It elevates the beauty of the wall and helps with fresh veggies,” Ankit adds.
How to avoid wasting water while gardening?
“I think there is no right or wrong way to water plants. You just have to make sure that the soil in your pots is not dry. Whenever there is no moisture left in the soil, sprinkle water immediately,” he says.
How to nourish plants?
Ankit suggests making liquid fertiliser in compost. Wet household waste and dry leaves can be used for this purpose.
“Vegetable peels come out of your kitchen every day. Collect them and add a piece of ginger. Then, put it in a mixer and grind it,” Ankit shares. “Ginger acts as an antifungal and antioxidant. It does not allow any bacteria or disease to grow in the trees.”
After grinding, leave this paste in water for 12 to 14 hours and pour this water into the plants. “It is highly nutritious for plants and keeps away pests,” says the gardener.
In addition to this, banana peels can also be used. Dry them and turn them into a powder and add 10 grams of powder to a 12 inch pot. The mix is rich with calcium and minerals needed for the plants.
“You can also make a liquid fertiliser from banana peels. Put 12 peels in a box with 10 litres of water and close the mouth of the box. Keep this box in shade, but allow a little sunlight. After a week, your liquid fertiliser will be ready,” he adds.
Extra tips
Remove yellow and dry leaves from the tree.
While planting, make sure that all pots or bags have holes in their bottom.
Never pull the plants out while planting them in another pot. Take it along with the soil.
It is better to water the plants deeply than frequent light watering so that the moisture in the soil remains.
Pay attention to the soil to understand how much water is needed.
Fertilise every 20 to 30 days.
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https://vvdesigns.in/3-essential-design-trends-march-2022/#respondThu, 19 May 2022 05:24:16 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=2859This month all of our web design trends have a common theme – imagery. Whether it’s seasonal or just coincidence, there’s a shift in the styles and types of images on many designs right now. One thing that might push these design trends is a relaxation of COVID-spurred rules worldwide or even fatigue from the ...
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This month all of our web design trends have a common theme – imagery. Whether it’s seasonal or just coincidence, there’s a shift in the styles and types of images on many designs right now. One thing that might push these design trends is a relaxation of COVID-spurred rules worldwide or even fatigue from the pandemic.
Here’s what’s trending in design this month.
1. Little Images Everywhere
The jury is still out on whether we love or hate this design trend – tiny images (and videos) everywhere.
The thing that’s nice is there is a lot to see and interact with. The thing that’s challenging is that these designs can feel a bit unbalanced and all over the place.
Most of these designs feature four or more images or videos at a time. That can be a lot for a user to digest when we are accustomed to having just one thing to look at in the hero area.
Those four or more images then include all of the other user interface elements that you would expect on the page – navigation, large headline, secondary text, scroll, or engagement interaction. It can be a lot to decipher.
Tokyu Garden City does it with a mix of still and moving images with sliders and other animations. The images are always changing and moving, and there’s constantly something new to look at with movement at the top and bottom of the screen.
Buro Jantzen takes the tiny image idea to an extreme with ten images on the homepage. And every one is smaller than a postage stamp. There is a cool effect that happens with each image though. On hover, the small image pops into the large black box at a size where you can really see the photo.
Oliver Guy uses a combination of video images on his website, which makes perfect sense for his industry of drone photography. There’s some interesting hover animation happening that allows you to see additional video clips without leaving the homepage. The contrast of small video on the white background makes this design easy to understand.
2. Big Detail Photography
Photographic details in all their glory. Images and elements that are so in your face that you can see every detail. That’s majorly trending in website design.
Big detail photography and videography is one of those image trends that can be so visually interesting that you can’t look away. It has other benefits, too, such as facilitating decision-making for e-commerce or helping someone better understand what an item is or the overall messaging.
Each of these examples shows something larger than life-size.
Karak creates ceramic tiles. The primary background image is so big and with such detail that it almost only serves as texture for the design. But it is paired with a smaller image and video that pull everything together for a complete understanding. The big detail image is beautiful and exciting and provides an extra layer of information.
Wuillemin Fleuristes features an off-balanced hero image with a large floral detail. What’s interesting about this design choice for a detail image is that it is the only image on the screen and partially obscured by a tinted box and text element. The overall design draws the eye but may leave the user wanting to see a little more of the image.
Horage pushes its watch in your face with motion in a video that zooms the product closer and closer into view. The combination of detailed video with very little text is a bold choice for e-commerce and might work because this item is still in the preorder phase. Detailed imaging is designed to help create a desire for the product.
3. Big Faces are Back
After two years of not having that many faces in design projects, designers are going big and bold and showing people again.
One of the reasons we haven’t seen as many faces in design projects is because there was concern over how to show people – masked or maskless, alone or in crowds – and it caused more concern than was worth just going another way.
But projects with big faces are back in a major way. And it’s refreshing to make virtual eye contact again.
There are plenty of ways to do it, as outlined in each of these examples.
