In Mercedes-Benz – April 2012

Thank you to Purva Grover for the write up in the April 2012 issue of the  Mercedes-Benz magazine.

These is what the interview was about…

1.  Borrowing elements from everyday life for inspiration. When and how did this become a part of the Indian inspiration board?

I think using everyday life has always been part of the inspiration board. Whether it is tele-serials or even everyday kitschy objects in side streets, it is indeed everyday elements that find favour for inspiration. The difference today, is that it has become more main stream and more refined in it’s application. Now it is no longer limited to ‘popular culture’.

It was a chance trip into the bylanes of Russel Market here in Bangalore, that I thought of painting on non traditional surfaces. My love of Rajasthan and it’s colours then translated into more popular design and graphic choices for me. And my subject matter was, and is my life and it’s experiences. All of this put together made a new design/ graphic style for me. I do not like to term it kitsch, because strictly speaking, it is not that at all. However, because it draws inspiration from popular culture, and uses more saturated colour, that the press chooses to give it that soubriquet.

3. List your favorite inspiration items/ideas.

My life. I come from an Indian Air force background, am a product of a mixed marriage, have traveled the length and breath of this nation, studied it’s history on both grad and post grad levels, all that is enough fodder for inspiration. Add to that mix, a day job as an information architect and a marriage to an architect who did user experience design for many years before switching to video streaming full time. My constant travel in autos before buying a Reva last year meant that the humble auto rickshaw took on greater significance than just another form of Indian public transport. So in all honesty I can’t really point out any specific inspiration item or even idea 🙂