013: A Meaningful Existence: Rhea Gupte on Artistic Liberty, the Pitfalls of Consumerism and Giving a Canvas to Thought

⌛ 7 MINUTES

Growing up, it seemed that Rhea Gupte’s surroundings were perfectly set up to instil in her the artistic temperament she has now made a career out of. From drawing to singing to writing to making impromptu choreographies and wearing hand-customised clothes – a childhood steeped in fantasy and imagination was bound to give way to the adulthood she embraces now, teeming with artistry and creative liberty.

Chasing Freedom: Discovering Creative Expression  

It was during her 10th grade vacation that math-shunning, arts- oriented Rhea first stepped foot into the vast world of design softwares (courtesy of a part-time animation course). Gaining exposure to the likes of Photoshop and 3D modelling applications wasn’t merely an acceleration to her skill development — it also introduced her to the many varied ways one can communicate their identity. “Digital art will always be my first love, I think. It’s the first thing I studied to learn how to express myself as a creative.”

But by the end of junior college, Gupte had found herself a new love interest — fashion. Stumbling across a Fashion Communications course with a curriculum that brought together styling, photography, writing and graphic design, she went on to pursue a Bachelors in Design from NIFT Bangalore.

Design college was an underwhelming experience, as design education, at least at the time, was being treated more academically and bureaucratically than creatively. There was much to learn from guest faculty and her creative peer group, and the collaborations were very nurturing — but Rhea craved more liberty. Gaining financial independence during college from a blog documenting her experimentations with style and aesthetic, as well as a few modelling gigs, Gupte’s first job out of college was as a social media consultant for a jewellery label — the start to a career exclusively in the freelance industry. Freelancing, though, came with its own set of apprehensions for Rhea, with financial independence at the fore. It was a risk, but a calculated one— “I knew I could put myself out there and pitch myself to people.”

The initial days were difficult. Freelance wasn’t luxurious in any way, and Gupte relied on a couple stray projects and her consultancy job to cover her rent safely. But these experiences enabled her to grow as a creative and as an artist. “I feel such life experiences are very important when you’re trying to develop your own practice.”

Zooming In: A Closer Look at Rhea’s Photography Projects  

Having quit her, by then, thriving blog at the end of 2015, Rhea picked up photography, cultivating her practice and doing projects in freelance capacity. A self-proclaimed know-nothing at the craft starting out, she has quickly developed her own artistic style that has earned her several commercial projects.

And how does she do it?

The starting point is a dialogue: to have as much clarity and communication on what the client is looking for and whether your own vision and aesthetic match with that. “I’ll try and send them a questionnaire or have a discussion with them on call. Since I live in Goa, a lot of my projects happen here or in different states across India, and clients are usually not present at my shoots. So that clarity is really important.” You need the client to trust your vision and direction for the project — and for that, you need to be able to communicate it to them really well.

Then there’s a bit of a back and forth– “After understanding their vision for the project, I can either incorporate exactly what they have in mind in my own way, or, if I feel their brand could be represented in a slightly different way, I’ll put together my ideas and send those to them.” How Rhea usually sends across her ideas is through sketches or written texts (she’s not a fan of referencing or mood boards, because she believes it limits your vision or sets unrealistic expectations). And then there’s contracts to be signed, and making sure the client is on board: “If the client isn’t convinced, I’m happy to change up my conceptualisation. At the end of the day, everyone should enjoy and like the outcome.”

For the shoot, Rhea is meticulous with the planning — she likes to be involved in every aspect, right from production to casting to styling to aesthetics to lighting, down to the models’ body language. Every aspect is broken down, planned and then communicated to the clients. Gupte also likes to have all her sketches and storyboards ready on-set so she knows exactly what to do. “Commercial projects, to me, are like performance art, because you have to figure out and create the output you’re going to use later within this given timeframe. I have a bunch of alarms set on shoot day, because I believe the pace of the shoot is extremely important.”

The editing process is the other half of the shoot, one that Rhea personally enjoys quite a bit. “I take my time with it, try to figure out how I want the colouring and the general look to be.” Gupte also emphasises on the importance of spending time on image selection. According to her, that can make or break the final output.

And then it’s a wrap.

So is Rhea Gupte a team-player or a solo act? Gupte divulges that while collaborations are fun, they’re not her go-to. “Probably 90% of my shoots are solo — but solo doesn’t always mean I do it all on my own, it’s sometimes where I’m putting my own team together.” Rhea likes to have that control and to be in both creative and aesthetic alignment with her team. She personally prefers not having any unknowns, especially in commercial projects. On end- to-end solo projects, Rhea says, “I think I enjoy being in my own company and being able to thoughtfully go from one thing to the other.”

The Best of Both Worlds 

A creative director/consultant by trade and an artist at heart, Rhea believes the two to be extremely different from one another. “As a creative consultant or director, I work specifically with clients. It’s like a partnership — we try to figure out together how to have a unique aesthetic or an authentic voice for the brand.” Although Gupte has had clients who were happy to hand her the creative reins, she feels that client-oriented work still comes with a lot of guidelines and limitations. “You have to take all those limitations into account and only then develop your creative decisions or strategies.”

It’s a different story with her art practice: completely hers, dictated entirely by her mind and how much time she wants to put into it. “It’s an outlet for me to be able to express, communicate or create dialogue on topics I feel passionate about.” It has a completely different creative process from her commercial work as well, according to Gupte. “With my art, the starting point is to write down my thoughts and feelings, or the subject matter I’m trying to put together. Then I’ll start thinking about what is the best medium to express it.” It could be poetry, a short fiction piece, photography, or 3D art; the entire process is very free and has no imposed boundaries. It is also something Rhea looks at for a very long-term length. “If I have an idea that I want to develop but I feel I don’t have the time or skillset to develop it now, I’ll let it be like a seed in the mud, and let it grow as and when it feels nourished enough to be able to come out into the world.” At times, having let the idea simmer for so long, Rhea’s own growth reflects in how different the idea becomes— “Initially I might have thought of it from a specific angle, but then with time, it sometimes completely changes or sometimes the visual treatment might have completely changed.”

But even Rhea’s commercial work isn’t confined to strictly commercial. “My work would definitely fall more in the art category and I personally enjoy that.” In the commercial aspect to photography, everything has to look perfect and the product has to be portrayed in a specific light; Gupte, on the other hand, is more creative than technical in her approach. “Framing, the use of space, composition, those things are exciting to me.”

Commissioned by Bhaane as part of a social media conversation about the history of curd.Curd is a substance where you take a little bit of it to make another batch, so it’s like the original curd continued from generation to generation. Gupte’s idea for the portrait was to talk about how curd carries the sum total of the stories it has learnt and heard from being passed down over generations. As the substance keeps getting used in different ways, these stories also keep evolving over time. ‘My idea to have little wildflowers grow from it was to depict how growth can happen in unexpected places..’

Rhea tries to work with clients who are similarly aligned and interested in trying something different. “If I sense that it’s a client that isn’t going to align with my practice, then I can tell it might not work out. I’ll look at their aesthetic and recommend a different creative for them to work with.”

An advocate for sustainable and ethical fashion practices, Gupte also makes sure not to work with clients who aren’t in that conscious or ethical space. Her portfolio of clients is flooded with women- led businesses, sustainable ventures and businesses with an ethical approach to their supply chains and vision.

The third criteria for client-selection is the budget. “If I’m investing time in something then I want to be paid in a way I feel is appropriate for my effort and skill level.”

Creativity with a Conscience: on Consumerism and Freelance Culture

A strong proponent for ethical fashion, Rhea believes that education on the topic is extremely important. “We need to understand the various levels at which fashion is harmful — the disproportionate ill effects it has on third world countries where most of these industries and factories are based and on the people who work in them.” She feels we need to be more conscientious of what we consume and where we put our money, and also figure out what we can do in our individual capacity as well as how we can encourage the government and large bodies to move in this direction.

This regard for mindfulness extends to the purview of photography as well, according to Rhea. She feels one’s intention behind creating images is important — whether someone in a commercial capacity is trying to do something for the sake of performative allyship, or if they’re actually invested in what they’re talking about.

Gupte started working with IKKIVI, an e-marketplace for sustainable fashion labels, three years ago as their creative director. ‘The way we write on the platform and the content we invest our time and effort in is rooted in the feeling of wanting more people to be aware of what’s happening to the environment and the world. We’re also trying to create a platform to have more voices heard. It’s a small business so we face challenges in terms of wanting to do more than what we can, but we’re taking it one step at a time and trying to figure out the best way to grow.’

Featured here: IKKIVI Zine, a magazine by Ikkivi which talks about not just slow fashion but slow living and mindful consumerism.

Also a strong proponent for ethical work culture, Rhea believes the freelance industry should be gearing up for some big, big changes. “There’s so much that needs to happen within this space, starting with clients respecting freelancers and sticking to contracts and their own commitments when it comes to finances.” She finds that there’s a lack of structure to freelancing and no moderating body or regulations. Rhea herself tries to be extremely contractual, figuring out everything beforehand over email to have that sense of trust with her clients. “As a freelancer you do a lot more than what your actual work is, everything right from accounting to managing your emails. Having more of this dialogue and conversation about respecting the freelance industry is really important, because people get into it with not as much awareness.”

Gupte gives credit where it’s due, acknowledging that the creative industry has made some strides since the time she started working. But there’s a long way to go — both locally and internationally. “Diversity and inclusivity are still used as a token and aren’t much of a commitment when it comes to commercial projects. There’s still that fascination with lighter skin tones and thinness and how advertising always portrays purchasing power as a metric for how happy or successful you can be.” These narratives are slowly changing, but Rhea thinks they can change faster and further. She also feels that the copy-paste mentality rampant within creative agencies needs immediate changing.

The Rhea Gupte Guide

Among the many ways you can be exploited as a novice, pricing is a tricky thing to navigate when you’re a freelancer — and Rhea has some advice for it. She recommends putting a small amount in place as your rate and then slowly increasing it as you gain experience. “If you search for photography rates, you’ll come across different rates for different levels of expertise and you can figure out where you fit in. Typically, it’s all given in an hourly- rate basis, which I think is a good way to price yourself because you can see how many hours you’re going to need to work on a project, right from the conceptualisation stage to the submission of the end product, and use that and your hourly rate to calculate what you want to charge. Eventually, you can also keep increasing your hourly rate with the growth of your talent, skillset, experience and portfolio.”

You also need to be clear about the scope of work you have going into a project. Try and have contracts in place; there are templates available online that you can alter to your requirements. Gupte suggests getting them checked by someone from a legal background, if possible. “Try and invest that little bit of money into having your main contract in place. Have your scope of work laid out, chalk out a few different situations — try and safeguard your interests with clear communication.” She also recommends having conversations with your peer group and people within the industry; open conversations help you gauge whether something’s headed in the right direction.

And is there any creative advice she can dole out? Answer: plenty.   

“Keep practising, because the more you practise, the more you’ll know what you enjoy doing and what specific decisions you make as a creative.” She also believes that you don’t have to be naturally gifted at something to pursue it properly. “You can take the effort to be better at anything. Read the right books, google the right things, listen to the right people talk about the things you want to improve at.”

Rhea suggests spending a lot of time getting to know yourself — figuring out what are the things you want to do in life, writing them down and thinking about how you want to spend each day. “Your life is a sum total of each of your days, and if you figure out how exactly you want to spend each day of your life, you’re going to have a fulfilling life,” she says, going on to quote American author Annie Dillard:

‘How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.’

