A gift of love I received today...

Recently when I needed to redesign The Collective Studio  logo and stationery I could think of no better person to ask than our daughter-in-law Samera Khan. With a professional career that has seen her working internationally in advertising for almost a decade, and as an associate creative director for OgilvyOne Worldwide in the recent past, her sense of design is something I greatly admire. 

It has always been difficult for me to describe what The Collective Studio Baroda is to people. In many ways it completely defies description, and my own role within it is even more difficult to put into words. Perhaps because it is a space that addresses many different needs and adapts itself continuously to evolve to what the various situation we address can benefit from through education, interventional strategies, financial support, curatorial endeavours  and collective co-existence, that I have always struggled to articulate its core essence when asked about its function and purpose..

So when Samera and I spoke about the design brief, I put the ball in her court giving her carte blanche to figure out what would be more appropriate than the existing in-house designed stationary that needed revamping. The professional that she is, she addressed this job with putting a personal brief together herself to view me as "the client". Besides delighting in this as a wonderful methodology to approach work as a general rule, what perhaps deeply impressed me, and what I view as a great gift to receive, was how she perceived The Collective Studio Baroda. And so I thought it fitting to share an extract of her letter to me through my blog.

In the e-letter that accompanied her design layouts she wrote this to me:

Dearest Mum,

I've worked on the logo and stationary as per our discussions. 

Logo: The logo is representative of you and The Collective Studio.

The colours, orange and red, are inspired from you and your surroundings.

Red:  Vigour,willpower, leadership,courage,energy, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire and love.  

Orange: Enthusiasm, Fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.

If looked at with a simplification, the "C" in the design (which is orange) is you and the circle around (which is red), is art and the artists of the collective. Normally an artist would encompass and in a way control the growth of the younger artists, but I feel, you surround yourself with them and help them to grow into the beautiful world of art. You, being the centre of The Collective, ensure that each part of the collective is bigger than you and is infinitely growing into a circle of education and love.

Thank you Samera for underlining the heart of the matter so beautifully.