Panchayat meets to address the elephant in the room.

Panchayat assembly

Viakerala Studio witnessed a mass assembly of gundoo elephants. Inspired by the high decibel campaigning, they also decided to have a little meeting of their own. As it posed no threat of civil unrest, the meeting was allowed to proceed in peace. Some of them have even volunteered to guard the poll booths during elections. Here are the particulars:

caught on camera during a trunk fight

Dominated by the yellow elephant herd, they worked a secular decision to solve colour discrimination amongst themselves by adding a, neutral, checkered jumbo to the group!! These mammals sure prefer their harmony. A trunking coincided with vandalism of Viakerala bags, both the culprits were caught on camera and were convicted with 50 hours on display service. The cause of the fight still remains unknown.
The panchayat is also getting ready for the coming season, even though they need more numbers, they are sticking with handmade production line.

at the after party

At the after party, Gundoo elephants were seen celebrating the success of initial four years of their 1st five year plan.

report by: Blessy John (really not a journalist type designer)
photo by: Usha P. (budding photographer)

Welcome, Karkidada Maasam!

Day 1 of Karkidaka Maasam : 

It is the fourth month of lunar calendar – Cancer a.k.a Karkidaka in malayalam. Doted with plentiful rains, this month is about self-reflections and restrain. (that’s how the tradition goes)

New Malayalam 'Kerala' t-shirt

The monsoons flourish the great back-waters and people alike, also the tiny micro-organisms. Strictly, the way we see it, the advised ‘healthy-leafy-diet’ for this month is a science of fighting the ill-effects (one of  the very few) of monsoons. 

Diet and meditate = cleanse and total rejuvenation. 

When in Kerala, try the Malayalee way.

The Hindu has more to say..  read it here

Happy Monsoons to all!!

Also, Eid Mubarak!! these are some happy co-incidences.

P.s. The New Malayalam Kerala t-shirts are available in stores at Thekkady, Mattanchery and Fort Kochi Or shop online here, www.viakerala.com

MALAYALAM PROJECT @ Viakerala Design Shop

MALAYALAM PROJECT is our favourite new pastime. As designers working in the medium of malayalam (language / letterform / landscape) this is an exhibit thats worthy of our time and research. It will show during the Kochi Muziris Beinnale 2014 - 2015 at the new Viakerala Design Shop Space at 292 B, Lily Street, Fort Kochi.

Come and visit!

#viakerala #shopviakerala #malayalam #typography #malayalamprojec

Bell tower of historic Kochi

Built over hundreds of years, the streets of Mattancherry offer significant insights into the addition of Malabari Jew's architecture. The Jewish synagogue, is an iconic visual metaphor for the historic trading center of Kochi. The main synagogue building dates back to the 16th century - the newer structures grew around it and so did the visitors from all across the world. Some came and never left.

Illustrated pencil sketch - Ar. Blessy John

Along with the 18^th century clock tower at the Paradesi Synagogue, the pigeons resting on top and the electric lines cutting across have all duly found their place on this pencil sketch. The journal style of pencil illustrations to convey the timelessness of architectural influences that you experience all over the old Cochin area. 

The illustration was silk screen printed on canvas fabric, which was then stitched into a shoulder bag. Beautifully handcrafted, light and user-friendly, this piece lets you carry along the memory of historic Kochi.

SankaranKutty

First in the classic malayalam movie inspired typography series, this rendition explores various facets of Malayalam as a language and its quirkiness.

the negative (silk screen)

 Ee Sankarankuttiku penu venam, is literally translated as: this Sankarankutty wants a girl. It is also a very common phenomenon in Kerala (and India) that parents are really worried if their son or daughter will settled down! So here's a tongue-in-cheek wearable placard that's perfect for the boys.

the process of screen printing takes two sets of hands for large sizes

Now this may stand true for any guy living anywhere is the world, what identifies our guy as a mallu, is his name Sankaran!. Derived from mythological name Shankar, a fairly common name on this subcontinent, the added Sankar..an stamps it typical Kerala.

the brave mallu man!

And then there is kutty.. it is a common suffix, used mostly as a term of endearment (a child is called kutty) but it often ends up becoming a term in one's official name; be it male, female, Hindu/Christian/Muslim.... someone with kutty as part of their name is definitely from Kerala! We even have persons called Babykutty - which translates baby baby!

Silk screen printed on 100% cotton t-shirts, they are meant for.. well, everybody!
Limited edition. Available in stores now.

earth&fire made magnets

Up-cycling the handmade produce from Kerala, we initiated terra-cotta works as Kaithozhil*, hand sculpted & fired earth magnets. 
Following the same thread of idea we are introducing, hand sculpted ceramic magnets. Celebrating the idea of travel and freedom, be it on foot, ubiquitous rickshaws or soaring high in sky, with these little mementos.