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

012: Sense and Sensibility: V Sunil on Experiential Design, Defining Your Ambition and Marketing the Motherland

⌛ 6 MINUTES

Starting out, there wasn’t much that ad-man V Sunil wanted out of his job — perhaps a Royal Enfield motorcycle and maybe a music system. Now known as the creative force behind iconic campaigns like ‘Incredible India’, ‘Make in India’ and IndiGo On Time, he recounts the uphill journey of his ambition — and how it grew to encompass the entire country.

Steering Off Course and Getting on Track

Despite having a knack for art growing up, Sunil knew that it wasn’t the most feasible career option at the time, vying instead to be a mechanic. This pursuit of his took him to Bangalore, where he applied for mechanical apprenticeships — none of which ever manifested. Instead, his move rerouted him to a different direction altogether: in Bangalore, V Sunil encountered a neighbour who was in the advertising industry and spent a good 3–4 months training under him. “We used to take newspaper ads or magazine ads every other day and I would do my own version of them.”

This foray into ad-design got Sunil his foot in the door, and the next two years were dotted with opportunities — a job designing Gujarati devotional cassette covers; working at a creative studio that did exhibitions and the odd campaign; a position as an artist converting scribbled ideas into complete works. Eventually, the ‘big break’ came to Sunil in the form of a job offer as art director at Contract, a leading advertising agency.

“Contract,” says Sunil, “was a great training ground.” Here, he was surrounded by smart, proficient people who had a great sense of sophistication and trained him to put things on page. His bosses believed in his potential and pushed him to aim for greater things. But growth-wise, Contract was still limiting. This compelled Sunil to ultimately switch over to Ogilvy India; then, to establish his own agency known as ‘A’ and merge it with Wieden & Kennedy; and eventually, to create Motherland with his business partner in mid- 2016.

Rebranding a Country: Incredible India and Make in India

It was at Ogilvy that Sunil did the ‘Incredible India’ campaign — a task he knew would be gargantuan. The tourism campaign was launched amidst a grim business reality: India was going through a massive recession. This, however, did not deter them — geared towards transforming the image and perception of the country altogether, the campaign had its eyes on the prize from the get-go. “There’s an India which is snake charmers galore, and there’s an India we belong to— where we all come from small towns but have global sensibilities.” And it was this India the campaign aimed to sell.

6 months from its inception, ‘Incredible India’ was launched for the world to see — and it was incredibly well-received. Sunil attributes this reception not to the actual campaign, but to the application of experiential design in various cities like New York or Berlin that allowed the world to see India through their filter.

‘Everywhere we went, we were doing more of art installations and curation than just a campaign.’ From mock Indian weddings to stylish dinners— you name it, Incredible India did it.

The monumental success of ‘Incredible India’ laid the groundwork for another massive, India-oriented project on Sunil’s future roster — the Make in India campaign, for which he was approached by ‘Incredible India’ partner Amitabh Kant. The campaign had a clear but very ambitious goal — it aspired to be the second ‘Industrial Revolution’. That was the impact it wished to leave, and not just with business moguls or IT guys. Says Sunil, “We tossed around a lot of ideas, but one thing we were absolutely sure of was we wanted to create a symbol anyone could wear on a t-shirt.”

The prevalence of experiential design in Incredible India’s approach meant that Sunil had a sound understanding of setting up experiences. Make in India had not one single ad — it had everything but. Through design interventions, art direction and the unforgettable lion logo, the campaign garnered the attention of India’s youth. Before they knew it, ‘Make in India’ had spawned into a pop culture phenomenon.

Says Sunil, ‘Our big push for social media was with Make In India, on both Instagram and Twitter.’ The Make in India campaign marked the second time that Twitter launched a custom-emoji for a brand, preceded by Coca-cola.

Sticking to the Sensibilities: Executing Projects

So how does V Sunil go about executing projects of that scale?

The first step, according to him, is to mentally set an ambition for the campaign — what you’re trying to achieve with the campaign. “You set an ambition based on your capability, your company’s capability and what your client can do.”

V Sunil outlines three things every idea needs:

• Where the idea’s coming from— the culture of the city or the brand

• Your business reality

• What your idea stands for

“When these three things match, you’ve got a great brand campaign.”

Next is knowing all the stakeholders and partners. Your vision needs to be in alignment with the founder or stakeholder. “We own half, they own half. When there’s lack of ownership, it falls apart.”

Writing meaningless mission statements isn’t enough — you’ve got to really believe what that thing is, deep inside you. “If we’ve got a plan, we stick to it. That’s actually our real talent — very tightly controlled sensibilities.” If someone has a suggestion that adds value to their idea, they’ll definitely take it. But what Sunil and his partner don’t let anyone come and play with is the sensibility. “You’ve got to control the narrative a little bit — even if other people get upset.”

Based on all of that, you put a team together. Hiring the right director, the right stylist, the right model is important. “We bring in people we really like. Who we can hang with, who we can work with.”

In some cases the idea and end-product are the exact same. In others, the end result has evolved into something completely different altogether. But in every case — “By the time we go into the production stage, it’s all very well planned.”

So how do you define the success of a campaign? If they achieve what they set out to do in the prescribed time for it. “And you can see from the public’s reaction. When it’s successful, you know.”

On-the-go with IndiGo

Apart from government-affiliated campaigns, V Sunil is also credited with curating campaigns for big brands like Royal Enfield and IndiGo. Of the memorable IndiGo On Time campaign, Sunil recalls, “When we met with the IndiGo team, we only had a chart that talked about the experience of the passenger. Everything else happened on-the-go.”

Sunil’s team’s three alignments for the campaign were—

• Setting up a distinct identity amidst the burgeoning low-cost phenomenon— “Though we are low-cost, the only thing cheap about us will be the ticket”

• Observing the best airline brands in the world—Virgin America and JetBlue— “In 5 years, we either have to be at their level or better”

• Demarcating duties between Sunil’s team and IndiGo— “They’d make sure everything was perfect operationally, we’d make sure everything else was fine. Every sticker, every meal— anything apart from flying, we did personally”

V Sunil’s work with IndiGo can be best described as super international, yet simultaneously very local. When the brand’s identity was teetering on ‘too North Indian’, V Sunil’s team cracked every tasteful South Indian joke in the book. They also coined witty phrases like ‘Naga-landing’ and ‘Hello 6E’. And when there wasn’t much variety in terms of entertainment on planes, Sunil’s team injected it into the food packaging and in-flight magazine. “We had the freedom to do everything. It wasn’t a typical client-agency relationship — we were friends.” And despite all the nay-sayers, IndiGo’s On Time campaign was a huge success.

The creative process behind the campaign was as feel-good as the campaign itself. “Indigo was all about India on the go — and whenever we had an idea that aligned with that, we’d say ‘That’s us!’ There was no mission statement, no brief, we just said— that feels like us. And then we went ahead and did it.”

The Big Picture — and the Smaller Frames

Through the course of his professional career, V Sunil has observed the industry’s functioning change with time. The earlier model was to have a big network to handle large businesses. But it’s different now: “You don’t need to have a big network to do big work.” He thinks that earlier those who could design couldn’t articulate their concepts well, but now that gap is being filled thanks to social media and the personal work designers put up. However, he still believes there needs to be a platform that pushes for bigger change.

Veering into slightly different territory, V Sunil and his partner have now established Motherland Joint Ventures— an initiative centred around strategic design. Far from a regular agency, Motherland dabbles in and dissects a variety of things. Says Sunil, ‘We work with different people on different projects. Motherland is all about taking one idea and going really deep.’

Having worked for so many years in the industry, Sunil has gathered more than a few pearls of advertising wisdom.

“Going into detail is important. As a creative lead, you have to keep your eye on the really big picture, and on the small details. [As for] the middle — there’s so many people to do it.”

It’s also crucial to be able to withstand the intellectual pressure — the pressure to produce good stuff that is omnipresent in the creative industry.

When it comes to campaigns, you need to have a clear plan of action. “Figure out a point of view and stick to it. Fix on certain things you will do and things you absolutely won’t.” And of course, know when to channel bad cop to get the work done.

Having no ego is of paramount importance, Sunil believes. “We don’t protect our idea. Once we’re all aligned, the execution is purely ours. But if someone says it’s not working, we don’t take it personally — we change track.” It’s also important to have people who align with your thinking and ideology, so that not just you but everyone works with no ego.

A man of ambition, Sunil stresses on how important it is to have the right aspirations. “Do you want your name in some small font in an awards book or do you want your idea sitting in Times Square and the whole world going ‘wow’?” At the end of the day, all you need is to dream the right dream and stay true to yourself:

“Be who you are. Don’t change — we just want you to be you. That’s how we add value.”

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

011: Walking on Air: Jay Jajal on Integrating Art and Fashion, Honing Entrepreneurial Instinct and Mastering Community Engagement

⌛ 6 MINUTES

Given his father’s 27 years-old retail garment business and his mother’s affinity for textiles, Jay Jajal, the creative brain behind the Indian streetwear label Jaywalking, always intended to follow their legacy — albeit in his own way.

Jaycrawling: The Start of Something Big 

“I always knew myself to be an art guy.” Jay Jajal had always wanted to build a self-sustained business that allowed him to bring his passion for art to life — and so he did just that. “In a country like India, the best way to monetise art is by putting it on a garment.” What kind of garment? Made-to-measure. “My mom would buy grown-ass man pants and chop them down into half to create the perfect fit for her child and that became my aesthetic. Wearing original garments that no one else had became part of my natural style,” says Jajal.

A dropout from several noteworthy design colleges including Parsons and London College of Fashion, the realisation that he wanted to start something of his own hit Jay quite early on. Even during his time at college, he claims to have learnt more from his peers than the curriculum itself. Instead of devoting years into something he could learn by himself, Jajal decided to employ his instinct for business and follow through on his goal of starting his brand. With access to an abundant force of skilled kaarigars in India and remarkable clarity of vision to boot, Jajal established streetwear brand Jaywalking.

Staying True to His Craft and Being a Customer-Centric Brand

From being featured on ‘HighSnobiety’ to having Ranveer Singh sport his garments within a few months of the brand launch, Jay Jajal has clearly made a mark for himself in the global street-wear scene. Jajal defines streetwear as “everything you wear out of choice— all else is a uniform.” 

Jaywalking has seen rapid growth in the one and a half years since its establishment. Being the sole homegrown streetwear brand to be covered by ‘HIGHSNOBIETY’ creates its own set of expectations altogether, and Jajal understands the onus of representing India on a global level. However, he ensures that the ‘Indianness’ does not dilute his sharp design sensibilities and aesthetic; shoving ethnicity into his garments to peddle an “Indian-origin label” doesn’t hold water with a designer who’s more interested in staying true to his craft. Firmly of the belief that collaboration is key, Jajal shares his disgruntlement over the fact that good, groundbreaking fashion collabs hardly materialise in India.

Nonetheless, the response to Jaywalking in India has been heartening. Within a year and a half, Jaywalking has not only built a following amongst street-style enthusiasts but has also gained visible celeb attention with bigwigs bidding for his one-off pieces. While he views celebrities wanting to wear his pieces as an achievement, Jajal follows a strictly no-sourcing policy. He believes that with the modern consumers being a highly savvy and well- informed lot, it takes more than an endorsement from Bollywood to get loyal customers — something he prioritises.  

Jay at Work: Bringing the Vision to Life 

Jajal confesses that drawing, in the conventional sense, is probably not his strong suit — but his vision and ideas more than compensate for it. At the end of the day, he is able to bring unique, creative ideas to fruition — a characteristic which speaks volumes about his creative prowess.

More of a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, Jajal’s constantly evolving his brand and chooses not to fixate on a particular niche. To him, naming a particular aesthetic would be akin to attaching a forced meaning to it. “Why I drew a lady on the jacket or a dog on my upcoming collection — I won’t have an answer.” Letting his hand flow on paper and make what comes to him in the moment — that’s the only way to be true to himself.