Glassbox Media uses a full-screen oversized video on the homepage. You can see the subject’s eyes and feel engaged with the person on the screen. She seems happy, and the size and scale of the face make you feel almost like you are in a room with her, ready to have a conversation.
Reamarie uses smaller still images with tight crops to bring you into the faces on the screen. There are more, bigger faces throughout the scroll as well so that the user feels connected to the people and product. Even if an image isn’t super large, a tight crop can make it feel bigger and create the same level of engagement as something that has more size on the screen.
Recruit Holdings Co. uses a trio of people together, happy and smiling, to establish a connection with website visitors. The entire design features similar images throughout and makes you feel like you want to be a part of what they are offering. Note that the people are close together and without masks; that’s a culture shift we are starting to see in a lot of imagery.
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https://vvdesigns.in/2836-2/#respondFri, 13 May 2022 04:32:03 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=2836If food is an expression of love, a food business is, at its heart, a love story. And these women are proof that love has no bar. For most people, the twilight years of life are meant to relax, put one’s feet up, and enjoy one’s remaining years. They’re hardly a time for the hustle ...
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If food is an expression of love, a food business is, at its heart, a love story. And these women are proof that love has no bar.
For most people, the twilight years of life are meant to relax, put one’s feet up, and enjoy one’s remaining years. They’re hardly a time for the hustle and daily grind of setting up a whole new business. But these women are not most people. At 68, 77, even 90 years old, they set up food businesses that have become the talk of India. Their motivations may differ – for some, a lockdown activity, for others, a lifelong regret of never having earned their own money. But all of them have one thing in common – drive, talent, and a real love for food and feeding people. If food is an expression of love, a food business is, at its heart, a love story. And these women are proof that love has no bar. This Mothers’ Day, we bring you the stories of these women who inspire with their empires.
Urmila Asher, Gujju Ben Na Nasta
Urmila Asher, Gujju Ben Na Nasta
“A hustler all her life” is how her grandson and business partner Harsh describes Urmila Asher, the talent behind Mumbai-based Gujju Ben Na Nasta, which, as the name describes, offers a range of Gujarati snacks. When the Covid pandemic hit in 2020, the 77-year-old who lives in a chawl in Mumbai and used to be a cook for NRI families in London and the US, began to make pickles just for the family. But what began as a lockdown activity has now turned into a full-fledged business, complete with a retail store, a cloud kitchen, a YouTube channel with more than 26K subscribers, and travelling to deliver TEDx talks.
During the lockdown, Harsh, who’d had to close down his luxury bike rental and corporate gifting businesses, noticed his grandma’s tenacity and keenness to stay active in the kitchen, and, given the wave of home-cooking enterprises that marked the first lockdown, he smelt a business opportunity. He asked her if she’d like to turn it into a business, and sent out a WhatsApp message blast about homemade pickles for sale. Within 20-25 days, the duo had sold almost 450 kg of pickles. Now, having expanded to a range of snacks such as dhokla, khandvi, gathia, chakli, thepla, and more, they have trained more staffers so that Urmila can relax a bit and focus on the YouTube channel instead of being in the kitchen for 15 hours a day, while Harsh focuses on the business and marketing. Future plans for this dadi include retailing on Amazon and Flipkart, and making Gujju Ben Na Nasta a household name while continuing to do the thing she loves – cook and provide for her family. (98213 24901;gujjubennanasta.in)
Harbhajan Kaur, Harbhajan’s
Harbhajan Kaur, Harbhajan’s
“Vela baithna bimari da ghar hai” (To sit idle is to invite disease) is something Harbhajan Kaur says frequently. The 95-year-old is a living advertisement for her words, given that she is the talent behind the much-loved Harbhajan’s – Bachpan Yaad Aajaye, a five-year-old Chandigarh-based business that started, as all the best things do, over a cup of tea. Sitting with her daughter on her 90th birthday, Harbhajan could reminisce about many things in life – her childhood in Punjab’s Tarn Taran Sahib filled with delicious food made by her mother and meetha made by her father, her marriage to a Punjab Services officer, the charmed life they led post his retirement in the 1980s in Chandigarh when they enjoyed going out to explore new restaurants and dishes (she tried a soufflé for the first time) and she would always ask for the recipes and try them out at home.
But the widow who had been educated only till the eighth grade also voiced her one lingering regret – that she had never earned her own money. Her daughter asked why she couldn’t start now. She’d been cooking since she was a child and she was passionate and curious about new recipes, so it made perfect sense. Once Harbhajan said yes, the entire family then swung into action – reaching out to home chefs and food bazaar organisers and making sure she had all the ingredients she needed so she could just focus on the thing she loves – cooking. Her first product (for a pop-up) and her bestseller is the besan ki barfi, based on a 100-year-old recipe handed down from her father, but she also makes seasonal sherbets, pickles, chutneys. Some press interest followed, including an interview that was shared on social media by Anand Mahindra, which went viral and prompted the family to build her online and retail presence. During the pandemic, with the help of her grandson who is a trained chef and granddaughter who’s a designer, plus the rest of the family, the venture became more business-oriented, even retailing on Amazon. (Instagram:@harbhajansmadewithlove)
Iti Misra, home cook
Iti Misra, home cook
The 81-year-old never saw cooking as anything but a hobby, and she still doesn’t. “The only difference is that now, with pop-ups, restaurant collaborations, and curated at-home dining experiences, my hobby funds itself,” she laughs. When she worked in the sales team at British Airways in Kolkata and personnel management in Hindustan Lever, she would only cook for family and friends who loved her food. They’d urge her to get into catering but she was never really interested.
