Lifestyle

Samsung Becomes the First Brand to Get 5-Star Rating

Published

3 years ago

August 28, 2023

Samsung Becomes the First Brand to Get 5-Star Rating for Side-by-Side Refrigerator; Enables Lower CO2 Emission & Energy Savings

The 5-Star rating suggests that Samsung Side-by-Side refrigerator emits 359kg less carbon every year as opposed to the 1-Star model
The 5-Star rating also implies that consumers can save 444 kWh of electricity annually

GURUGRAM, India – August 25, 2023: Samsung, India’s No. 1 refrigerator brand, today announced that it became the first brand in India to receive a 5-Star rating by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) for its 653L Convertible 5-in-1 Side-by-Side refrigerator. The 5-Star rating indicates that consumers can save 444 kWh (Kilowatt-hour) electricity annually and the refrigerator emits 359 kg lesser carbon as compared to 1-Star rated models.

Besides the 5-Star rated Side-by-Side refrigerator, Samsung has received 3-Star rating for rest of the Convertible 5in1 Side-by-Side refrigerator models, making it India’s first complete star rated Side-by-Side refrigerator range in the category. The 3-Star rated refrigerators will help consumers save up to 259 kWh electricity annually while bringing down the carbon emissions by 210 kg per year as compared to 1-Star rated models.

The ‘Made in India’ Side-by-Side refrigerator range is Wi-Fi enabled and equipped with Smart Things app functionality. It comes with Convertible 5-in-1 mode for customizable storage space, Samsung’s Twin Cooling Plus™ technology for precise cooling and Curd Maestro™ that allows users to make curd at home in a healthy and hygienic way. To allow better space utilization, consumers can now detach the curd-making compartment, when it is not in use. This range also features IoT-enabled Family Hub 7.0 to offer unlimited entertainment and a connected living experience.

This range comes in stylish and classy BESPOKE Glass Finish colour options – Glam Deep Charcoal, Clean Navy, Clean White and Clean Pink – that go perfectly with the modern design taste of Indians.

“As the No. 1 refrigerator brand in India, we make continuous efforts to promote sustainability and energy efficiency while reducing carbon footprint for a better future. The energy efficiency ratings by BEE for our Side-by-Side refrigerator range is a testament to our commitment. Our Side-by-Side refrigerators have found great resonance among Indian consumers due to its outstanding aesthetic appeal. With the BEE ratings, we are confident that these refrigerators will interest more individuals who seek high-performing products that add value to their lives in more than one way,” said Saurabh Baishakhia, Senior Director, Digital Appliance Business, Samsung India

Price & Availability

Priced at INR 110,890 onwards, the line-up is available across offline and online retailers, in 653L net capacity.

Warranty

The new line-up comes with a 20-year compressor warranty on its compressor, thereby offering promising durability of the product and in turn, providing consumers with complete peace of mind.

Key Features of Side-by-Side refrigerators

Convertible 5-in-1 mode

The feature offers consumers more storage space and convenience by allowing them to choose from the five modes – Normal, Seasonal, Extra Fridge, Vacation and Home Alone. In the normal mode, the refrigerator will have both fridge and freezer mode, in both Home Alone and Vacation modes, the refrigerator will only have the freezer running while the fridge will be turned off. On days, when one wants more storage space, the feature allows consumers to convert their freezer into fridge, thus giving more storage space.

The Twin Cooling Plus™ technology in this feature works with two separate evaporators for fridge and freezer to minimise temperature fluctuation. This innovation adds a new level of convenience, making it possible to control optimal humidity and temperature that prevents odour mixing and ensures freshness of food for a longer duration.

Family Hub 7.0

The Family Hub 7.0 feature provides efficient food management by suggesting meal ideas to its users and giving a view of what’s stored inside the refrigerator, among others. Consumers can also play their favourite music using Spotify, TuneIn and can simply enjoy their favourite web services without other devices. To ensure unlimited family fun, the feature also offers an analogue bulletin-board that curates precious family moments by video, photos, and memos. For users to enjoy seamless connected living and turn their home smarter, this feature lets them control their smart appliances and IoT enabled devices via SmartThings App.

AI Energy Savings mode

With this mode activated, consumers can easily meet their monthly electricity cost target by optimising fridge and freezer temperatures. The feature uses artificial intelligence to understand the usage pattern and set the temperature accordingly, thus ensuring energy efficiency in the process.

Curd Maestro+

The Side-by-Side refrigerator range comes with Samsung’s patented Curd Maestro™ technology that allows users to make curd at home in a healthy and hygienic way. However, taking the experience, the 2023 range comes with a detachable Curd Maestro+ that users can remove as per their convenience.

BESPOKE & Auto Open Door

From a design perspective, the line-up comes with BESPOKE’s Glass Finish panels, thus making the range of products glamorous. Keeping in mind the challenges in Indian cooking, the 2023 range comes with another interesting feature — Auto Open Door that uses ‘touch sensor’ and opens the door. Therefore, in case of dirty hands, consumers can simply keep their hand on the door sensor and it will open.