Once Jajal starts work on a garment, he wants it to be finished as soon as possible. “The only way to create original garments is to have an original inspiration.” Tapping into himself as the original source while making his own creations, he lets his natural, creative faculties take over. It’s a bit of a spontaneous process: post sketching out his ideas on paper, Jay proceeds to straight-up pick a fabric for the garment and send it for cutting, constantly drawing all the while until the final product is ready. Over the course, his design methodology has remained consistent, but the techniques have metamorphosed. “My art has matured and sensibilities have evolved, but my mind is the same.”

Jajal consciously keeps his end customer in mind when designing garments. The very idea behind the apparel that Jajal produces is so the consumer feels brand new. “Everytime you go out shopping, a conscious decision to change yourself is involved.” Jajal’s creations are also an extension of his taste. As he puts it, “The only things I make, are ones that I’d want in my own wardrobe. To me, that’s the only way your brand can have a consistent language.”

With his lightning approach, does Jajal face creative blocks? Ever so often. The self-inflicted pressure to constantly create new things can be stifling. At such times, uplifting messages from his loyal community of followers are more than enough to propel him out of any nihilistic clouds.

A Jack of Many Trades

Leading a business as somewhat of a one-man army has not been an easy feat. Jajal is the founder, designer, communication specialist all rolled into one. Jajal especially enjoys working on aspects of community, social messaging and so on. From his experience, it is the engagement more than the products that drives the brand and excites the audience. But despite having a special affinity for it, Jajal understands that staying engaged all the time isn’t a mark of how well you connect with your audience, nor is it realistic: “No one’s going to be thinking of you 24x7, and that’s normal, and that’s fine.”

Jaywalking’s Insta-feed is chicken soup for the street-style lover’s soul. Right from uniform jackets, quirky paint-splattered pieces and bowling shirts to the absolute streetwear essentials, cargo pants— each piece is coloured with Jay’s own vision. Not wanting a face to drive attention away from the apparel, Jajal chooses to go for a no-face style of photography to showcase his garments. Driven by a ‘design and display instantly’ approach, Jajal likes to make his creations public the very same day that he creates them. 

Jay mildly counters the belief that a traditional design school route is essential to starting a fashion label; as long as one has the resources and the will and grit to hustle their way up, a design degree is not needed. Maintaining authenticity is imperative to earning respect and scaling up your brand; Jajal recommends taking inspiration from a primary source which is often yourself. Clarity of vision is another big one, and Jay considers himself lucky to have had it from the start. “I had the confidence to be independent from day one.” Having built a solid brand in just one and a half years, Jajal divulges the biggest determinant: “If you take joy in doing something, that’s when you can follow it through to the end.” Any other words of wisdom for those starting out in the business of fashion? Jay says, “You can write a book about it but I think doing and learning is the only answer. It’s about doing. No one can tell you how to start, that’s completely on you.”

An artist and a rapper on top of being a designer, Jay is a man of many talents, and believes that all his abilities have contributed to building what Jaywalking is: “The day you want to do something, all the information gathered consciously, subconsciously, over the years, comes together.” Having recently launched the website, a range of reasonably priced merchandise is next on the cards for Jajal. Now that Jay Jajal has established himself as a whole different brand name, having a piece of his merchandise in their wardrobe is perhaps something most will be looking forward to.

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

010: Behind The Scenes: Anushka Menon on Photography, Forging an Unprecedented Career and Retaining Artistic Individuality

⌛ 5 MINUTES

Anushka Menon, he fiery photographer behind iconic fashion images of the likes of Dove, Rolex and Puma, is pretty much the poster child for non-conformity. A candid discussion with the acclaimed artist has us following in her footsteps as she retraces her journey to becoming one of India’s eminent fashion photographers, its most eclectic artists and its most exciting potentials. Her story takes us from Australia — through dark rooms and male-dominated sets — to the Anushka of today, a musician, a mentor and as ever, a true magician behind the lens.

Country Roads: The Search for an Aesthetic

Anushka attributes her early independence to her family situation; her parents were separated and then she lost her father at the tender age of 15. Subsequently moving from Muscat to Australia to pursue a foundation course in design, photography and illustration at RMIT, Menon unexpectedly developed a liking for photography and embraced the mystique of the darkroom.

A two-year photography course in India followed. A people-person at heart, Anushka found herself moving from landscapes, interiors and products to portraits, magazines, fashion, which led to ads and related commercial work. Not a big fan of heavy post-processing, Anushka has more of a “what you see is what you get” approach.

Of her major influences early on, Menon cites David Lachapelle (whose loud provocative work she tried to recreate but didn’t have the means to then), Annie Leibovitz, Marcus Marter and Daniella Midenge. “They’re all so iconic,” she gushes. “Their style, their brand, themselves — the whole package.” Outside of photography, her artistic friends are her biggest inspiration. “They inspire me with ideas but mostly to push myself.”

Only Woman in the Madding Crowd

Anushka got her first paid job at 20 and was the first Indian female photographer in fashion and styling — an accomplishment in and of itself. Being a trailblazer had its advantages but also invited scepticism regarding her identity and skill. Having to communicate in Hindi with the staff on set didn’t help, either. But Anushka Menon is nothing if not persistent. “It took five years to really get noticed, and 8–9 years before I started feeling like ‘okay, I’ve arrived, I’m in a good place’ and then my work and income started escalating.” She didn’t have a guide, nor has she ever assisted anyone, both industry anomalies — despite which things turned out pretty good, if you ask us.

When it comes to the industry’s oeuvre, she says, “India doesn’t work on the standard rate. Quantity trumps quality; it’s about who is cheaper not who is the best [for the job].” She compromised often early on but is now quick to turn down unfair jobs. Over time, she has lost projects to fresher, cheaper talent so she stresses on honing connections to ensure stability in work. In her field, the hustle and flux never end.

Anushka feels she cleared a definite corner in her career when big campaigns finally began to knock at her door. A very special one was Rolex in 2013 — her first big, international client. Bigwigs like Puma, Samsung, GQ and Vogue have also joined the “Menon Club” over time. Apart from this sure proof of success, Anushka feels deeply validated when people identify with her work beyond its intended reach, for she feels that that’s when real growth happens. Despite the many accolades she’s won — Fashion Photographer of the Year, Marie Claire, the HT Style award and most recently, Asian Photographer of the Year 2020 — she firmly believes that awards aren’t the sole measure of skill or talent. Big money and bigger brands may be a personal achievement but spiritual joys, such as travelling whilst working, are enriching experiences she looks forward to.

For Menon, the turning point wasn’t one particular job, payment, or award, but a collation of all — a gestalt. Perhaps this is why each of her works is fresh; her concepts are nothing short of meteoric and each piece can stand alone as well as be recognised as quintessentially hers.

And what is ‘hers’?

Menon, after continuous experimentation, has now settled into her signature style and describes it as minimalistic, yet bold and women-centric. She likes a sharp, clean aesthetic, even in life. “I’m very black and white. My shoots are minimal and styling is simple unless the project calls for something over the top,” which is when she makes the best of both worlds to enhance the piece completely.

Walking the Talk

Rarely does Menon come across commercial work that looks pleasing, authentic and harmonious enough to wow viewers as a whole. Process and material of projects depend on the brand; some give free reign, else she surgically extracts from briefs to work on precise dockets. This way, stricter visuals are enhanced and replicated. She treats artists on set as equals in solo work, dominating only the visual treatment.

Menon and Holland’s Rituals Cosmetics are “an aesthetic match made in heaven. We share a trust and comfort that is euphoric.” 

On the other end of the spectrum, Anushka doesn’t avoid challenges, finding collaborative inspiration satisfying. Talking about handling tantrums and “conquering” Fuji, she says, focussed professionals trump those with ego trips and facades. Working with a variety of people is still enjoyable; Menon also guides freshers readily and is modest about her own limitations. “I can be a pain in the butt to work with too. Even as a model. I know what I like and who I am, my body, my angles. One must be open to my advice.”

Menon has been with Fuji for more than two years. She likes teaching and Japanese technology so Fuji’s innovation and workshops are a great fit. “My job is to educate, try new products, shoot and attend important events.” Giving demos and lectures has led to teaching highly interactive photography workshops in 2013 and nowadays, even showcasing.

Menon has some sound insight for both students and freshers. Style is key, she says. Not just what but how you shoot and incorporate your vision into a photograph can make it sing. Understanding fashion is integral; strong foundations create a soft landing for experimentation. Add to this, formulating a good team. Everything else comes with experience. “You can’t jump to where I am. Instead of calling up Dove when you’re just starting out, take your time to identify a clientele, build a portfolio and then approach target clients.” Do your homework, test, email, cold call, make connections, live as a freelancer. You have to invest before chasing after returns.

Anushka, the Renaissance Woman

Menon started making music in 2013, began DJing soon after and released her first track in 2019. These months currently spell fresh music, remixes and a new music video. She loves the process of making and sharing, preferring to play bass, techno and breakbeats. “I enjoy making people dance,” she says happily. Her influences were country, western and mainstream which were always on in her parents’ house, before hip-hop dominated her teenage years. Australia gave her electro and trance; India, an auditory explosion. “I’m a chameleon. Over time I’ve become more stubborn but I’ve always been versatile. My interests allow me to explore. Each one inspires and complements the other.”

Teaching yoga, making music, working and staying healthy and sane during the pandemic are her latest endeavours. All the alone time has given her the chance to experiment with self-portraits as well. A less rigid and more mindful sense of time management is tempered by health limitations but she’s glad she’s “a go-getter and good at picking myself up after a fall.” Being Anushka has meant consistent self-improvement and she works out the chinks in her armour over time, so to speak. In hindsight, she only wonders if she could go back 10 years and do things a bit faster.

Anushka’s tattoos complete the picture we have assimilated so far...she has been acquiring tattoos since 2001 and has a collection of 18 on her body’s canvas. “The owl on my chest represents feminism, the night, the quiet, and looking inwards.” Another is a masterpiece by Saira Hunjan. Menon’s tattoos all have deep symbolic meanings.”... A lotus in a pond comes out of nothing. The moon is constantly evolving, the arrow is always forward-thinking.” And we are happily looking forward to more ingenuity from her.

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

009: Life in Bold: Hanif Kureshi on Cultivating an Idea, the World of Fonts and Keeping Your Culture Alive

⌛ 5 MINUTES

Anyone who has traversed the streets of Lodhi colony or Bandra would have stopped to notice the rich murals adorning their previously dilapidated walls — would have felt themselves drawn to the world they conjure up, even if for a split-second. To Hanif Kureshi, co-founder and Artistic Director of St+art India, this is mission accomplished. Hailing from a small, relatively unknown town in Gujarat, making a mark on the world wasn't really on his bucket list — but now his fingerprints are stamped across cities.

Auntie Maria, Paris: A 10m tall, hand-painted mural from the Cut Out project conceptualised by Hanif Kureshi. Kureshi was given the opportunity to showcase this larger-than-life cut out as an extension of the ‘Les Extatiques’ exhibition held in La Défense, Paris.

Off the Beaten Path: Forging an Identity

Growing up, a young Hanif had an accidental proclivity for shunning the standard doctrines of art — painting on steel plates and compact disks, etching names on pens, you name it. “We would get copies of Letraset,” reminisces Kureshi, referring to an obsolete spiral-bound font catalogue. He recalls, with vivid clarity, painstakingly tracing, cutting and pasting lettering styles by hand — although you won’t catch him griping about it. Perhaps that’s where he gets this deep-running appreciation for hand- lettering. Things changed with the advent of the computer. Hanif was teetering on the edge of adulthood, college giving him his transformative years and altering his world-view, when—

—the Internet came in, and the world of bold expanded.