But about five years ago, someone she knew introduced her to Traveling Spoon, a California-based portal that sets up unique local dining experiences for tourists in different parts of the world, such as eating and cooking with a home chef. Iti was initially wary of letting people into her home, but eventually, signed up to be a host and invite people to her Kolkata house. Then came collaborations with some of India’s best restaurants (Monkey Bar, The Bombay Canteen, Bengaluru Oota Company), that featured her daab chingri, shukto, beguni bhaja, cholar dal and other classic Bengali fare. Now, since Covid, she has not done any pop-ups or at-home experiences, but what she does miss is meeting new people. “That was one of the best parts – to meet so many people from all over the world.” (Instagram:@cheffingtonpost)
Pratibha Kanoi, Mommy’s Kitchen
Pratibha Kanoi, Mommy’s Kitchen
Photo: Instagram/@mommyskitchen.kanoi
A lockdown activity to stave off loneliness and boredom, especially after her husband had passed away a few years prior, has now made Pratibha Kanoi the go-to for Amitabh Bachchan, Sonali Bendre, Akshay Kumar, Devendra Fadnavis, Supriya Sule, Pinky Reddy, and a host of other well-heeled folks, as well as a growing name in Kolkata and Bengaluru.
While business smarts and some good networking helped, it is largely down to the 68-year-old homemaker’s sheer talent in the kitchen. Her children suggested that she turn her hobby into a business and within a week, they helped her set up the basics of Mommy’s Kitchen – ordering boxes, getting delivery mechanisms in place, putting the word out. Her daughter, in fact, runs Mommy’s Kitchen in Bengaluru, while the kitchens in Kolkata and Mumbai are run by trained staff. But Pratibha isn’t one to just focus on the cooking aspect and leave the commercials to her kids – she’s got a sharp eye on the business side of things, she’s even appeared on Shark Tank, and has big plans to open cloud kitchens across India. Ask her what makes her four types of pasta and six types of thin-crust square-cut pizza (all vegetarian, she says firmly) special and she really has no idea. “It’s nothing, I’ve not done anything, I don’t know what it is that they love so much, but it’s God’s miracle.” (mommys.kitchen)
Meenakshi Meyappan, The Bangala
Meenakshi Meyappan, The Bangala
Photo: Instagram/@thebangala
In the early 2000s, Meenkashi Meyappan, then in her 60s, set up The Bangala, the first heritage hotel in the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu. At 88 now, she’s still actively involved in the running of the place and a force to reckon with. Chettinad is known for its heritage mansions that used to be family homes, one of which is now The Bangala.
It was Meenakshi who turned the family property into a major reason that tourists visit Karaikudi, and while it is gorgeous, with antique furniture and beautifully tiled old-school flooring paired with a lovely pool and spa, the big draw at The Bangala is the stellar Chettinad cuisine on offer. The in-house restaurant, which consistently finds a place on top restaurant lists including Conde Nast Traveller’s own, offers up dishes like chilli garlic fish, prawn curry, spiced kingfish, okra with tamarind and shallots, crab rasam, chicken with black pepper, and many that might seem unexpected, but actually make sense, given the region’s trading history.
The truly surprising thing? Meenakshi, who is widely considered Chettinad cuisine’s best ambassador, doesn’t even cook. She knows the food inside out though, as she does the intricacies of running a successful hospitality venture without compromising on why she started it in the first place – to really bring out the nuances of the region. And her work goes beyond the hotel – she has also authored books including The Bangala Table and Mansions of Chettinad. (thebangala.com)
Radha Daga, Triguni Eze Eats
Radha Daga, Triguni Eze Eats
Photo: Instagram/@ezeeatstriguni
Chances are you’ve sent a silent thank you to her from 37,000 feet, even if you didn’t know it. That eight-minute upma that’s been the saviour of those who’ve had to take a 6am flight? That’s the brainchild of 80-year-old Radha Daga, who started her brand, Triguni Eze Eats, a little over 10 years ago. A former textile exporter, she came across a mgazine ad for ready-to-eat pasta that just needed hot water and wondered why that couldn’t be applied to other foods. She first tried with idlis, but when that didn’t work, she tried lemon rice, biryani, and tamarind rice, which hit the mark. She put her entrepreneurial skills to use and in 2012, IndiGo came calling for her biryani and later, upma. Today, the airline is her single biggest client, contributing to more than 80 percent of her sales, though her products are retailed on Amazon as well as in stores. Some of her other products include dal chawal, poha, rajma chawal, and pongal sambar, and now she even supplies food to the IRCTC for train travellers. (ezeeats.com)
Kokila Parekh, KT Masala
Kokila Parekh of KT Masala, with her daughter-in-law and co-founder
Photo: Facebook/@KTCHAIMASALA
While the lockdown took away jobs from many people, it also provided an opportunity to those with the drive and means to make it happen. And that opportunity was clearly age-agnostic, as in the case of Kokila Parekh, an 81-year-old from Mumbai. Watch any masala chai ad and you can almost smell the rejuvenation that the drinkers of the spicy tea claim to feel with just one sip.
