While the Black Lives Matter movement gains momentum on one side of the world and a huge social media uproar, criticising a popular skinlightening brand for reinstating racism and colourism builds on the other, a child at a school in one corner of the globe is still being ostracised and bullied for their skin colour. A few years ago, twenty-something-old Vaishali Srinivasan was also at the receiving end of bullying by boisterous schoolmates in Bengaluru.
“I was darker than the rest of the class and was often bullied for it. This continued for a few years and when I stepped into high school, the bullying became so toxic that after a point I became quiet, used to feel perpetually low and even turned listless towards doing what I loved the most — art, and became uninterested in academics,” bitterly recalls the illustrator and graphic designer.
Vaishali gazed into an almost hopeless future without a direction, wanting to do nothing but power through into a life that would offer her a new beginning, a fresh start. “I was sure that I didn’t want to pursue engineering or medicine but I didn’t know what else to do. I was withdrawn, didn’t perform well in exams either. Art was not in the picture as I had stopped drawing.
I had hit a roadblock,” she recounts. But timely guidance and intervention by a career counsellor gave her the much-needed direction — to take a leap and do what she loved, to chase her happiness. “I was suddenly presented with a different choice and an opportunity to take up architecture, to bring about a change in my life.
Without too much contemplation, I dove into it. I am glad I did. Soon after, art, colours, aesthetics and, most importantly, peace slowly oozed into my life, again. Until then, I didn’t realise how long it had been since I wielded a pen or a paintbrush in my hand, or since I felt validated,” says the architect, who graduated from School of Architecture, Hosur, in 2017.
“I moved from Bengaluru to Hosur to step away from all that I had gone through. I felt like I needed a change and college life offered me just that and perhaps more. I found my calling,” she tells us. “I have to admit that I didn’t know what I was getting into. So one of the first things I did after I joined college was to go to the library and learn as much as possible about the craft,” she shares, adding that the exposure enabled her to draw inspiration from the works of self-taught architect Tadao Ando, and Geoffrey Bawa.
Soaring high
In 2018, when Vaishali decided to move to Chennai in search of a job, she was posed with a different set of challenges. Working within the contours of conventional architecture and confined to a monotonous desk job in a creative field were a few of them. “Despite the bumps, I kept going. While I held on to my conventional job for sustenance, other work that I enjoyed came in the form of small design projects — logos, invitations, menu cards…
I remember my first paid project. I got the opportunity to design a Christmas menu card for The Brew Room. It felt amazing! Soon after, other opportunities came my way. Nikhil Joseph of The Postbox approached me to design a bunch of logos and Sriram of Nalandaway asked me to design the logo for the Youth Summit, the stage, placement layout and design other communication collaterals for the event. These were some of my most significant initial projects which defined my journey.
For someone who was new to the city and constantly in the lookout for opportunities, these two gave me a big break,” she shares. In January 2019, the illustrator decided to quit her job and set up her own multidisciplinary design studio, 85isto15, and has been taking up projects with varied requirements. While some are focused on branding and rebranding, some concentrate on the architectural elements. “The name I gave for my venture by itself is very versatile. I wanted my studio to explore different mediums of communication. I envisioned it and have been shaping it one project, one illustration and design at a time,” details the entrepreneur, who is currently working on developing her furniture line.
Mission makeover
With the lockdown pressing pause on several businesses, a plethora of companies who had put a pin on giving their products a new image have now jumped onto the rebranding bandwagon, making her work harder than ever. “It’s a good thing. I have received the most number of queries in the last two months. It has kept me busy. Having said that, finding inspiration during quarantine as a creative has been hard. I need that division between work and home, which doesn’t exist now.
So adapting to this has been a challenge,” she says. For the last two years, Vaishali has been treading on the path of independence and finding her feet in a new city while dabbling with equal parts of design, art and architecture. “Not working under someone gives you the space to do what you have in mind. The onus is on me and I am accountable for my decisions. It’s tough, a challenge but I’ve been loving every bit of it. I wake up every day, ready to take on new challenges,” she shares.
Vaishali dreams of inspiring more women to start their own ventures. “I am perhaps the first person in my family to branch out and start my own business. A woman being the ‘in charge’ has to be normalised. My journey has had its ups and downs and I am still processing the different facets of entrepreneurship. But I have chosen my happiness over everything else,” she says. For details, visit Instagram page: 85isto15