Budx X Hanif Kureshi: A collaboration between Hanif Kureshi and Budweiser. 

The collaboration celebrates India’s emerging streetwear culture and Budweiser’s long-standing heritage. With the streets of India as his eternal muse, Kureshi injects his affinity for India’s traditional sign-painting styles into his projects.

For all the ‘Indianness’ of his brand of work, career-related family feuds are one desi trope Hanif never experienced. His family has always been supportive of his interest in the arts, even encouraging professional pursuit of it when he himself was leaning towards an education in science. With an awed sort of realisation, he muses, “Had I pursued anything else, my life would be completely different right now.”

Kureshi earned his bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from MSU, Baroda, diving into a career in advertising at Wieden & Kennedy before finding his way back to the art world.

The Future of the Past: Creating an Archive for Coming Generations

As a young artist, Kureshi had always envisioned himself as a sign painter. Pair that with his penchant for observing streets, and he had a dawning realisation — Hanif noticed that the traditional signages on the food thelas he was so accustomed to had been replaced with flashy, printed vinyl. He knew then: he had to record what the world had once looked like for future generations, lest these vernacular scripts be swept away in the vicissitudes of time.

And behold — HandpaintedType was born. Kureshi started commissioning street sign painters to create the alphabet in their unique styles, digitalising them and putting them up for commercial use.

“The next step is to launch HandpaintedType as a type foundry: a group of people that design and distribute fonts,” says Hanif. He believes we need more Indian designers developing Indic fonts — preferably in their local language — and sharing them at a global level.

“A painter sitting in Uttar Pradesh getting exposure in the Big Apple—” begins Kureshi, “—that’s what this is about.”

Hanif’s fascination with typography and sign-painting goes beyond the craft and the myriads of  typefaces; to him, it’s as important to acknowledge the people behind the letters.

St+arting a New Phase: Recontextualising the Indian Art Scene

Hanif is, perhaps, best known for being one of the creatives behind the St+art India Foundation, tasked with beautifying run- down walls in the city’s nooks and crannies, and with metropolises like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru on their resume. It started with a trip to Europe, where Kureshi found himself roaming the city with graffiti writers and experiencing street art culture. Graffiti, to Kureshi, was just an expression of typography, one that he knew from the get-go he wanted to bring to India. And so in 2015, Hanif — along with co-creators Arjun Bahl, Akshat Nauriyal, Giulia Ambrogi and Thanish Thomas —  formally established St+art India.

Since its inception five years ago, the organisation has undertaken the beautification of 330 walls spanning 8 cities; they’ve also organised 15 street art festivals and 6 exhibitions, enlisting the help of over 300 artists throughout the course of their initiative. Important projects under their belt include the art districts, the ‘Art in Transit’ initiative (geared towards bringing the street-art experience to daily commuters), and the ‘Sassoon Dock Art Project’ that has hosted installations by over 40 artists. St+art has steadily garnered the support of various embassies (Germany, Poland, Switzerland, to name a few) and cultural institutes, even finding a loyal long- term partner in Asian Paints. At St+art, they believe in fostering meaningful relationships and engaging in collaborative effort; their art districts have fostered spaces for cultural interaction and cross-community exchange.

Hanif himself seems a little tongue-tied over their growth. “From seeking permission to revamp a few walls in Shahpur Jat, to the government of Telangana asking us to do this in their state, that’s — yeah.”

A crucial aspect of St+art is choosing what goes on the walls for their projects. “We don’t choose the artwork; we choose the artist,” says Hanif. “Then the artists familiarise themselves with the context and connect with the locals to figure out what to do. But nothing’s really premeditated.”

‘Harbouring Hope’ (Kannagi Art District, Chennai): Celebrating the resilience of those displaced by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

Hanif believes street art is contagious — and the internet helps amplify this infectiousness. Seeing someone scrawl something on a long-abandoned wall compels others to follow suit, and the web 2.0 allows for syndication that transcends geographical boundaries.

St+art India has successfully established 6 full-fledged art districts so far, and there’s more where that came from.

“Art doesn’t always need to be so refined”

This sort of art, where art is not about the subject but what it makes the viewer think, fascinates Hanif. Staunchly disapproving of the elitist nature of contemporary art, this is what he has to say: “When you curate, you have a certain audience to cater to. On the streets, it’s a free-for-all.” 

And how does one create this sort of ‘art’? For Kureshi, the foremost thing is to work on the idea. Sharpening your mind trumps sharpening your skills. Of course, the execution is important too, Kureshi adds. “But typography, portraiture, you name it — there are people who can do it. What I can bring to the table, is the idea.”

The next step is training your eyes to be able to differentiate between what’s good and what’s not. Browsing through genres of art, design and culture beyond your immediate interests helps, advises Hanif. “If I’m listening to R&B and Hip-hop, that doesn’t mean I should rule out Indian classical.”

The last thing is to detach yourself from the fallacious idea that the quality of your work depends upon the equipment at your disposal. You don’t need fancy equipment or the latest gizmo. “If you have a strong idea, even just drawing it on a piece of paper should be enough.”

The goal is to foster the democratisation of art, making it accessible to people of all political, social and financial strata. Kureshi believes that this is a revolution in the making, that will override age-old notions of art being complex and aloof. That will strip art of its classist undertones and help it reach the masses. Kureshi knows, having worked on this cause for the better part of the last decade, that changes as mammoth as this one take their time: “I hope that in our lifetime, we get to see that.”

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

008: No Mean Feat: Nikhil D. and Smita Lasrado on Nurturing Talent, Harnessing Social Media Effectively and Being the New Normal

⌛ 6 MINUTES

It was in Paris in 2014 that stylist Nikhil D. and model Smita Lasrado first divulged to each other their growing dissatisfaction with the inadequacies of the Indian fashion scene. Frustrated by an industry dominated by fair-skinned models, pandering to euro-centric perceptions of beauty, Nikhil and Smita, founders of Feat.Artists, decided to take matters into their own hands — and things haven’t been the same since.

Along Similar Lines: On Finding Common Ground

Prior to doing business together, Smita and Nikhil were on their own individual journeys — ones that yielded rather similar observations.

Smita had dived head-first into the Indian modelling industry around 2007–2008 — only to notice the stagnation it was steeped in. “The same models were being booked all the time. The trend had become to pick well-known faces rather than models who actually fit the bill,” says Lasrado. She recalls how she herself was considered overly thin and a tad too dark, but her move abroad came as a culture-shock — the very traits that had worked against her back home were en vogue here. When Lasrado returned to India a certified IMG model, those that had previously been aloof suddenly had a keen eye on her. “To me, that was like — why do you need that ‘stamp’ from the west before you decide that I’m fit to be a model?”

This rigidity of thought wasn’t confined to the modelling world; Nikhil, too, had found himself battling an outdated system. “As a stylist, I noticed that Indian magazines mostly featured European models, bizarrely enough.” He’d spend his time feeling disgruntled with the barely-there Indian representation on magazine covers (barring established celebrities) and constantly pushing for more Indian models to grace the covers of big publications. “Everywhere else, they always put a new model on the cover, as if to say: here’s the new girl on the block,” Nikhil recalls. “And that literally never happened here; there was never a new girl.”

Smita and Nikhil’s parallel interests and experiences converged at a point, and in 2018, the duo banded together to form Feat.Artists — their own modelling agency.

Expanding Territory: Building a Powerhouse

Growing a nascent business can be quite the challenge. But Nikhil and Smita had a plan chalked out, a mission to change the way models were cast in the country — and a little luck on their side. With the fashion industry embracing them relatively quickly, Feat. Artists soon bagged editorials in all the best magazines, building a solid reputation and entering a more commercial space. It was at that point that the pair’s discerning eye spotted another gap in the industry — one they were happy to fill. “People would ask us for input on photographers or makeup artists all the time. So we thought, okay — this is a service we’re providing, and Indian creative talent needs representation. Why not recruit it to the agency?” Starting with people they had previously worked with and then moving on to actively scouting potential recruits, Feat.Artists officially opened its doors to various talent — from photographers to make-up artists to stylists — in March of 2019.

Signing talents from diverse specialisations has worked in the agency’s favour. Today, Feat.Artists can be called a ‘powerhouse’ in its own right, housing an entire team that can execute a campaign from start to finish. It’s also something that’s proven particularly useful during the COVID crisis, with the agency’s talent working in their own capacity from isolation, creating work digitally and passing it on from person to person to yield a finished product for Instagram or print.

Feat.Artists aims to grow into a collective for creatives who do multidisciplinary work and who work well as collaborators — not only within the agency, but outside of it as well. “At Feat, we want to explore different avenues where like-minded people can come together and create together.” Featured here: Shriya Som ss20 campaign — modelled by Smita; photography and creative direction by Farhan Hussain; beauty by Kritika Gill

Soil, Water, Sunshine: On Fostering Individuality

Nikhil and Smita’s steadfast ideology of opposing everything boring is reflected in their recruitment criteria: value is attributed not only to a model’s looks, but also to their personality and interests. “We obviously see what they look like, check their sizes and find what market they fit based on that. But we also check if their look is new or if they’re interesting in ways other than just appearance.” Models shouldn’t just be clothes-hangers, and signing on such talent with alternative careers or special skills definitely aligns with the vision of Feat’s creators. But it also works in the models’ favour; brands like if models have a backstory or some personality attached to them, and want to associate with them based on those. The agency lays great emphasis on these skills and interests when launching them or getting them work with brands. “People initially came to Feat looking for ‘real people’ to model for them, but in truth, our recruits have always been professional models — we just happened to brand them as ‘people with skill, who model’.”

When it comes to signing talent, the duo has a keen ear out for individualistic voices — people who grew up here and have something to say to the world.

“We try to look for people that are very different from each other but not just because they’re different. Each of them has different experiences that set them apart — and we like that.”

Their talent has been casted for several international campaigns. The agency definitely likes to discover new faces and young talent. But there is no hard and fast rule — if the person speaks their language and if they fit within their collective goals, it doesn’t matter if they’re established or new to the game.

For Feat.Artists, social media plays a pivotal part. Having discovered models over hashtags and scoured TikTok and Instagram for new faces in the agency’s formative period, Feat. now busies itself with communicating the lives of the models and promoting their personal, non-commissioned work online.

Checking beyond the Cheque: Choosing Morals over Money

The growth of Feat.Artists can be attributed to the shared belief system of its creators. There are a few things that are non-negotiable to both Nikhil and Smita — the way their talent is treated by a client regardless of how big they are; getting overtime for jobs; not allowing tokenism; not promoting fairness products, amongst others. “We believe that in life you have to stand for something. We make it clear to our models that we don’t endorse fairness, and they’re all extremely proud of that stance. Some of our talent might not want to promote certain other products, like alcohol, and we respect that too.” Accepting anything just to grow the business isn’t Feat.Artists’ style. “We’re fighting back against what we see as exploitation or ‘poverty porn’ — essentially anything that negatively affects the portraiture of our society. We’re trying to change people’s perception of what kind of imagery should come out of India,” says Smita. It’s safe to assume that her and Nikhil’s own personal experiences have played a part in building this moral code — “When you know better, you do better.”

Attaching labels like ‘diverse’ and ‘inclusive’ to Feat.Artists is relatively easy given their roster — the agency promotes non- binary models and trans models, as well as models of different age groups, regions and body types — but they themselves steer clear of such ‘trending’ terminology. To Nikhil and Smita, what’s important is that Indian talent is represented the right way. “It’s not like we want to be touted as ‘different’ or ‘inclusive’; our thing was never to try and fit quotas.” The aim has always been to have more than one Indian face or talent be represented within the country as well as outside of it.