Kokila’s chai masala, a blend of ginger, cardamom, lemon, and other magical things in her secret combination, seems to have that effect on people too. Any guest at her home would marvel at her tea, and would be sent back armed with a packet of her spice mix. But it was during the first year of the pandemic that Kokila decided she wanted to try going commercial with it. Her son Tushar helped her set up the basics – a commercial-sized grinder, branded sealable packaging, deals with spice sellers for bulk quantities – and thus KT (Kokila Tushar) was born. Now shipping across India, KT is looking to take this all-natural spice mix global.
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https://vvdesigns.in/why-birds-survived-and-dinosaurs-went-extinct-after-an-asteroid-hit-earth/#respondMon, 02 May 2022 16:33:13 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=2821Paleontologists think that beaks may have given birds an advantage over other creatures. Birds are the only dinosaurs left. That might seem strange. A pigeon or a penguin doesn’t look much like a Tyrannosaurus. But the connection is still there, all the way down to the bone. About 150 million years ago, in the Jurassic, ...
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Paleontologists think that beaks may have given birds an advantage over other creatures.
Birds are the only dinosaurs left. That might seem strange. A pigeon or a penguin doesn’t look much like a Tyrannosaurus. But the connection is still there, all the way down to the bone. About 150 million years ago, in the Jurassic, the first birds evolved from small, feathery, raptor-like dinosaurs, becoming another branch on the dinosaur family tree. For more than 80 million years, birds of all sorts flourished, from loon-like swimmers with teeth to beaked birds that carried streamer-like feathers as they flew.
With hindsight, birds can be categorized as avian dinosaurs and all the other sorts—from Stegosaurus to Brontosaurus—are non-avian dinosaurs. The entire reason paleontologists make that split is because of a catastrophe that struck 66 million years ago. An asteroid more than 6 miles across struck what’s now the Yucatan Peninsula, triggering the fifth mass extinction in the world’s history. Some of the debris thrown into the atmosphere returned to Earth, the friction turning the air into an oven and sparking forest fires as it landed all over the world. Then the intensity of the heat pulse gave way to a prolonged impact winter, the sky blotted out by soot and ash as temperatures fell. All told, more than 75 percent of species known from the end of the Cretaceous period, 66 million years ago, didn’t make it to the following Paleogene period. The geologic break between the two is called the K-Pg boundary, and beaked birds were the only dinosaurs to survive the disaster.
“There has been a lot of discussion about what enabled modern-type birds to survive the K-Pg extinction while other birds groups, non-avian dinosaurs, and even pterosaurs perished,” says Royal BC Museum paleontologist Derek Larson. The end of the Cretaceous boasted an entire array of birds and bird-like reptiles. But of these groups, it was only the beaked birds that survived. The happenstances of evolution had given birds a lucky break, the key events set in motion long before the asteroid struck.
All living birds have toothless beaks, but this wasn’t always so. The very first bird, the 150 million-year-old Archaeopteryx, initially confounded 19th century naturalists because it had teeth. For tens of millions of years after Archaeopteryx, toothed birds continued to thrive and evolve alongside their dinosaurian relatives. And some of these toothed birds eventually lost their teeth, plucking up their meals with toothless beaks instead.
The question is what evolutionary pressures pushed birds to lose teeth when teeth seem so useful. Given that most birds fly, adaptation to the air seemed like a possibility. “Older hypotheses focused on the idea of weight reduction for flight,” says University of Texas at Austin paleontologist Grace Musser, but the discovery that some toothed birds were strong fliers has led researchers back to the drawing board.
Rather than flight, food might have given birds an evolutionary nudge towards toothless beaks as ancient avians thrived among other dinosaurs. Paleontologists have noticed that some dinosaur groups, including birds, evolved beaks and lost teeth as they became more herbivorous. While the earliest birds had teeth to nab insects and other small morsels, some bird lineages started to specialize on fruit, seeds, and other plant foods. Instead of teeth to catch, the birds evolved beaks to pluck and pick.
Among the birds that began to lose teeth in favor of beaks, the way beaks form during development may have helped the evolutionary shift. “Changes to the skull and face as the beak became more complex may have moved developing tissues around, changing how they interact in the embryo, and resulted in the loss of tooth formation,” says King’s College London anatomist Abigail Tucker.
“All the things that make birds, birds, were already in place well before the mass extinction,” says University College London anatomist Ryan Felice.