Both terra-cotta and ceramic magnets are crafted in similar fashion, made of fired earth even the process almost remains the same. Its the minor changes in temperature, water content, curing etc that brings out such dramatic differences in both these products. And because of certain qualities of ceramic it makes them suitable for glazing. Glaze is a coating fused to a ceramic object to make it non-porous, though it also finds its uses in many other decorative ways. 

 They are available in 3 lively hues. You can pick them up from our Cochin and Thekkady stores.

*hand crafted

Silk-Screen Printing

Screen printing has been around for quite a few centuries and even to this day is a widely used practice. Almost anything that can be flattened, can be screen printed. Be it paper, cloth, canvas, wood, metal....

This process is more or less on the lines of developing photographs from a negative. The film is transferred on to a silk cloth, and this cloth becomes the screen (negative) over which colors are spread and printed on to the chosen material.
Hence the term, Silk Screened!

Simple enough, yes!?

Well, it definitely sounds so, BUT imagine when there are multiple prints, here

-every sheet of paper/t-shirts needs to be cut or folded to the same size
-placed correctly under the screen
-every batch of the color mixed (there is ink, solvent) and tested to achieve if not exactly the same, but closest to the desired color.
-the pressure with which the color is spread should be consistent or else color density on the print wouldn't remain the same. If its a big print, like in case of our t-shirts, more than one set of hands maybe required.

All these for a single screen, which prints one color at a time. And now repeat all the above for the second color given to the artwork, and so on.. And with each added screen, alignment or 'registration' as its called in print terminology, gets trickier.

The beauty of this whole process lies in its simplicity. It is easy enough to be set-up within a small space and yet is labour intensive, maybe that's why screen printing makes for a perfect small scale industry. Photos are taken in Johnson's living room at home which doubles up as a silk screen room.

Happy New Year Thoughts from Viakerala

Viakerala is thinking happy thoughts and with these we made a wish board for 2014.

My dear, hai, thanks for you, mega star, jolly, living, famiy, brothers, comrade, cool, king, step ahead, holiday, company, light, yathra - journey, amazing, friends, magic, years, more, cake, new gift, change, trust, local design, jivikum - will live, vijayapikum - will win.

Thank you for your support.

Let's rush Your Highness!

"..let's keep the fancy china for something special, like if the Queen of England comes over" - Monica Geller in Friends. With Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla in town it was no less of a celebration. I was brimming with excitement and not just us, the whole Jew town went Monica about it.

Oh! All the Preps.

And then, the checks

Traffic diverted from the last minute tarred road. Walkie-talkie buzzing Kerala Police checks through out the morning. Bomb detectors. Canines squad. You name it.

Still nothing could dampen the perfect day for me, with Viakerala all decked up he wasn't going to miss us. But my heart sank as I saw the entourage approach, tightly packed in between Scotland Yard protection, who in turn were surrounded by a couple dozen Kerala police and High Commission officials acting as the crowd control, and never mind the harmless paparazzi both local and Royal.
Surely when he stepped up the passage, he read the birthday greetings we'd put up for him. But what could be done with the uptight escorts who ushered him through the corridor at lighting speed? I only had to wait for the right moment to break into the circle. I waved a hi holding the gifts we had wrapped for him in the Viakerala bag and guess what, he recognized me!! giving me a handshake he said, " ..Oh! we'd stopped by". Of course, he couldn't accept the gifts because of security reasons.

Only later I learned that his shopping had been done a couple days in advance, which also coincided with the crazy spike in sales we had this week. I am preparing a list from the sales report of Viakerala, let's see what all reached kutty George Alexander at Buckingham Palace. Yay!!

Sneak a peek!

So where have we been so long? Ah well, just been a little busy setting up our new store, Yes in Fort Kochi!! We know the wait has been long, trust me its been longer for us, and we are super excited about this new (ad)venture. 

P.S. :)

We are almost done, a few lights here, a couple posters there, finishing touches to the sticker-ing etc. etc.  just about all that remains on the check list before we officially launch the Viakerala store this Diwali.
Come take a look at the making of a design shop at Ethnic Passage, Jew town.

Jenn & her elefriends tale

A little oondu & a little gundu

A playful & minimalist take on our elephant; hand crafted with locally sourced handloom cotton is one of our all time favourites at Viakerala. They are available in different textures and colours, though with every new batch slight variations in colour are inevitable.

Who says soft, chubby, round elephants are only for kids!? 

Lovely Jenn & her herd.

Sometimes, like how it happened with Jenn, it gets hard to be without them. On one of her visits to India, she carried along with her a bunch of Viakerala elephants who lost their way on the flight back to Canada. This time around, we made sure she was reunited with her herd of elefriends who flew all the way from Cochin to meet her at Delhi.

She sends her regards with Toompa (Red), Ramu (Blue), Deepthi (yellow) and Uma (green), as she lovingly calls them.

Size does matter!