“We’re not coming from a place of wanting to be different — we want to be the new normal.”

As heads of this self-proclaimed family, Smita and Nikhil are fiercely protective and supportive of their artists. They make sure their models are well-grounded and not bogged down by rejection, and if an artist feels exhausted or unhappy with what they’ve created, they advise them to take a break and pursue their own personal work. “Our artists know that they can call us in the middle of the night on the job, and we’ll take care of them.”

Feat. The Founders

Having worked together this long, there’s bound to be things about the other person that rub off on you. “Nikhil’s attention to detail on our communication has definitely rubbed off on me,” Smita says. “He’s also way more patient than I am — but that’s something I still haven’t fully mastered.”

As for Smita, Nikhil says, “She’s definitely very protective of the models. I guess having been over it herself, she knows what you could protect a model from as an agency, and I’ve picked up on some of that.” He also confesses that she’s a better keeper of time and definitely more focussed of the two. Aside from experience, the two have been each other’s biggest teachers.

And what has their experience taught Nikhil D. and Smita Lasrado?

“The single most important thing is to have a strong voice. Don’t do what’s trending because that will make you instantly replaceable,” is Smita’s takeaway. “Research, study and always be curious.” Nikhil suggests spending time away from scrolling on Instagram. “Eventually, everything there starts to look the same. Look for inspiration beyond what’s available on the internet.”

Gunning for better representation in the industry and a broader definition of beauty, the duo remains optimistic that change is ‘round the corner.

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

007: Editor’s Choice: Vandana Verma on Wellness, Building a Brand Voice and Listening to the ‘Gut and Guests’

⌛ 6 MINUTES

“Brand communication is about telling one story many different ways, rather than telling different stories”.

With an innate penchant for writing, a young Vandana Verma had known authoring a novel was never going to be her thing — but she did know how to tell a story. Now the head of brand communications for Nicobar — the sister brand to Good Earth — Vandana credits years of editorial experience for arming her with the ability to deliver narratives that come out in the most natural vein.   

Picking up the Pen: Finding her Niche

Vandana knew from the age of three that she wanted to write. “I’d compile handwritten books with little cliff-hangers as gifts for my parents’ birthdays,” she reminisces, recalling spending her youth honing this prowess.

An undergraduate of Media and Cultural Studies from University of the Arts, London, Vandana sailed through college-life taking on internship after internship, accumulating experiences and building a steady work-ethic. “I hated every one of them,” she confesses belatedly. “But each of them gave me a clearer idea of what I didn’t want to do — and each of them had a takeaway.”

Verma’s childhood interest in writing later turned into a springboard for her rather eclectic career trajectory, propelling her straight towards working with illustrious magazines and media houses like ‘Time Out’, ‘The India Tube’ and ‘Motherland’. Writing for pleasure on the side, Vandana created ‘Sing for your Supper’, a blog where she’d pair quintessential food and music recommendations, and later, ‘The Tonic’, where she documents her journey to adopting wellness as a ritual.

Motherland Magazine—Bandra (Issue #14); Skin (Issue #11); Military (Issue #13); Football (Issue #16): Established in 2010, Motherland lends a contemporary perspective to issues embedded within the culture of the nation. The magazine casts away the typical Indian magazine format, picking up a singular theme for every issue and building content around its parameters. Vandana was the Editor of Motherland between 2012–2015, prior to joining Nicobar.

The Nicobar Story: Giving Voice to an Inimitable, Modern Indian Brand

While she enjoyed the creative freedom working at Motherland offered, print deprived Vandana of a two-way conversation with her audience. Nicobar, being a digital-first brand, allowed her to satiate her appetite for that dialogue.

From the get-go, Vandana’s role was at the core of the content behind Nicobar. Coming from an editorial background, retail was something she had little technical knowledge of — but she learnt on the job. In that sense, Nicobar has been an extremely edifying experience for her. Over the years, Verma’s role has delved more and more into the communications side, working closely with the design, digital, photography and marketing teams. She emphasises that it takes harmonised effort to bring out the intended brand voice. “The people that you work with are sometimes as important as the brand itself.”

Vandana talks of Nicobar as a brand “rooted in India and inspired by India but intended to exist anywhere in the world”. Going beyond the archetypal vision of what is ‘Indian’, Nicobar has a restrained, distinctly not-kitsch urban-Indian aesthetic paired with a coastal vibe. The brand straddles both the physical and digital domains; each touchpoint — digital properties, in-store visual merchandising, events and experiences, customer care and products — is given equal weightage in building a unique, consistently stimulating brand experience.

Keeping the ‘Nicobar’ experience alive amidst the pandemic, the brand has organised cook-alongs with home bakers, mindful eating sessions and live-performance sets to ‘bring value to the customers at a time when they cannot be encouraged to buy.’

For Vandana, there is no one way to define ‘brand communications’ — nonetheless, there are some principles she sticks to:

• Contrived communication with the audience is a strict no-no 

• Throwaway use of words like ‘authentic’ and ‘curated’ is off-limits 

• Knowing the ‘why’ of a brand as well as ‘what a brand will be able to do’ helps establish the brand’s identity 

Clarity of vision plays a big part, something Vandana lauds Nicobar co-founders Simran Lal and Raul Rai for. “Not everyone has the clarity of vision that they have. Simran knew exactly what she wanted the store to look like — the fittings, vibe and visual merchandising. Meanwhile, Raul focused on building unique, unparalleled standards of customer experience. He wanted the store to be more than just a store.”

For someone who grew up in an India embedded in old-school thought, Nicobar is perhaps quite close to the culture of free thinking Vandana always yearned for.

Listening to the Gut and the Guests

In designing the communication strategy for Nicobar, Vandana’s own sensibilities and those of the team play an important role. Meanwhile, understanding the guests’ passion-points has also been pivotal in defining how they communicate. According to Verma, ‘community’ and ‘collaboration’ are core values that Nicobar fosters through multiple channels, including the ‘Nico Journal’ and other digital platforms.

Vandana brought her editorial experience and her grasp of independent media over to brand communications at Nicobar through the Nico Journal. Less of a brand inventory and more of an actual journal, the Nico Journal offers the audience a one-of-its-kind experience in the form of hand-picked recipes, style advice, travel archives and features with creatives offering a glimpse into their lifestyle against a snug, intimate setting.Featured here from the Nico Journal Archives — How to throw the ultimate garden brunch: a three-part series with event planner Namrata Mamak

But Vandana understands the perils and prizes that come with the digital world. Today, brands instantly receive audience feedback. “Everyone has a seat at the table. Brands are automatically in dialogue with their audience and do not get to silo themselves.” Largely appreciative of how more and more retail brands are listening to their consumers and making ethical, informed decisions, Verma maintains that cutting out unwanted noise is just as essential. At the same time, the slow withdrawal of ‘cancel culture’ has made it easier for brands to take necessary accountability and rebuild the dialogue essential to the spirit of a community.

Work, Wellness and Withstanding the Uncertainty

Which brands are getting it right? “[The] Summer House, OLIO and Raw Mango.” Vandana places importance on having a real narrative, be it about the makers, the process or the product itself. She insists that creating good, memorable content trumps populating the feed just to keep up with the race of content creation.

Having worked in media and communications for a decade now, Vandana advises creatives to explore their strengths and weaknesses, their likes and dislikes. She encourages students to get their hands on as many internships as possible, if only to narrow down the list of career pathways: “More valuable than learning what you do want to do is learning what you definitely don’t want to do.” The willingness to roll-up your sleeves and get your hands dirty, she finds, is essential for a career in this industry.

Withstanding self-doubt is key. Coming from a place of experience, Vandana reveals that putting things on hold for the fear of not doing them right tends to result in stagnant projects: “Perfectionism is almost like a fear or a stalling tactic — a constant battle between the rational and the irrational. And a lot of my self-work this year will be about quelling that fear.”

Speaking on wellness, the central theme of her blog ‘The Tonic’, Vandana points out the rewarding domino effect it has on one’s life. “We sleep better, eat better, work out, become more creative.” Contrary to popular opinion, Vandana firmly maintains that wellness is not vain; it’s the very opposite. “When we invest in our physical and mental health, we are nicer and more pleasant to be around.” Not to mention also very useful to your brand. Wellness means productivity and productivity is infectious — “It starts with the individual and expands to the collective of individuals.”

At the moment, Vandana is looking to turn ‘The Tonic’ into a space housing the best resources for people interested in wellness and self-care.

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

006: ‘I Design Experiences’: Anant Ahuja on the True Definition of Branding, the Evolution of Design and His Love for Typography

⌛ 5 MINUTES

“Design is not just an activity where you sit in front of a computer or with a sheet of paper and draw something. It’s something that I apply to all aspects of life — right from colour coordinating the clothes I wear to designing my calendar.”

Multidisciplinary designer, serial creative entrepreneur and Forbes 30 Under 30 Honouree Anant Ahuja is well on his way to leaving a mark on the art and design industry, one typeface at a time. Challenging the conventional on every step of his journey, he discusses his experiences in the industry and doles out wisdom by the buckets for aspiring creatives.

Designing Systems: Pushing Boundaries and Building Solutions

For Anant Ahuja, design is not restricted to his professional life and even within his professional life, it is not restricted to building an identity for a brand or creating a beautiful advertisement. The core of his approach to design lies in designing systems. Systems which, when implemented, allow the brand to continue reaping benefits even when the designer exits the equation. The client should be able to take it apart and build it again without the designer’s help. Because at the end of the day, you’re building a solution for them, so it needs to be functional.

He does not like the notion of fitting into and settling for the predetermined roles that exist for designers. “I don’t like to call myself a graphic designer or an illustrator or a typographer or a UX/UI designer. There are definitely certain super-specialisations that I might not possess the skills for, but when it comes to an overall holistic approach, I can give my two cents,” he says.

Eccentricity that Scales: Bakheda

“Branding has been bastardised as a word over the last 10 years.”

Branding is a long drawn and exhaustive process that includes strategy workshops, identifying design, collaborations, assessment of digital and physical assets and how all of this can be combined through technology.

Anant says that the reason behind Bakheda reaching the standpoint it has reached in just two years is that they bring a problem-solving perspective to the table. Having worked with some of the best- known advertising and creative agencies and learning lessons from their work, Anant had a clear idea of how he wanted to approach projects this time. “We’re here to meet you midway — you talk, we listen. Then we talk, you listen. We’ll keep chatting until both of us are happy with the outcome.”

A good designer always needs to have an understanding of the market and the consumers being targeted, along with understanding where the business objectives of the brand are stemming from. At Bakheda, they achieve this by listening. Branding needs to be looked at more holistically, and not just as something that’s in front of your eyes. For Anant, business insights are always more important than trends, though he admits that trends do play a certain role in visual communication.

To illustrate how they actually build systematic solutions for clients, Anant walked us through the project with PayTM Insider, an event curation and ticketing platform. Insider was looking to expand its core from just a ticketing platform to also include their own content and curate experiences for consumers. There were three main areas they targeted — brand purpose, communication and visual identity.

Figuring out and putting in place a strong brand purpose not only sets the base for the rest of the work but also solidifies the perspective you would want people to view your brand with. “Take ‘just do it’, for example. It’s not just a tagline, it holds up the entire brand,” Anant says.

To make Insider’s essence and purpose clear and easily consumable, they came up with ‘make everyday less everyday’. Communication and visual identity are pieced together over a period of time, and slowly a sort of cohesiveness becomes evident and helps create recognition and a point of differentiation for the brand. To achieve this, Bakheda took many steps. One of them was designing a system that relieved people from having to create website banners for every event that was featured by forming a preset with limited features that not only saved time but ensured that the design language stayed consistent. This was an extremely clever move, because for a brand like Insider, that features and uplifts so many other brands, to be able to maintain uniformity with ease was one of the most important goals. This goal is now reached every time there is a new event to be listed with the help of design.insider.in.