When the extinction struck, the traits birds had been evolving for millions of years made the difference between life and death. While some birds survived the impact and its aftermath, not all of them did. “When we think about hypotheses of traits that let birds survive, we need to take into account that it was only a small sliver of diversity that made it to the other side,” Felice says. Entire groups of birds, such as toothed birds called enantiornithes, went extinct. It’s unlikely that one single trait determined the fate of all these species. Still, surviving extinction often comes down to luck, and beaks may have been some birds’ ace.
By the end of the Cretaceous, beaked birds were already eating a much more varied diet than their toothed relatives. These birds weren’t specialized on insects or other animal food, and so they were able to pluck up hard food items like seeds and nuts. And in the aftermath of the extinction, when animal life was severely cut back, those hard, persistent little morsels got beaked birds through the hard times. Beaked birds were able to feed on the seeds of the destroyed forests and wait out the decades until vegetation began to return.
Not that beaks guaranteed survival of the impact event. The duck-like bird Vegavis lived at the end of the Cretaceous and had a beak, yet there’s no indication that this avian survived. “Just having a beak was not enough,” Tucker says. Rather, it’s that birds with beaks and powerful gizzards capable of crushing tough seeds had an unexpected advantage that increased their chances of survival.
Both fossils and the timeline of bird evolution discerned from their genetic relationships indicates that early members of modern bird groups—such as birds related to ducks, parrots, and chickens—were around by time the asteroid struck. These groups still suffered losses, but enough survived to set up a new pulse of bird evolution in the millions of years following the catastrophe. Many bird lineages became smaller in size while maintaining their brain size. Through evolutionary shrinking, birds wound up with larger brains compared to their body size, setting the stage for avian intelligence beyond what the non-avian dinosaurs could have evolved.
But big evolutionary changes often come with constraints. “The loss of teeth does limit the number of dietary niches birds could explore,” Felice says. “Herbivorous mammals and non-avian dinosaurs evolved ever-growing teeth so that could continue eating as the plants wore their teeth down, but this just isn’t possible with a beak,” Felice says. And that means that bird skulls haven’t needed to vary as much to support different jaws and ways of feeding, meaning that birds look like evolutionary slowpokes compared to non-avian dinosaurs—as Felice and colleagues found in a new study of bird skull evolution.
To understand more about how birds managed to survive and make a living in a world recovering from one of the worst mass extinctions of all time, the task at hand is to find more fossils from the time directly following the mass extinction, from a time called the Paleocene. Paleontologists have some great examples of fossil birds from about 10 million years after the disaster, from a time called the Eocene, but birds fossils from the slice in between the Cretaceous and Eocene are fragmentary and hard to find. These are the bones that may reveal new secrets.
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https://vvdesigns.in/see-inside-the-worlds-skinniest-skyscraper/#respondMon, 25 Apr 2022 05:26:04 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=2792On the famed Billionaire’s Row, SHoP Architects and Studio Sofield have delivered on a long-awaited promise There’s a new skyscraper in New York, and architecture enthusiasts can’t wait to see it. And though New York City can be an unforgiving place to call home—the cost of living is famously high, square footage is precious, and ...
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On the famed Billionaire’s Row, SHoP Architects and Studio Sofield have delivered on a long-awaited promise
There’s a new skyscraper in New York, and architecture enthusiasts can’t wait to see it. And though New York City can be an unforgiving place to call home—the cost of living is famously high, square footage is precious, and the traffic seemingly doesn’t move—the Big Apple is one of the most beloved metropolises in the U.S. for a reason: the energy and ambition is unparalleled. And one area in which that appetite for boldness is particularly obvious is its architecture—specifically the daring structures that have shot up within the last few years. From Summit One Vanderbilt with its 1,300-foot-tall observatory to the Sir David Adjaye-designed Affirmation Tower that defies gravity, the enormous buildings are doing their part to redefine one of the most famous skylines. And the recently debuted residential skyscraper at 111 West 57th Street is shaking up Midtown in a big way. After all, it is the world’s skinniest tower.
Building such a vision took some work, though. With the collaborative effort of developers JDS Development Group, Property Markets Group, and Spruce Capital Partners; SHoP Architects, who designed the exterior; and AD100 architects Studio Sofield taking on the interior architecture, 111 West 57th Street is like a monument for impressive design. It’s also the second tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, reaching a whopping 1,428 feet high, including a 300-foot decorative steel crown.
Though the tall, slender tower is surely the first thing passersby will see, 111 West 57th Street is actually a two-part building: the original landmarked Steinway Hall—the Warren & Wetmore-designed home to Steinway & Sons piano company—and the new high-rise by SHoP Architects. Both, however, house sprawling residences. There are 14 in the landmarked 1925 building and 46 full-floor and duplex residences within the tower. Just last week, the developers broke the good news to residents, who have been eagerly waiting to get their keys since the project was announced back in 2013, that they could finally move into the building.