Non-plumbing Dispenser

The refrigerator comes with a 4.5L water tank for its non-plumbing ice and water dispenser. This feature makes the refrigerator easy to install at any location without being connected to a water supply. Consumers simply need to add mineral or fresh water to enjoy chilled drinks or ice or crushed ice without installing a separate water filter.

Wi-Fi Enabled

To help consumers enjoy a seamless and superior connected living experience, the Side-by-Side Refrigerator range facilitates control using SmartThings app, thanks to being Wi-Fi enabled.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems and memory, system LSI, foundry, and LED solutions. For latest news on Samsung India, please visit Samsung India Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com/in. For Hindi, log on to Samsung Newsroom Bharat at https://news.samsung.com/bharat. You can also follow us on Twitter @SamsungNewsIN

Decor in Style

The Great Eastern Home Presents The Stallion

Published

3 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Neha Tyagi

The Stallion handcrafted ceramic horse sculpture with oceanic blue glaze by The Great Eastern Home.

A Distinctive Ceramic Sculpture from its New Collection

The Great Eastern Home continues to celebrate timeless artistry and exceptional craftsmanship with The Stallion, one of the most distinctive pieces from its newly launched ceramic collection. Handmade by skilled artisans at The Great Eastern Home’s workshop and glazed in-house, this sculptural creation reflects the brand’s commitment to preserving artisanal heritage while continuously redefining contemporary design possibilities.

Inspired by the grace and power of the horse, The Stallion captures the animal in its most regal and dignified stance. The sculpture beautifully highlights the fluid transition from the curve of the neck into the sculpted head, before sharpening into a strong, commanding jawline. Every contour is carefully shaped to convey movement, strength, and elegance, resulting in a piece that feels both artistic and deeply expressive.

Its rich, oceanic glaze further elevates the sculpture’s character. Flowing between tones of indigo, verdigris, and midnight black, the finish catches light differently from every angle, creating remarkable depth and visual intrigue. The constantly shifting tones lend the piece an almost living presence, making it a striking focal point within any interior setting.

Entirely handcrafted, no two pieces of The Stallion are ever identical, making each sculpture truly one of a kind. More than a decorative object, it stands as a collectible work of art that embodies craftsmanship, individuality, and timeless sophistication.

Price: On Request

Website: http://www.thegreateasternhome.com/

Instagram: The Great Eastern Home

Fashion

Sound to Silhouette: A History of Mutual Influence

Published

1 day ago

June 2, 2026

Jiya Jaitly

Fashion and music have never existed as isolated cultural forms; they are parallel languages of identity. One clothes the body while the other clothes the atmosphere, emotion, and ideology. A musical movement without a recognisable visual code rarely survives beyond sound. Their interrelation rests in a shared capacity to signal rebellion, status, class mobility, seduction, politics, spirituality, and generational dissent without explicit explanation. This confluence explains why every significant cultural movement inevitably develops a distinct silhouette, colour palette, grooming code, and behavioural aesthetic.

Fashion and music influencing culture and style

The earliest traceable entanglement between fashion and music reaches back to ancient civilisations.

· In Egypt, court musicians wore garments that signified sacred or elite status, while dancers and performers used adornment to amplify theatrical presence.

· In Greece, musical performances during religious festivals unfolded alongside carefully structured drapery and ornamentation that reflected philosophical ideals of harmony and proportion.

· In early India, classical musical traditions and courtly attire evolved in tandem: ragas, dance, jewellery, textiles, and performance aesthetics formed an integrated cultural expression rather than discrete disciplines.

In medieval and Renaissance Europe, music and fashion functioned as instruments of aristocratic distinction. Court musicians did not merely perform; they embodied prestige through embroidered fabrics, powdered wigs, structured tailoring, and elaborate ornament. Opera later refined this fusion, transforming costume into emotional architecture and using fabric, silhouette, and visual symbolism to externalize psychological and social tensions long before cinema emerged. The jazz age carried fluid tailoring and liberated femininity; punk arrived ripped, confrontational, and anti-establishment; hip-hop transformed streetwear into global luxury language; grunge made deliberate dishevelment an aesthetic weapon against polished consumerism.

The postwar decades accelerated this fusion into a cultural machine. Rock and roll in the 1950s weaponized youth style against the conservative social order: leather jackets, slicked hair, and slim silhouettes became emblems of defiance. The 1960s fractured into competing aesthetic ideologies: psychedelic maximalism, mod minimalism, and bohemian romanticism, each carrying its own musical identity. By the 1970s, glam rock turned gender presentation into a theatrical experiment, while punk repudiated luxury with torn fabrics, safety pins, and anti-fashion rhetoric; ironically, the industry eventually commodified even that rebellion.

Hip-hop’s emergence in the late twentieth century fundamentally altered the power dynamic between fashion and music. Where earlier eras often saw fashion houses shaping performers, hip-hop reversed the vector: street culture began dictating luxury. Sneakers, oversized tailoring, gold jewellery, and sportswear migrated from expressions of survival and neighbourhood identity to symbols of global aspiration.