“This wasn’t a 20-day project. It took us seven months to work on, but we succeeded in our goal,” says Anant.

Anant Ahuja: Typethug

Was Anant a little Picasso growing up? Not in the least. The closest he ever got to art or design before college was doodling basketball players and sneakers on the back of his notebooks. He developed a soft spot for typography during college in New Zealand. He got the name Typethug because he was so into it and so good at it, and it’s stuck around since then. He still passionately talks about the behavioural aspects of typography and how a multitude of small characteristics like the curvature or the spacing between letters can create such a big difference in getting the message across. There are a million little things to know — like the basic difference between a font and a typeface: a font is a family of typefaces, which are nothing but versions of the font with minor modifications.

What started as a simple 30-hour packaging redesign project turned into one of Anant’s favourite ever. Brewhouse Iced Teas was Bakheda’s first foray into the FMCG industry. Taking a premium brand and modifying its identity so that it stands out at both Godrej Nature’s Basket and Raju Morning Store is what Anant loved about this. “When I see someone in front of me at the grocery store queue holding a bottle of Brewhouse, it feels amazing. Like yeah, I did that!”

The design industry, according to Anant, has evolved leaps and bounds in the last 10 years. He recalls people who would approach him to understand little nuances of typography and now run their own type foundries. “Even reaching this point where people actually have their own type foundries in India and are taking up intricate aspects of design as their specialisations is testimony to the evolution,” he says. People have started taking this profession more seriously. A fresh graduate today has a lot more bargaining power when it comes to recognition of the value of their work than Anant says he did when he had already been working for a few years.

On the difference between being an artist or a boutique designer and doing commercial design work, Anant says, “Art is self-expression, not problem-solving. If you have the grit and determination to stick to your art till you make it big, by all means, you should go for it.” However, a fundamental issue in the mindset of designers that Anant feels is holding the industry back is a sort of aversion to “big work”. People think big commercial projects aren’t the best kind to undertake, whereas the truth is that the industry stands on the shoulders of this big work. That’s when you have legal entities protecting your rights, and that’s how the possibility of a recognised body that looks after the interests of graphic designers arises.

Talking about his education, Anant remembers feeling almost frustrated with his design course in New Zealand for the first six months. Any good design school starts off by trying to discipline you into the practice of design because there is a great amount of patience required. “We filled in different colours in every block on a graph paper and made free-hand circles and squares, but as futile as it seemed back then, I realise the value now.” When it comes to India, he feels that one thing the design schools forget to provide is a strategic business edge, which actually leads to commercial work being viewed negatively.

The Yellow Brick Road to Building a Creative Enterprise

Anant co-founded The Irregulars Alliance, the parent company of The Irregulars Art Fair, with Tarini Sethi in 2017. An anti-art fair seeking to offer an alternate perspective of both art and art shows, TIRAF has hosted two successful events that broke the prescribed code for what qualifies as conventionally appropriate ways of exhibiting art.

Anant says that for anyone starting out with their own creative enterprise, it’s extremely important to remember that you are separate from your work. There is bound to be a certain amount of attachment because it’s something you have worked really hard for, but learning to draw a line actually goes a long way. Early in his career, Anant says he had problems separating himself from his work and often ended up beating himself up for no actual fault of his own. With a clear distinction in mind, not only can one achieve more on a personal level, but also the business and the creator can complement each other and leverage success together. Secondly, he says that it’s also important to plan for all possible contingencies, especially the kind where you might end up not wanting to continue with the company anymore. It often happens that there are fallouts with business partners, or for any number of other personal reasons you might want to transition out. Such situations pan out smoothly if there are legal partnership agreements in place. The third important thing to take care of is your finances. “After being broke over and over again through the course of my career, I realised the value of maintaining financial soundness. And if you need help, make sure you get it.”

What is the most interesting and challenging thing about being Anant Ahuja?

“The most interesting aspect about being me is that I’m always alert, I'm always on the go. I think of 10,000 ideas everyday, I make a note of them and at some point of time or the other, I make it happen. I have a hustler mentality and a never-give-up attitude and it’s what I like about myself. The most challenging bit is the downside of this very mentality. I need to build healthy boundaries with my ideas because it starts affecting me mentally and physically. I wake up with a clenched jaw some mornings having dreamt about a single misplaced pixel the entire night. It’s a slow learning process but I’m on it.”

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

005: Inside Kshitij Kankaria’s World: Playing with Nostalgia and an Unusual Take on Building Visual Narrative

⌛ 6 MINUTES

Born into a family of doctors, structure was a central theme in young Kshitij Kankaria’s life, and something he grew up to be averse to. To break away from his structured domestic life only to get stuck in a structured professional life was not his plan. “I don't do well with guidelines,” said Kankaria when asked about his unconventional route to fashion styling. “I didn't want a magazine to dictate my style.” Building one’s career without the credibility that comes from being associated with established titles/celebrities is definitely a struggle but it was a price he was happy to pay for creative autonomy.

“I don’t know how to style to make the garment the hero. For me, the story is always the hero.”

“How can you tell a story when it's not yours to tell?”

Growing up in Madhya Pradesh, fashion wasn’t a big part of Kshitij’s formative years. He knew of Bollywood, but his understanding of even that was very different. No one in his family was related to or even interested in fashion. However, a fundamental skill he always had and continues to use extensively in his work is observation. “I grew up observing how people function in quintessentially rural Indian cities,” he says. The nostalgic value that is seen in his work is a result of these early memories.

It can be very powerful when you harness your experiences to create art — and as per Kshitij, it also makes you irreplaceable because no one other than you has had the same experiences. These experiences, however, cannot be falsified. They have to come from a place of honesty.

“With any art form, whether it's music or painting or something else, you would know when the product is not true to you”

And what's true to you? “Simplicity.”

Over the years, he has done numerous shoots, some in styles different than his own - but in retrospect, he says he didn't connect with them. Kshitij says discovering his style was like trying different cuisines. One can try as many cuisines as many times as they’d like but eventually, they’ll know which one is and isn’t for them. “That's how I discovered my style. After recognising it, I became conscious of working with it.”

Authenticity and research are very important to him as a creative. A stunning tableau of women in long-tail gowns in a rural setting for no apparent reason other than glamour is not Kshitij's style. “I always question whether this person in this get-up would exist in this environment under any circumstances. If not, then I am not creating that image. You'll see nothing unrealistic in my work.” It's this realness of the imagery that makes an emotional connection with the audience and leaves them feeling a sense of familiarity. Translation of emotion is much more important to him than going after seasonal trends.

“The kind of projects I have done in the past, they could have gone wrong in so many ways,” says Kshitij. Hence, it becomes imperative to research intensely to bring forth the true narrative. Being true to the culture he is representing and doing justice to the topic is as paramount as it is difficult. “I have also had my share of errors but I have gone back [to the brand/publisher] to say we can't release it because we have lost the very point we were trying to make.” Producing consistently good work is very important to Kshitij. He admits that if a shoot comes out badly, he has sleepless nights.

Bagging International Projects

Up until then, it was uncommon for international fashion publications to feature Indian stories. That doesn’t, however, go to say that they didn’t want to. When magazines like PAPER and Dazed came across Kshitij's work through Instagram, came across Kshitij's work through Instagram, where he actively shared his styling projects, his aesthetic and portrayal of Indian culture impressed them and they reached out to him to work as an ally to create content for this market. “In the early days, my work was found to be too subtle, subdued or plain by publishers here. It wasn't glamorous enough for their taste — while internationally, the same imagery was appreciated for its soulfulness.”

“I get personally invested in my projects; hence, it is very important to take up the right ones.” And how do you choose your projects? “Three things are very important to me — creative freedom, budget and the opportunity to learn. A project might not necessarily have all three but a minimum of two is required for me to say yes,” says Kankaria. “Increasingly now, I also try to understand if I personally associate with the qualities of a brand. If I can't connect with the brand, then I am probably not going to be able to authentically tell its story, so I wouldn't take up that project.” When ideating for an editorial, Kshitij often picks up a topic that is unsaid, untold or hasn’t been told in the same way that he would, coming from the fashion industry.

~ Shedding the Last Layer: Gay India Awakens to New Freedom

For Shedding the Last Layer, a story published in PAPER magazine, Kshitij and photographer Ashish Shah shot a series depicting members of the Indian LGBTQIA community following the Section 377 verdict. Kshitij recalls having long conversations with the artists they featured prior to the shoot. “I wanted to know everything about them — where they were born, how their childhood was, etc.” Having met them for weeks to learn more about their journey and their reflections on the verdict, Kankaria gained perspective on how he wanted to portray them.

“When shooting a series related to complex topics, like racism or LGBT+ rights, you can't be naive or inadequately aware.”

Kshitij finds it critical to have an understanding of issues, where they come from, why they exist, their consequences, etc. and has now started studying different cultures and their adoption, without necessarily being involved in projects related to them.

~ Young Love in the Small Towns of India

In a series of images shot by Ashish and Kshitij, India-born and London-based designer Ashish Gupta pays homage to young love in the small towns of India.

“Love was so quiet and silent, almost shy. Public displays of affection or even open conversations with romantic partners were not commonplace. There were many layers to their emotions; sexual behaviour wasn't impassioned but gentle. These nuances can either be known through personal experience or deep character research.”

For this shoot, they used Ashish Gupta’s collection but they also sourced from the streets. Working in fashion, your idea of fashion becomes very limited. You forget what fashion means to a girl meeting her boyfriend for a date. You have to think about how to make the collection fit in this setting; it shouldn't seem like an outcast, it should be relatable and real.

“You can take these great clothes, go to a location and do a great shoot, but it will be a shoot no one remembers if there’s no opportunity for emotional connection”

On the reason for his extensive collaboration with the same set of creatives, Kshitij talks about creating a synergy. Since it takes both time and effort to establish that synergy, it becomes quicker and easier when that relationship already exists. Similar backgrounds, a common aversion to moodboards and equal affinity for research have set the foundation for his working relationship with Ashish Shah (photographer for both editorials mentioned above) that goes back to their early days in the industry.

What’s the difference in the research you both undertake? “While my research goes deeper into the past and the story, he researches the emotions and deeply studies the characters.”

High Stakes Hot Takes // Kshitij Kankaria

~ On Inspiration

Kshitij’s inspiration for fashion doesn’t necessarily come from fashion. It comes from films, music and literature; reading, being aware of the socio-cultural environment, and then thinking about how he can express it through his art form that is styling. Though not one to work with them unless necessary, Kshitij says his mood boards hardly ever feature fashion images. “I really like how Wong Kar-Wai shows emotion in his films. On [characters’] faces, in their eyes. How lighting changes with the mood of a scene.” When an emotion is evoked in the audience by mere screen direction, he observes the frame closely.

~ On Social Media

Over the past few years, fashion stylists who often stayed BTS have very much become celebrities in their own right, courtesy Instagram. Kshitij has a different take. “I never want to become a household name. You won’t know where I am travelling, who my best friend is, what products I am using. People [on social media] want to behave like they are your friends, but social media is not that for me.”

“You’ll know how many dogs a stylist has but you won’t be able to tell their style.”

Kshitij wants to create that sense of familiarity with his audience in connection to his work, not his personal life. Being an influencer has been embraced by most stylists but Kshitij calls his aloofness another conscious and strategic decision to stand apart from the crowd.

