Made in Bengaluru, by Fiona Caulfield and Maegen Dobson Sippy, celebrates the makers of the city, including artisans, craftsmen, designers et al. Though there is a list of elite shops and boutiques with brief descriptions and a little background about the designer or artisan, it doesn’t contain a deep insight into the city’s art and culture. There is only one section written by Arshia Sattar titled How to Love Bangalore .
Made in Bengaluru reads like a guide book. “Even though the book is about the makers of Bangalore, it does have places where you can eat, where to stay,” said Fiona. who is from Australia and is well-known for her Love Travel guides, at the launch at Virala.
The book design and layout are beautiful and well-thought out. It has been completely hand-crafted in collaboration with Aneeth Arora of the clothing label Péro.
The book cover is made of Madder red natural dye hand-loom khadi. The book is accompanied with a travel journal for which hand-loom Bengali check has been used.
The book has been printed and hand-bound in Bangalore by Judge Press, and it has hand-made paper from Sanganer.
Fiona’s first book, Love Bangalore was published in 2007. “I moved here in 2005 and stayed in Malleswaram. I found it extremely challenging to navigate traffic which was legendary even then,” she said when asked when and how she fell in love with the city. “I became a travel writer after my first book on Bangalore.”
The research came out of conversations Maegan, a former journalist and a freelance writer at present, and Fiona had with Bangaloreans. “Every person we visited said we know five other people,” said Maegan, and added that her stint with a city newspaper helped her to navigate the city and discover places. “I got talking to people and felt a personal connect.”
The duo spent two-and-a-half years working on the book. Of the writing process, Fiona said: “When I think about the readers, it becomes very intimate. I imagine I am writing for a friend. Over time, the readers feel they know me, what we liked, what we ate, what we bought. This book is for when you don’t have a friend in Bangalore.”