This phenomenon was strikingly visible with the rise of The Beatles. Before them, mainstream male fashion remained restrained, conservative, and tethered to postwar uniformity. The Beatles introduced something deceptively simple yet revolutionary: youth styling as mass identity. Their slim-cut suits, Chelsea boots, and mop-top haircuts, then later, psychedelic experimentation reoriented a generation’s look. Early Beatles fashion projected polished accessibility; their later phase embraced flamboyant military jackets, Indian-inspired garments, tinted glasses, and bohemian layering.

Soon after, David Bowie dissolved the notion of a fixed identity through glam rock. His Ziggy Stardust persona fused theatrical makeup, metallic fabrics, platform boots, asymmetrical silhouettes, and androgynous styling into a cultural detonation. He unsettled rigid constructs of masculinity long before mainstream discourse possessed the vocabulary to discuss gender fluidity. Elvis Presley’s influence is equally central: in the 1950s, he translated rebellious sensuality into a visual lexicon: high collars, slicked hair, dramatic tailoring, jewellery, and overt physical charisma laid the blueprint for the modern pop star. Kiss Band converted face paint and exaggerated stage costumes into a commercial spectacle, anticipating branding strategies that would later be amplified by influencers. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath helped anchor darker visual codes that matured into gothic and metal aesthetics.

The 1980s produced perhaps the most complete fusion of fashion and musical mythology in Michael Jackson. He wielded visual symbolism with near-military precision: the single white glove, military-inspired jackets, loafers with cropped trousers, aviators, sequined stagewear, and sharply structured performance garments became instantly recognizable emblems.

Madonna treated fashion as a machinery of reinvention. Lace gloves, corsetry, crucifixes, lingerie-as-outerwear, platinum hair, and mutable personae repeatedly destabilized expectations around femininity and sexuality. Artists such as Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and later Kanye West translated streetwear into a language of luxury oversized silhouettes, sneakers, sports jerseys, chains, varsity aesthetics, and designer collaborations rose from urban identity and economic aspiration. More recently, Harry Styles has mainstreamed softer, gender-fluid menswear for younger audiences, signalling another shift in how pop figures mediate sartorial norms.

These two have been connected to each other since the creation of both, as they work as Yin-Yang of art form, and they will keep evolving together and shaping our society, as Art is a place where humans find resonance.

Jewellery

The Stillness of Craft, The Movement of Code

Published

1 week ago

May 25, 2026

Jiya Jaitly

Jewellery has always been more than ornamentation. Long before circuitry and sensors found their place beneath polished surfaces, adornment carried meaning far beyond aesthetics — symbolising power, identity, protection, and self-expression. In India especially, jewellery has long existed as a living extension of culture and belief. Intricate Navratna pieces were thought to align cosmic energies, while shell and faience girdles discovered in Mohenjo-daro reflected some of the earliest expressions of decorative identity. The iconic “Dancing Girl” figurine, layered in stacked bangles, stands as an enduring reminder that adornment has always communicated individuality and status. Similarly, the delicate Maang Tikka was never merely decorative; positioned along the forehead, it was associated with the Ajna chakra, believed to represent intuition and inner awareness.

For centuries, luxury in jewellery was measured through the rarity of gemstones, the purity of gold, and the mastery of craftsmanship. Today, however, luxury is increasingly being redefined through intelligence and functionality.

Modern technology has introduced a new dimension to jewellery, though some would argue it has also distanced adornment from its deeply personal artistry. What once existed as quiet symbolism has gradually evolved into something interactive and responsive — designed to move in rhythm with contemporary life. Yet unlike the overt dominance of screens and devices, this transformation is often subtle. Technology in jewellery rarely announces itself loudly; instead, it integrates seamlessly into design.

Digital jewellery can best be described as wearable technology that merges communication, health tracking, and utility with adornment. The Oura Ring, for instance, appears deceptively simple in form, yet quietly monitors sleep cycles, recovery patterns, and physiological changes with remarkable precision. Smartwatches, meanwhile, have become symbols of both status and technological sophistication. Devices such as the Nimb Ring extend functionality even further by offering emergency assistance through a discreet trigger that alerts selected contacts and shares real-time location data. Smart pendants are also emerging as tools capable of monitoring stress levels, sleep patterns, and heart rhythms, subtly integrating wellness awareness into daily life without replacing professional medical care.

Luxury houses such as Swarovski have also experimented with embedded technology, suggesting a future in which craftsmanship and circuitry no longer exist as opposing ideas, but rather as collaborative forces within design.

The evolution of jewellery does not signal a complete shift in purpose; instead, it reflects an expansion of what adornment can represent. Jewellery once symbolised identity alone, but now it increasingly participates in experience — bridging heritage with innovation while adapting to the demands of a more responsive world.

Yet balance remains essential. Not every object must justify itself through utility or performance. Some creations exist purely for their beauty, emotion, and craftsmanship. Technology may enhance convenience and awareness, but it cannot replicate the instinct of the artisan, the patience behind hand-forged details, or the emotional depth embedded within human creation. The soul of jewellery still resides not in code, but in the hands and imagination that shape it.