~On Fashion Shows

The purpose of a fashion show might have evolved but it’s still relevant as a platform for brands to say what they stand for. It gives you relevance and remembrance amongst the customers. It’s also highly engaging and entertaining. But Kshitij is against the endless cycle of shows and weeks. According to him, it’s expensive, promotes a toxic work culture by putting unnecessary pressure on smaller businesses and has environmental costs. Fashion shows, however, are not a one-size-fits-all approach. By not participating also you can make a statement. Do what’s right for your brand.

~ On making it big in this industry

Discipline and commitment are paramount. Creativity and storytelling come later. If you’re not punctual or can’t keep your word, you’re going to have a hard time.

Lately, Kshitij has been using his creative prowess and understanding of the millennial sensibilities to help brands like FILA, Adidas and Pahadi Local to tell their story better with a strong focus on visual narrative.

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

004: All the World’s a Stage: Roshan Abbas on Building Kommune, the Evolution of Art and Harnessing Creativity for Commerce

⌛ 6 MINUTES

“I was called Mirza Tod-Phod as a child. I would always take my toys apart to see what’s inside instead of being content with what was on the surface.”

Roshan Abbas is a master storyteller, and the story behind his innate creativity and love for engaging with an audience is no less than any of his other works. He grew up in a household where both parents were involved in academia, so intelligent conversations and love for curiosity were encouraged early on. This is what Abbas credits when asked about how he came to be a multi-hyphenate. It’s really no wonder that a child who was read Shakespeare at bedtime grew up to become one of the most respected names in Indian theatre.

Building a One of-its-Kind Community

Abbas says it became clear to him from a very young age that performing for and connecting with an audience would form an integral part of what he would do in life. Following the common thread of creativity and engagement throughout his career, he is happy that he was able to turn his art into something that would also help him pay the bills. “Art feeds your soul, but at the end of the day, you need to feed yourself too. I may choose to dole out advice for free, but if I’m helping you solve a problem, I’d like to be paid for it. That’s the creative entrepreneur in me,” he says.

After hitting a creative block and going through a burnout of sorts, which is not unusual for someone involved in the arts, Abbas began a journey of artistic recovery with the help of a book called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. In the book was the concept of a ‘creative date’ which basically encouraged spending time with an art form you were previously unfamiliar with. And so he began exploring and experiencing new things to help different atoms collide and gain a perspective that is visually, narratively, figuratively and musically rich. Through this new perspective, a sort of vacuum became apparent to him. A gap in the creative world that he took upon himself to bridge. The result — Kommune, an ecosystem that would nurture artists and help them not only create but also present their content for the world to see. Eventually, with inspiration from The Moth, a storytelling collective based in the US, Kommune took the form of a hybrid between the original idea of nurturing artists and a new platform for sharing stories. “We function as an art incubator. At any given time, we’re involved with multiple artists, trying to help them work out the technicalities behind putting out a great piece of work.”

Creating a Product Worthy of Investment

At Kommune, they stand for sustainable art. Meeting new people, learning new things and enriching yourself with the help of the community becomes sustainable when you also return that favour, and that’s how this community thrives. This sustainability also extends to the monetary aspect. Roshan is of the opinion that creators/platforms are themselves responsible for creating & sustaining the demand and managing the supply to keep the market at equilibrium. As opposed to rolling out average products for free, he believes in building a strong product, so that consumers choose you over alternatives, and then putting a reasonable price on it.

If one has the chance to make use of lockdown times learning how to get better at online communication from a revered theatre artist like Sheena Khalid, then the consumer is more likely to choose it over aimless scrolling on Instagram. The audience needs to be educated about the worth of the product. They should feel like they’re making an investment, not merely paying a ticket fee. These are small ways of working around the psychology of the consumer, an approach Roshan adopted while working with Glitch (where he’s a partner) on their portfolio of services as well.

"While everyone is shouting, we go and whisper"

One of the building blocks of Kommune is redefining storytelling and shaping it in a way that hasn’t been seen before. Apart from the fact that it is the only performing arts collective of its kind in the country, Kommune is pushing the boundaries of how people connect with art in other ways too. One of these ways is the widely known Spoken fest. “It was something that hadn’t been done before — where poets, musicians and all kinds of storytellers would come together for a festival where people tune in, not tune out. It was going to be: the Edinburgh Fringe meets Hyde Park.” Roshan, who calls himself a ‘reservoir of optimism’, started off on the rough calculation that even if five per cent of their YouTube audience shows up, they will have five thousand people attending Spoken. And this wasn’t a dream fulfilled easily. The journey of Spoken from the first year to where it is today wasn’t one without setbacks. At times, there were people questioning whether it would be possible, but if there is one person who embodies the concept that passion makes things happen, it’s Roshan Abbas. The first edition saw a footfall of six thousand, and when people compared it to the first year of NH7 Weekender, Roshan knew that they had been successful in building a boutique property for an organic audience with a genuine interest in art. The road ahead for Spoken is already mapped out and pandemic or not, losing momentum is not part of the plan.

Another way in which Kommune is contributing towards constant evolution of the creative world is by encouraging podcasting as a medium through their initiative POD’ium in collaboration with Spotify and Anchor. Roshan describes a podcast as “a form of self-expression that doesn’t require anything more than you”. Different from the now common but technically-produced YouTube videos and the new wave of time-bound TikTok clips, all podcasts require is lending your voice and thoughts to help people discover. Coupled with this simplicity is a ‘visual fatigue’ that is beginning to set in. Screen times are through the roof and podcasts are thriving on the breaks people are taking to connect with something new or maybe disconnect from something worn out. In India, however, there are still a few years to go before we can have our own Sarah Koenig and Joe Rogan. Kommune is doing its bit in making that happen and plans to help launch 10,000 podcasts by the end of this year. “It’s like a friendship between the listener and the host — a safe space of pure learning — and friendships last forever,” says Abbas.

Commercialising Creativity: A New Take on Marketing and Branding

Roshan has also founded an experiential marketing firm called Encompass (acquired by WPP and now called Geometry Encompass) through which he sought to change the way brands approached consumer engagement.

When it comes to building a successful brand activation, as Roshan has with the biggest names in the corporate world like HP, Pepsi and Godrej, these are some pointers to always keep in mind:

Looking Back to Move Ahead: A Then-and-Now

~ Social Media

On his relationship with social media, Roshan says that it has helped bring about a sort of democracy of the arts — an era in which there are no ‘gatekeepers’ standing in the way of new artists being able to present their work. Previously, the traditional ways of putting art out there were much more inaccessible, which has now changed. Social media has also brought about a generation of brands that are no longer monolithic like brands of the past. They must keep in mind the three pillars of showcasing skill, projecting responsible influence and maintaining a suitable identity — concepts which didn’t exist earlier on. With social media, one also stays grounded by constantly analysing real-time feedback to help decide which strategies work and which don’t, as it’s easy to get carried away with ideas.

~ Performing Arts

Talking about how he views the evolution of Indian performing arts over the years, Abbas gives an insightful response. He categorises artistic content into three — the ultra-niche (classical arts), the mass consumption arts (music and comedy as of now, which will soon reach their tipping point) and the niche (podcasting and YouTube gaming, which he says will soon turn into mass consumption content). The revolution started with the ultra-niche, enjoyed by few as entertainment and even fewer as a profession. Then the late 90s brought about the realisation that art could be an industry separate from Bollywood with bands and independent artists slowly gaining popularity. This set into motion a cycle of consumer preferences and pop culture changing in synchronisation.

~ Roshan Abbas as an Artist and Entrepreneur

Roshan shares that his father always said, “Knowledge is a key you have to carry with you because you never know which door it will open.”

And just like that, he used his bunch of keys from his experience with performing arts to unlock doors whenever he worked on a commercial project. Recalling the product launch for Motorola pagers his company (then called Encompass) worked on in 1997, Roshan narrates:

“For the launch party, I took inspiration from the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek and how their doors would open after putting their IDs in front of scanners. This was a time when no touch screens or scanners of this sort existed. I said that the pagers are going to help open the doors, and everyone was apprehensive. Using sheer theatre, we had a person sit hidden inside our makeshift door frame and open the door whenever a guest put their pager in front of the prop scanner. It was a pure suspension of belief and something that I learnt from my days of theatre.”

Along with this bursting-at-the-seams creativity, he has also learnt discipline from the theatre. The simple act of ‘showing up’ is a sign of commitment and determination, even if it’s for an eight-hour rehearsal where you only have two dialogues. And when you show up, spend time with a theatre crew and see a production being pieced together, you inevitably learn the importance of every single person involved — from the lighting dada to the director. This acquired appreciation for all people has helped Roshan become an empathetic leader. “Whether you’re a hotshot actor or a crew dancer, you’re equally important to me,” he says. By the end of it, Roshan seems to have immense respect for anyone who sticks to their art to make it work — “Don’t be a hobbyist and do ‘chance pe dance’. Invest time and keep at it, returns will follow.”

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

003: A Suitable Designer: Ahlawat Gunjan on the Intricacy of Designing a Book Cover, the Informed Application of Design and His Love for Publishing

⌛ 5 MINUTES

Book designer, image-maker and a struggling pianist, Ahlawat Gunjan is a multifaceted individual and currently at the helm of Penguin Random House, India as the Creative Head. Initially an engineer in the making, a young Ahlawat soon realised his love for working in publishing — and hasn’t looked back since.

Finding His Way Home: The Making of a Book Designer

Ahlawat found the right channel for his artistic abilities with the help of a letter to the prestigious National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, requesting a prospectus. After what he calls “an eye-opening experience” learning about the world of design and recognising his flair for visuals, he decided to pursue graphic design. A four-year undergraduate course and a few internships later, he accidentally found himself working at Dorling Kindersley (well-known publishers of gorgeously illustrated books), then at Penguin Books India and and finally pursuing his master’s degree from the Glasgow School of Art. Ahlawat went on to work at Lars Muller and Faber & Faber, London, before returning to Penguin, which he calls a homecoming.

Hard at Work: Responsibilities as a Creative Head

Ahlawat begins his role after receiving cover briefs from the commissioning editors along with important highlights to assist in the cover design process. Depending upon the different skills and strengths of his team members, he then allocates the cover briefs to the designers. The result of this process is a set of 4-5 cover design options, created over a month of hard work and discussed in detail at ‘jacket meetings’, where sales, marketing and editorial departments offer their critical feedback. He believes that one cannot design in isolation, as it's a collaborative and iterative process.

Ahlawat shares that at times, he likes to take the Design team for bookstore visits and quietly place cover designs around to observe how the customers interact with them. It’s his way of engaging in field tests and gathering feedback from the people the books are ultimately meant for. He says that there are certain briefs he keeps for himself because along with his diverse role as Creative Head, he loves the opportunity to engage in some hands-on work.

In Moong Over Microchip by Venkat Iyer, Ahlawat has cleverly married the digital aspect of the author’s life (portrayed through a keyboard) to the more organic aspect of his life (as shown by the paddy fields) in a manner which makes it both unmissable and a memorable visual in its own right.

Mastering the Ingredients to an Ever-changing Recipe

While designing a cover, Ahlawat believes in following two fundamental consistencies amongst all his projects – strength and clarity. Strength defines how evocative and impactful the imagery is and clarity expresses how well it’s able to communicate the message to the readers. Readers come from different backgrounds and it’s important for each reader to be able to mingle with the story, leaving those differences behind. Ahlawat says there is no particular recipe for building a good cover. The ingredients (majorly typography and imagery) going into each design differ highly depending on the genre of the book – the spirit of a cookbook is different from that of a children’s book and the personality of a business book will be different from that of poetry. As a trained designer, he strongly believes in the act of designing and not decorating. The fine line of distinction between design and decoration is that design consists of making intelligent and informed choices about each aspect, from fonts to textures, while decoration is simply “using a fancy font because it looks fancy”.