Not only does that new build look incredibly skinny from every angle, it actually is. It has a height-to-width ratio of 24:1, officially making 111 West 57th Street the skinniest skyscraper in the world. Residents don’t have to worry that the building may blow over or snap in half during a storm, though, because the building is made with the highest strength concrete in the world, according to SHoP Architects. It may be a new build that, from afar, looks almost futuristic, but the architects—both SHoP and Studio Sofield—wanted to reference Manhattan’s pre-war Golden Age wherever they could. For instance, each exterior section of the building is paired with a layer of terra-cotta pilasters that don both the east and west facades of the tower, giving it that glamorous late 19th-century feel without overdoing it.
To pay homage to both Steinway Hall and the collection of decades-old skyscrapers strewn throughout the city, Sofield infused the central lobby with glamour, with its glossy tall doors and, of course, Steinway piano.
Giving it that Golden Age look makes sense considering that half the project—Steinway Hall—is nearly 100 years old. For that part of the project, SHoP Architects restored much of the building originally designed in the 1920s. The facade and instantly recognizable rotunda were restored in collaboration with the Landmarks Preservation Commission of New York, and it will be connected to the new tower by way of a sweeping central lobby. For the block-long entry, William Sofield enlisted New York artisans such as John Opella and Nancy Lorenz to create what he describes as “a series of emotional experiences” that are informed by the New York skyscrapers of the past.
Among the many amenities, 111 West 57th Street has an 82-foot-long indoor pool.
The amenities, though, are all about modern living. They feature an 82-foot-long two-lane swimming pool surrounded by private cabanas, sauna, steam room, double-height fitness center with its own mezzanine terrace, private dining room, and a chef’s catering kitchen, residents’ lounge boasting an expansive terrace, and a dedicated concierge service.
More than 10 years after the project was announced and after several setbacks, 111 West 57th Street will surely transform Billionaire’s Row in a big way.
The post See Inside the World’s Skinniest Skyscraper appeared first on VVDesigns.]]>https://vvdesigns.in/see-inside-the-worlds-skinniest-skyscraper/feed/02792Climate change triggering global collapse in insect numbers: stressed farmland shows 63% decline – new research
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https://vvdesigns.in/climate-change-triggering-global-collapse-in-insect-numbers-stressed-farmland-shows-63-decline-new-research/#respondFri, 22 Apr 2022 16:40:42 +0000https://vvdesigns.in/?p=2779Speed read The world may be facing a devastating “hidden” collapse in insect species due to the twin threats of climate change and habitat loss. UCL’s Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research has carried out one of the largest-ever assessments of insect declines around the world – assessing three-quarters of a million samples from around ...
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The world may be facing a devastating “hidden” collapse in insect species due to the twin threats of climate change and habitat loss.
UCL’s Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research has carried out one of the largest-ever assessments of insect declines around the world – assessing three-quarters of a million samples from around 6,000 sites.
The new study, published in Nature, finds that climate-stressed farmland possesses only half the number of insects, on average, and 25% fewer insect species than areas of natural habitat.
Insect declines are greatest in high-intensity farmland areas within tropical countries – where the combined effects of climate change and habitat loss are experienced most profoundly.
The majority of the world’s estimated 5.5 million species are thought to live in these regions – meaning the planet’s greatest abundances of insect life may be suffering collapses without us even realising.
Lowering the intensity of farming by using fewer chemicals, having a greater diversity of crops and preserving some natural habitat can mitigate the negative effects of habitat loss and climate change on insects.
Considering the choices we make as consumers – such as buying shade-grown coffee or cocoa – could also help protect insects and other creatures in the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions.
Long read
Insects are critical to the future of our planet. They help to keep pest species under control and break down dead material to release nutrients into the soil. Flying insects are also key pollinators of many major food crops, including fruits, spices and – importantly for chocolate lovers – cocoa.
The growing number of reports suggesting insect numbers are in steep decline is therefore of urgent concern. Loss of insect biodiversity could put these vital ecological functions at risk, threatening human livelihoods and food security in the process. Yet across large swathes of the world, there are gaps in our knowledge about the true scale and nature of insect declines.
A gall midge on a cocoa flower. Midges play a vital role in pollinating the cocoa needed to make chocolate.Alamy
Most of what we do know comes from data collected in the planet’s more temperate regions, especially Europe and North America. For example, widespread losses of pollinators have been identified in Great Britain, butterflies have experienced declines in numbers of between 30 and 50% across Europe, and a 76% reduction in the biomass of flying insects has been reported in Germany.
Information on insect species numbers and their abundance in the tropics (the regions either side of the Equator including the Amazon rainforest, all of Brazil, and much of Africa, India and Southeast Asia) is far more scarce. Yet the majority of the world’s estimated 5.5 million insect species are thought to live in these tropical regions – meaning the planet’s greatest abundances of insect life may be suffering calamitous collapses without us even realising.
The largest of the 29 major insect groups are butterflies/moths, beetles, bees/wasps/ants and flies. Each of these groups is thought to contain more than one million species. Not only is it near-impossible to monitor such a vast number, but as many as 80% of insects may not have been discovered yet – of which many are tropical species.