The Godzillas of work for our artists have been the tiniest of the lot.
The invertebrates. 
For one, its next to impossible of get a real life study and second, a single photograph is difficult to get them right. To get a realistic illustration of any species, especially insects require going through multiple images and watching videos to understand their physiology, explains our artist Usha. After finalizing the image, comes the play of light and shade, and on a colourful insect it is trickier owing to their body texture. Most emphasis is on getting the shimmer on the them right, for which a lot of techniques are applied. Manipulating the strokes of pencil colour from extremely soft on highlights to pressured on the depths, and so on.

Along with invertebrates are series of illustrated mammals, birds and amphibians translated into a set of collectible playing cards that have a definitive collection of the fauna of the Western Ghats.

These cards are available for sale in Viakerala Thekkady, Viakerala Cochin, NCF Valparai & Periyar Tiger Reserve Bookshop, Thekkady.

Lizard, lizard on the wall!

They may not be your best of friends but they are for sure, the ubiquitous listeners on the wall. In a traveler they induce concern and for most Malayalees there is at least one childhood story associated with them. Now, no matter what your perspective is, they definitely make the list of creatures-most-seen-in-Kerala!

Understanding these sentiments clearly, we designed and produced these simple looking household geckos. Fear not! because they are neither slimy nor do they fall on your shoulders, they sit quietly; listening.  

Other designs available at our stores are the well-rounded elephants, the wise owl, and as always, majestic hornbills; crafted with terra-cotta (fired-earth), these magnets add quirk to your metal surfaces. 

Night Prowler!

Once upon a time in India... oh wait! nowadays we don't scare-off children with tiger stories. We have reinvented the tiger into the friendly prowler, protector of the nights, playmate for the day. At least that is what Tulasi feels about her hugsy buddy. The child in you would want one too. 

These pillow tigers are handcrafted by a self-help women's organization in Cochin. They use applique embroidery and hand-loomed cotton fabric in two colours to highlight the tiger strips.
These kutti pillow tigers are available at the Viakerala store, Thekkady and also at the Cochin Studio outlet. 

The Wild Side.

The Western ghats, one of the worlds richest hotspots for biodiversity, need a wee bit more awareness amongst people. Nilgiri and Anaimalai Hills, the end stretch of Western ghats separates Kerala from Tamil Nadu, giving Kerala its liberal rainfall. These highlands are host to a number of Wildlife Sanctuaries, Jungle Reserves, conserving many endangered and endemic species. 

A modest gesture to familiarize you with the Western ghat wildlife, we hand rendered in pencil colour illustrations, the standard set of 52 playing cards. They are divided in four suits of Mammals, Birds, Invertebrates and Amphibians. The most spectacular of the species being awarded the highest value cards and so forth. Each card carries the name of the species in English and the native Malayalam.

Grab a pack of custom illustrated playing cards at:
viaKerala Thekkady store, 
viaKerala Cochin store,
also available at Ananmalai Nature Information Centre, ANIC
and Last Forest, Kotagiri.

Reversed norms

The multitudes of checks and colours one see floating on native shoulders when traveling these parts, that's a sight which sticks to mind as an essential local couture. 

Upscaling the 100% cotton handloom fabric, traditionally used to drape women in sarees and sometimes men in mundu, we try to gently bridge the gap between traditional & modern and start something new. The reversible, reusable, conveniently foldable bag, is something fun you could carry to work or a weekend shopping. Start your day with bold checks or peppy colours, carry a bit of Kerala upon your shoulders. 

Visual Metaphors

Fort Cochin: Architecture

The start to understand the spice market left us standing at its doors with a camera.

Architecture spoke and we listened to the eased persuasions of the changing hands, from the star of David to Islamic arches, from Roman kuruss (cross) to Dutch siblings. 

Weathered textures revealed the layers of absorbed cultures.  And at heart the Spice market, which always remained the Malabar port, has welcomed the world which traveled to its shores.

The jungle giants

The giants of Periyar, their life and ways is brought to life with more design in playful colours, few words and more talk. In a wall hung poster, which also could be pulled out into 6 separate posters, we talk about human idiosyncrasies paralleled in traits of a tiger and an elephant. 
Read out to know which is your favourite, the lazy wildcat or the intelligent ele.

Whether weathered or simply local?

The weathered textures of hand painted walls are but humble submissions to the gods of this country, who run their democracy with rain. Drawing inspiration from local graffiti, fused with in-vogue design and cuts, is born a sturdy-canvas bag thats ready to travel any weather, any distance.

This limited edition canvas bag makes for a perfect 'namaskaram' to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, starting tomorrow. 100% cotton canvas bag silk screened with authentic, rugged, picked-off the-street local malayalam lettering in sun bleached earthy colors. 

To make a purchase, call our Kochi studio outlet 0484 4012392, or drop in anytime between 9:30 am - 5: 30 pm. We're located at #102, canal road, girinagar, cochin-20.

Fuchsia Avatar

Viakerala introduces a trendy fuchsia melange tshirt in the Flying Elephant series.
Designed for a feminine fit;this one makes for a cool classic.


Crested with the flying elephant, and made in 100% cotton, these second skins are available in all sizes exclusively for women.