Materiality plays a big role in Ahlawat’s designs, and Vandana Singh Lal’s novel “So All Is Peace” serves as a fine example. After reading the manuscript, he got laser-cut wooden letters, created a pool of cement at home and buried the letters in it to recreate a stunning visual from the story for the cover.

Ahlawat Gunjan: An Image-maker 

Ahlawat believes in the soulful, iterative process of creating an image from scratch for almost all of his book covers. It is immensely satisfying for his creative persona to get his head, heart and hands in a sort of creative alignment. His curiosity and the manner in which he actively absorbs his surroundings give him the edge to constantly create meaningful and iconic designs.

“I’m a designer who believes in materiality, and naturally I love working with materials. Inspiration can come from anywhere and if you’re not informed, you won’t be able to play with the materials around you and ultimately will not be able to create unusual visuals.”

Education from a good design school, sensitivity towards everything around him and his knowledge of art history, space and structure all come together to create the image-maker.

Judging a Book by Its Cover

When asked about his opinions on the role covers play in sales, Ahlawat passionately describes the thought process of an average reader browsing in a bookstore —

“There are shelves upon shelves of books in front of you and there is little to no chance that you will pick up each book to find out more about it. It’s the cover that makes the initial impact. Amidst that sea of books, there will be one that will stand out with such great strength and speak to you with such clarity that you can’t help but pick up the book, read the blurb at the back and maybe a few initial pages. By this point, half the decision-making has already happened in the buyer’s head. Readers are so fascinated by every step in the journey of reading a book, that even the finest details like how the book feels in your hands and how successful the cover is in transporting you to the world contained in the pages play a huge role.”

What about the impact of the increasing popularity of e-readers and mobile reading apps? Ahlawat confidently answers that after their initial introduction around 2009, it only took the world a few years to realise the importance of printed books and brick-and-mortar stores bounced back deftly. In terms of cover design, an e-book does entail small changes in the proportions of the typography but is ultimately not that different.

Talking about what it takes to design covers for books, Ahlawat says, “the first and foremost requisite for entering this field is a passion for reading.” Authors hand over their years of hard work to the designers and it’s the designers’ responsibility to feel the story, read the underlying messages between sentences and bring it all together to create a cover that’s reflective of the author’s vision. They need to play with different elements of design to create a cover that gives a glimpse into the story.

At the same time, however, designers need to be conscious about the waste they’re creating in this process through the use of post-press effects that use chemical-based inks. “It’s our job to be mindful about these things during the design process.”

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

002: Coming Full Circle: Divya Saini on Founding Bodements, Leaving Linear Fashion Behind and Discovering Personal Style

⌛ 4 MINUTES

When Divya Saini set out on a solo backpacking trip across Europe in 2015, little did she know what she’d be coming back with. The entrepreneur and fashion-enthusiast talks about how she ended up bringing home a 30 kg suitcase filled with vintage clothes — and the culture of pre-loved buying that eventually led her to establish what we now know as Bodements.

Travelling and Making Discoveries

Back in India, she started wearing the clothes she had brought back to places and posting photographs on Instagram. Flooded with ‘where’s that from?’s, the realisation dawned upon her; there was a demand for vintage clothing in India. Saini called up some model friends, packed bags and took off for Alibaug where she shot Bodements’ launch campaign.

Within four days of the Instagram launch, Grazia had called her up for an interview and another week later, she was interviewed by Vogue. Bodements went from being an Instagram store to an e-commerce platform and had a flagship store in the works before Miss Rona hit the town.

Striking the Balance: Trends and Personal Style

When asked about her take on trends, Divya calls them cyclic. “It has all already existed,” she says. Designers across the world are turning to their archives (and those of other designers) to seek inspiration as fashion has reached a point of saturation. It’s this combination of inspiration and curation that is carefully imbibed into the concept of trends.

Divya has personally collected an assortment of pieces over the years that can be worn while effortlessly keeping up with any current trend. For inspiration? She looks to movies, travel and history. Watching movies with well-researched costume designs like Sabrina and Portrait of a Lady On Fire, travelling through unfamiliar cities to soak their culture and reading books like Fashion Designers A-Z — these have all had a strong influence on Divya’s sartorial journey. Bodements’ collections are a reflection of her personal style and she uses the same three words to define both — timeless, funky and elegant.

How to find one’s personal style? “There are no guidelines for discovering it. It’s a natural progression that comes at its own pace as people learn more about themselves.”

Approaching the Indian Market 

Being in the business of trust, authenticity and quality are non- negotiable for Bodements. How do you know which vintage clothes are authentic? Each piece of clothing speaks for itself and inauthenticity can be given away by a tag, wrong stitching, lining or even the fabric. Divya says, “I think compared to all the vintage shops all over the world, we’re quite well-priced when it comes to luxury vintage.” Early on in her journey, she established the culture of maintaining a standard of curation while keeping the prices accessible. The current popularity of a particular style, the quality of the fabric and other factors including the cost of disinfection, shipping, dry cleaning and packaging are all added up to establish the price of each piece.

Divya believes that fashion doesn’t need to be in a linear format, and her brand is constantly educating their customers to adopt a circular economy approach to fashion. At Bodements, their commitment to maximising the life-span of a garment before it ends up in a landfill reflects in its ongoing curation of a collection made entirely with old sarees, sourced from all over the country and created for both men and women.

The Journey Towards Sustainability

Fast fashion has made the fashion industry the second largest pollutant in the world. The need to develop a more conscious approach through redesign and to outgrow mindless consumption patterns is more pressing than ever before. Brands need to evaluate whether they promote a circular economy, match the humanitarian cost of creating a garment, create less waste and build transparency. Divya thinks, “It’s just a matter of us making a change as consumers.” This change can be brought about by embracing a minimalistic and mindful approach to consumption.

Despite being a business, one of the core values that Bodements established early on was to encourage its customers to buy less. How will the ongoing crisis impact vintage fashion? Bodements’ process of acquiring and disinfecting vintage clothes is already established in a manner that leaves no cause for concern amongst the consumers even at a time when hygiene standards have come under scrutiny.

“When people come out of this lockdown, something in their perspective will have shifted; they will be more self-aware of their choices towards the world and themselves in terms of their lifestyle and consumption,” Divya hopes. “This is going to be great for not only vintage fashion but for all forms of sustainable fashion.”

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!

001: Miya Suryakant and Biwi Surabhi Behind Miya Biwi Films on Their Partnership, Beauty in the Ordinary, and a Rich Mental Diet

⌛ 5 MINUTES

“We didn’t have a choice, we live together,” says Surabhi Tandon, one half of Miya Biwi Films, when asked about how it started. It can be said that everything that makes them compatible as a couple contributed to the birth of this creative partnership. To their team, Surabhi brings the ability to find stories in real life, while Suryakant plays with small elements and weaves a story around them with his imagination. Together, they create a medley of the two and the result is something truly remarkable.

Similarities and Crossovers: The Right Foundation

Surabhi comes from a journalistic background and has 8 years of experience working as a documentary artist with news channels in different parts of Europe. Her (and Miya Biwi’s) other half, Suryakant Sawhney, adds a melodic touch — having fronted Peter Cat Recording Co., one of India’s most experimental jazz outfits, as well as his solo electronic project ‘Lifafa’. Their harmonious aesthetics and the varying perspectives between them come together to make this partnership work.

Look at Everything as a Thing of Beauty

Talking about their creative process, Surabhi says that she’s learnt from Suryakant to train her brain to always be receptive to ideas — “Dreaming, drinking coffee, being at a party (even if it’s your own wedding), the ideas need not stop swirling.” Suryakant believes an artist should never aim for complete surrealism — it comes across as ignorance towards one’s surroundings. They should make all aspects of the environment — natural, social or cultural — a part of their process by engaging with them. The radar must never be switched off. When ideas evolve from simple, realistic roots, it becomes easier to understand and appreciate the end product. Doesn’t that reach a saturation point? Suryakant offers a contrasting view, saying that people only run into creative blocks when they sit down to force an idea without inspiration handily tucked away in some corner of their brain. He believes in building a bank of ideas while going through daily life and parking them for future use. “There’s no creative block unless you stop being creative,” he says.

They have embraced the Indian mentality of jugaad — creating something beautiful despite the lack of superior resources. They believe in this method to the extent that Suryakant says his favourite kind of idea to execute is one that requires the least resources but still packs a punch.

After going through the wedding footage shot by friend and renowned filmmaker Sachin Pillai, Suryakant saw the perfect opportunity for a fun and memorable music video for his band’s new album Bismillah. When Surabhi brought up the privacy of the wedding, a justification along the lines of, “Babe, you’re married to me, from now on everything is art,” seemed to suffice.

Getting the Bread: Approach to Commercial Projects

Suryakant’s vast skill-set in the field of music and Surabhi’s training as a video journalist have made them “self-sufficient units”. This has made it possible for them to follow their impulses while working on projects, often assuming a guerilla or war journalism approach. It also gives them the flexibility to cater to different clients in different ways — some with set briefs and others with relatively more creative freedom. “As an artist, however, it is always more fun and exciting to work on projects where you have the license to create something of your own without having to fit into someone else’s aesthetic.” This is an important aspect of commercial work because it helps one bring their vision to life instead of just filling blank spaces. Like any good partnership, Miya Biwi works on give and take; Surabhi contributes to Suryakant’s perspective with her understanding of rhythm as a dancer and provides a societal context to his wild imagination.

Seeing as most of their commercial work has been with fashion and beauty houses, the question stands — does this industry offer more scope for creative exploration? To a certain degree, yes, as the extent of experimentation with clothes is wider than with any other product. However, the duo says that the pattern of their favourite projects having been with fashion houses is entirely a coincidence. While working on their campaign for Forest Essentials, the basic premise was handed to them by Mira Kulkarni, founder and boss lady. But even then, Miya Biwi had their work cut out for them. The central focus was the careful, gentle manufacturing processes of some of their major products and the medium was the voice of the workers. Extensive background work to understand the steps and ingredients was followed by complementary set design, storylines and music. “There are so many little details to layer in, from deciding which steps to include and who could play the part well to making sure the significance of every stage shines through.” The result was a collection of short videos that used simplicity combined with insightful direction, powerful cinematography and calming Indian classical music as a tool to highlight the brand’s core value — the use of premium natural materials to produce high-quality personal care products by hand.

If there is a piece of work that perfectly exemplifies Miya Biwi’s style and approach, it’s this video of two dogs playing around on a beach in Goa. Shot entirely on an iPhone, this video draws power from it’s simple yet impactful root — finding love in the ordinary.

What You Feed Your Brain Is What It Gives Out

What sets the work of Miya Biwi apart is the subtlety and sensitivity with which they approach their films. They take pride in the fact that they have been exposed to several different cultures, which has shaped them as artists and reflects in their work. Suryakant feels the Indian filmmaking industry has a lot to learn from other parts of the world, not in terms of themes and ideas but the way films are built. He hopes that the internet will help bring this change. “It seems that the education system of our country works almost counterproductively in this sense — putting a lid on people trying to be creative. This has led to a dearth of originality in the content being put out. Often work from the past or a film that did well in the west is rehashed.” It is, however, undeniable that content creators are evolving and increasingly exploring ideas that grow from nothing. Anurag Kashyap and Zoya Akhtar are, according to Surabhi, at the forefront of this change and pushing the creative boundaries of Indian entertainment. New-age web series and creators like Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Levinson are helping bring a change all over the world. The duo is looking to make more documentaries and music videos in the future but is wary of the fact that the current documentary culture in our country isn’t very strong. Big fans of David Lynch, they strongly believe that the quality of content you consume deeply impacts the quality of content you produce.

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!