VSP Vision is a US based company with multiple products and services all within the optical industry. Last year they commissioned an artwork to usher in their new brand and celebrate the culture at VSP that is supportive, fun, and one that embraces diverse ideas and people. I was asked to letter their tagline ‘See Healthy. Stay Healthy.’ and the brief was to make it bright, joyful and colourful. One of the places the artwork would be used was on a fleet on mobile clinics that go into underserved communities and give free eye exams. The clinics also frequently respond to people in need that are suffering from the effects of natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and forest fires.

Three other large scale artworks were commissioned thereafter as an extension of their brand refresh. All of them followed the VSP colour palette and were to meet the brief of vibrant, engaging and playful.

Client: VSP Vision Care
Creative Director: Robert Kalmbach
Artist Representation: Good Illustration

Marie Curie is a UK based organisation that provides end of life and palliative care to people suffering from terminal illnesses. It is also a huge support to the caregivers or family of people suffering through this ordeal.

I was commissioned by them to create lettering and illustrations for The Great Daffodil Appeal which is their biggest annual fundraising campaign. A small donation can be made to wear a daffodil pin and the money raised goes towards providing free care and support to those who need it.

This project was close to my heart.

Client: Marie Curie
Art Director: Dan Liggins
Artist Representation: Good Illustration

What I’d really like to do is to start a microbrewery that serves good beer, excellent food, that allowes all the street dogs to come inside and plonk themselves wherever they’d like and that has a small bakery attached to it. Given that I don’t know the first thing about beer except that I like drinking it, it seemes pretty untenable and I decided I was better off sticking to making beer labels instead, which frankly, got me as excited :)
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This year I’ve been trying to run more and as someone who’s a serial over thinker, this is when I go into screensaver mode. I started to read about heart rate, technique, cadence, breathing, but I quickly realised that turning this into yet another self improvement project made it a lot less fun. I don’t have to be a runner, I just want to find joy in running. It hit me then, that it was the same with work. I was trying so hard to be better, that I forgot that I actually loved what I did.

After a short break in Bangalore, I realised what I really wanted to do was make things that were more me - things I cared about and made me laugh, enthused me.

I love beer (though I’m absolutely not discerning about what I drink) and the thought of doing beer labels got me super excited :) I started looking up old labels and read words like ‘Brewed in Twickenham’ (adorable) which amused me no end. This was all the whimsy I wanted, the liberty to make stuff up like in a Roald Dahl book.

Kino is our dog (and the centre of our world) so my brewery had to be named after him :)

I’ve worked on this every chance I got, going through lots of iterations and I’ve honestly had the best time! Can’t wait to do another one.

I was commissioned by Amazon Westland Publishing to letter a book cover for Shashi Deshpande's Subversions. I had the lettering embroidered and used that as the cover! The embroidered parts were embossed as well.

Client: Amazon Westland Publishing
Art Director: Saurabh Garge
Embroidery by Dhaara Kumar

I was commissioned to do a lettered and illustrated artwork for Omnicrate, for a BIPOC book subscription box that offers books by Diverse authors and bookish items inspired by the same.

The debut box theme is 'We Do Not Yield' and is inspired by West African Mythology fantasy books.

Client: Omnicrate

A tribute to one of my heroes. This quote by Jane Goodall is more relevant than ever.
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I lettered a quote by Dr. Jane Goodall back in 2018 and wanted to revisit it to see if I’d made progress with my lettering.

My entry for Typism Book 9 - a quote by Picasso that I’ve loved.

I was commissioned by the people at The Plated Project to create a set of three lettered artworks that revolved around popular food themes, for the launch of Tastemade India. The plates were part of a promotional gift set.

Client: Dhruvi Shah, The Plated Project (for Tastemade India)
Copy provided by the client.

A tribute to Queen after watching Bohemian Rhapsody

Lily Pond Bakery specialises in artisan breads, some of which are classics and some with a playful twist of ingredients. We wanted to ensure that the logo stayed true to the ethos and product, encapsulating both these qualities.

The resultant logo combined some classic elements with some playful lettering, while keeping it contemporary and clean. The logo lends itself well to the bakery’s wide variety of packaging and stationery needs.

CLIENT: Lily Pond Bakery, Ahmedabad.

Yesterday the Chandrayaan 3 lander module landed on the South Pole of the moon, making India the first to have ventured there :) It was pretty amazing it have counted down the altitude and then to have witnessed a successful landing!

Big congratulations to everyone ISRO - here’s to passion, persistence and ingenuity.

A profound quote by my dad, Dhun Karkaria, that I chose to letter.

Hope and small joys amidst a pandemic

An artwork to highlight the amazing work done by an organisation called Jivdaya to help animals.

Artwork to raise money for the tragic bushfires that ravaged parts of Australia.

Here are some organisations to donate to -
AUSTRALIA wildfire fund

Wildlife Emergency fund

WWF Bushfire emergency

A little Diwali greeting for 2019

Self initiated

Self initiated

Self initiated

Self initiated

Edible is a passion project combining my love for lettering, food and writing. You can read more about the project here.

Lettered and illustrated one of my favourite quotes by George Carlin

Cards for a Cause was an initiative by Cliq, an Ahmedabad based advertising agency to support non profits during the pandemic. More than 55 artists came together to provide artworks for a deck of cards.

I was asked to make a lettered artwork for the packaging and one that was go behind each of the cards.

Funds from the packs sold were given to charity.

Client: Cliq, Ahmedabad

Sometimes it’s fun to just explore letterforms

Making some ‘me time’

An incomplete 36 Days of Type that used my garden as inspiration.

It’s okay to be afraid.

Lettered for Lauren Hom’s weekly challenge #homwork

A tribute to Sir David Attenborough. I took a shot at redesigning the cover for one of his books called Life on Air

Blown away after a documentary I saw on the Apollo programme, this is a small tribute to Neil Armstrong and all the astronauts of Apollo 11.

A small tribute to the wonderful Harry Belafonte

Self initiated

How could it not? 
For #goodtypetuesday

A couple of years back, as I worked I heard a loud ‘clang’ followed by the cry of a dog. When I heard it again I sprinted out of my house, following the cry until I saw a group of people surrounding the dog. As I tried to cross the road, the man closest to the dog raised a stick right above it to strike. I let out a loud cry saying “nai” (don’t) and ran across the road. Trembling legs and heart literally in my mouth, I realised that the dog had its head stuck in the bars of a metal gate and this man was trying to beat the metal apart to free the dog. Feeling foolish had to wait, because I was just so relieved. 

Everyday we’re met with apathy, if not cruelty or just indifference. Kindness is the little breather that keeps you going :)

Art prints available here.

A little quote by Picasso that inspired me.

Happy New Year!

For Goodtype Tuesday - celebrating the conception of and idea behind Goodtype.

I’ve always been fascinated by stamps and this holiday season I was inspired to do a small series as a countdown to Christmas.
Since making these stamps for so enjoyable, I’m going to expand on the series and turn it into a little passion project, You can view the entire series here.