Responding to these knowledge gaps, researchers at UCL’s Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research have conducted one of the largest-ever assessments of insect biodiversity change. Some three-quarters of a million samples from around 6,000 sites worldwide were analysed in our study, adding up to nearly 20,000 different species in all.
Insects are facing an unprecedented threat due to the “twin horsemen” of climate change and habitat loss. We sought to understand how insect biodiversity is being affected in areas that experience both these challenges most severely. We know they do not work in isolation: habitat loss can add to the effects of climate change by limiting available shade, for example, leading to even warmer temperatures in these vulnerable areas.
For the first time, we were able to include these important interactions in our global biodiversity modelling. Our findings, published today in Nature, reveal that insect declines are greatest in farmland areas within tropical countries – where the combined effects of climate change and habitat loss are experienced most profoundly.
We compared high-intensity farmland sites where high levels of warming have occurred with (related) areas of natural habitat that are little-affected by climate change. The farmland sites possess only half the number of insects, on average, and more than 25% fewer insect species. Throughout the world, our analysis also shows that farmland in climate-stressed areas where most nearby natural habitat has been removed has lost 63% of its insects, on average, compared with as little as 7% for farmland where the nearby natural habitat has been largely preserved.
Areas our study highlights as particularly at risk include Indonesia and Brazil, where many crops depend on insects for pollination and other vital ecosystem services. This has serious implications for local farmers and the wider food chain in these climatically and economically vulnerable areas.
Cocoa, midges and deforestation
Eighty-seven of the world’s major crops are thought to be fully or partially dependent on insect pollinators, of which most tend to be grown in the tropics. Cocoa, for example, is primarily pollinated by midges, a group of flies infamous for bedevilling camping trips in Scotland and other parts of the northern hemisphere. In fact, midges play a vital and under-appreciated role in pollinating the cocoa needed to make chocolate.
The majority of cocoa production takes place in Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. In Indonesia alone, the export of cocoa beans is valued at around US$75 million per year. Most cocoa production is carried out by smallholders rather than big plantation owners, and many farmers are dependent on this crop for their livelihoods. While it is critical to understand whether insect losses will make things worse for cocoa and its farmers, we have very little knowledge of the state of insect biodiversity in tropical countries such as Indonesia.
Cocoa production in Indonesia is carried out by smallholders whose livelihoods may be hit by insect decline.Shutterstock
Cocoa production in the region is already being stressed by adverse weather events that may be linked to climate change. Warming temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are implicated in changes in the growth, pollination and bean production of cocoa plants.
Agriculture is one of the major industries for the people of Indonesia, particularly in rural regions, with large areas being cleared for the production of key crops, also including palm oil. This has resulted in deforestation of extensive areas of rainforest, increasing the risk to many rare and endangered species such as the orangutan, as well as less well-known species including many insects.
Tropical regions are under considerable threat, primarily as a result of agricultural expansion – often to meet increasing demand from countries outside the tropics. International trade has been shown to be a major driver of deforestation in these regions, with forests in Southeast Asia, East and West Africa and the Amazon particularly vulnerable. Brazil’s and Indonesia’s high levels of deforestation are attributed to the production of commodities for export including soybean, coffee, palm oil – and cocoa.
The threat of climate change
Habitat loss is known to be a key threat to biodiversity, yet its impact on insects is still under-studied, and assessments of tropical species tend to be very rare. One study found that forest-dependent orchid bees in Brazil have declined in abundance by around 50% (although it only sampled their numbers at two time points). Orchid bees, found only in the Americas, are important pollinators of orchid flowers, with some plants being entirely dependent on this insect for their pollination.
Example of a farmland system in the tropics, in Ethiopia.Tim Newbold
Adding to the challenges of deforestation and other, longer-term habitat changes, is climate change. This fast-emerging threat to insect biodiversity has already been implicated in declines of moths in Costa Rica and bumblebees in Europe and North America. Rising temperatures and increasing frequency of extreme weather events, such as droughts, are just two manifestations known to be having a harmful impact on many insect species.
It is predicted that climate change will have a particularly big impact in the planet’s tropical regions. Temperatures in the tropics are naturally quite stable, so species aren’t used to coping with the fast changes in temperature we are seeing with climate change. Again, though, our ability to understand how this is affecting tropical insects is hampered by a lack of data for these regions. Almost all of the available data comes from only a few very well-studied groups of insects – in particular, butterflies, moths and bees – while many other groups receive very little attention. Despite a big increase in studies of insect biodiversity change, there is still much we don’t know.
Insects normally missed
To help address this knowledge gap, our study has assessed three-quarters of a million samples of insects from all over the world. Of the 6,000 sites included, almost one third are from tropical locations. Our samples of nearly 20,000 different insect species include beetles, bees, wasps, ants, butterflies, moths, flies, bugs, dragonflies and other, less well-known groups.
This was made possible through the use of PREDICTS, a biodiversity database which brings together millions of samples collected by researchers all over the world. PREDICTS records biodiversity in natural habitats and also in areas used by humans for growing crops, among other purposes. It is one of very few global databases that allow us to study biodiversity changes across the whole world.
Almost all insect data comes from a few very well-studied groups – in particular, butterflies, moths and bees.Shutterstock
While our 20,000-strong sample represents only a fraction of the vast diversity of insect species, it is still a sample from more sites than have ever been studied before. We were particularly interested in using it to understand how habitat loss and climate change play off each other to affect insect biodiversity, and were able to include these interactions in our models for the first time.
These twin conditions are found most profoundly in farmland in tropical countries. And our results demonstrate that farmland in these regions has typically lost a lot of insect biodiversity, relative to areas of primary vegetation. This highlights that climate change may present a major threat to food security not only by directly impacting crops, but also through losses of pollinators and other important insects.
As climate change accelerates, the ability to grow cocoa and other crops in their current geographical ranges is already becoming more uncertain, threatening local livelihoods and reducing the availability of these crops for consumers all over the world. The insect losses our study highlights are only likely to add to this risk. Indeed, threats to food security due to the loss of insect biodiversity are already being seen in both temperate and tropical regions: for example, evidence of reduced yields due to a lack of pollinators has been reported for cherry, apple and blueberry production in the US.
In some parts of the world, farmers are resorting to hand-pollination techniques, where the flowers of crops are pollinated using a brush. Hand pollination is used for cocoa in a number of countries, including Ghana and Indonesia. These techniques can help to maintain or increase yield, but come at a high labour cost.
Reducing the declines
Our study also highlights changes that could help to reduce insect declines. Lowering the intensity of farming – for example, by using fewer chemicals and having a greater diversity of crops – mitigates some of the negative effects of habitat loss and climate change. In particular, we show that preserving natural habitat within farmed landscapes really helps insects. Where farmland in climate-stressed areas with its natural habitat largely removed shows insect reductions of 63%, on average, this number drops to as little as 7% where three-quarters of the nearby natural habitat has been preserved.
For insects living on farmland, natural habitat patches act as an alternative source of food, nesting sites and places to shelter from high temperatures. This offers hope that even while the planet continues to warm, there are options that will reduce some of the impacts on insect biodiversity.
Not all species are struggling: one UK study shows an increase in freshwater insects such as the damselfly.Shutterstock
Indeed, natural habitat availability has already been shown, at smaller scales, to have a positive impact within agricultural systems in particular. For Indonesian cocoa, increasing the amount of natural habitat has been found to boost numbers of key insects including pollinators. Our new study shows, however, that the benefits of this intervention are only found in less-intensive farming systems. This might mean reducing the level of inputs such as fertilisers and insecticides that are applied, or increasing crop diversity to ensure the benefits of nearby natural habitat can be felt.
It’s also important to note that not all species are enduring a hard time as a result of recent pressures. For example, recent work looking at UK insects has shown that while some groups have declined, others, including freshwater insects, have increased in recent years. Another study looking at worldwide insect trends also found increases in the numbers of freshwater insects. However, many of these positive trends have been reported in non-tropical regions such as the UK and Europe, where a lot has been done, for example, to improve the water quality of rivers in recent years, following past degradation.
Making a difference
The COVID-19 lockdowns prompted many of us to reconnect with the flora and fauna around us. In the UK, the warm spring weather of 2020 saw an apparent increase in the abundance of insects in the UK countryside. However, this spike was probably temporary, and something of an anomaly set against the bigger picture worldwide.
To support more insect biodiversity in our local environments, we can plant diverse gardens to attract insects, reduce the amount of pesticides used in gardens and allotments, and reduce how often we mow our lawns. (In the UK, you could consider joining the No Mow May challenge.) However, it is not just locally that we can make a difference. Considering the choices we make as consumers could help protect insects and other creatures in the tropics. For example, buying shade-grown coffee or cocoa will ensure a lesser impact on biodiversity than crops grown in the open.
Meanwhile, governments and other public and private organisations should consider more carefully the impact their actions and policies are having on insects. This could range from the proper consideration of biodiversity within trade policies and agreements, to ensuring that products are not sourced from areas associated with high deforestation rates.
And then there’s the data issue. We are increasingly recognising the importance of insects for human health and wellbeing, and their key role in global food production systems. Safeguarding the environment to protect insects into the future will have big benefits for human societies around the world. However, none of this is possible without good data.
One important step towards a better understanding of insect biodiversity change is to bring together and assess the data that is already available. A new project of which we are part, GLiTRS (GLobal Insect Threat-Response Synthesis), is doing this by combining the work of leading experts from a range of institutions and ecological disciplines, including data analysts. The project will then assess how different insect groups are responding to certain threats.
Understanding what is causing insect declines is key for preventing even greater losses in the future, and for safeguarding the valuable functions that insects perform. Climate change and biodiversity loss are major global crises that are two sides of the same coin. Their combined effects on food production mean the health, wellbeing and livelihoods of many people in the tropics and beyond are hanging in the balance. Insect biodiversity losses are a crucial, but as yet understudied, part of this story.
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