CHENNAI: As each day passes rapidly, calendars are a reminder for you to pause and plan for a better tomorrow. To motivate you to do so, artists have come up with aesthetically appealing products. Here are a few artistic calendars to make your year look colourful.
Soorya GK
The first product that this self-trained artist from Kerala has designed for sale is a beautiful calendar of her own art. She works with acrylic as well as digital paintings. Soorya says, “The idea behind doing the calendar came to me after a few days of having absolutely no motivation to do any paintings. So I needed to push myself out of procrastination to feel better, thus came the calendar. The basic idea was that it should be unique and must be aesthetically pleasing to a wider audience. And since it’s an art calendar, adding an easel made complete sense to the design. I wanted the paintings included in the calendar to have a sense of nostalgia or finding beauty in the mundane, busy life attached to them, just to remind people to take a moment for themselves in between all the chaos.” Her calendar also comes with reusable, sustainable packaging and a special handwritten note that will definitely brighten up your day.
To order, DM @sooryagk on Instagram
Price: Rs 500+shipping
Manasa RB
Manasa RB, an illustrator from Happycrisps, Bengaluru, presents a desk calendar with boxes to fill in your daily schedule and explore your creative side. The calendar presents a confluence of pastel colours with animated doodles of journaling and stickers of treats. Learning design during Covid through Udemy and YouTube, Manasa started illustrating calendars in 2020, targeting children with communication difficulties. “I’ve tried to mix the cityscape illustrations of autorickshaws and general shops in a cartoonish style with activities promoting self-love and affirmations, especially for kids,” shares Manasa. Preserving the creative spark of children, this calendar prompts young minds to draw and write anything they aspire to do. Being a speech language pathologist, Manasa also observes Disability Awareness Days, apart from all the Indian holidays. “I believe these reminders for Disability Day will not only raise awareness but also teach us to accept them,” she adds.
To order, DM @happycrisps on Instagram
Price: Rs 600+courier charges of Rs 35
Varshini
Varshini has been creating art calendars for the past two years. The self-taught illustrator from Madurai has been pursuing art as a career since 2018 and primarily focuses on digital illustrations. Varshini shares, “I have made four different calendars this year. The calendar, Frames of Love, with 12 filmy and romantic illustrations, is dedicated to movie lovers. There are two Murugan and Krishna daily calendars. The song Konjum mainakkale and the line Konjam aasai, konjam kanavu, ivai illamal vazhkaiya gave me the idea to create a Chinna Chinna Aasai calendar. When it comes to daily calendars, I love tearing off the sheets. However, I always disliked the cardboard frames that came with them. Therefore, I decided to create even sturdier calendars by making laser-cut ones featuring my illustrations,” she shares.
To order, visit varshidoodles.com,
@varshidoodles on Instagram
Price: Rs 649-Rs 699
Abirami DM
This 23-year-old from Chennai has been documenting the arts and crafts of South Indian states since 2022 on her Instagram page @nammastories. For this year’s calendar, her theme is South Indian motifs and embroideries. Every page has one distinct embroidery or motif of a textile design from any of the South Indian states. “If we look into the design, each one tells a different story and reminds us about our roots. Apart from the theme, I also wanted the calendar to be more functional, that is, a place to note down important event dates, to make lists and goals that would help to enable clear ideas, and to complete the tasks on time,” says Abirami.
Price: Rs 299 with additional postal charge (Rs 40 in Chennai) which varies from place to place. All India delivery is available.
To order, DM @nammastories on Instagram
Kiranmayi
Every new year promises a fresh journey. Kiranymayi’s postcard calendar, Payanam, promises to be a steadfast companion, steering you through the next 12 months. “A day dawns and sets, no matter what, our days move forward with a multitude of emotions... I wish this calendar to be a little reassurance to go on with our journey,” says the artist and photographer. While she crafted calendars in 2018 and 2019, this year, she hopes to gently nudge buyers with reassurance that the highs and lows will pass as time ticks on. In this desk calendar, nothing goes to waste. The top portion, corresponding to the date, contains a small space with prompts like ‘how’s life’ and a song that’s been on loop’, to write to-dos or affirmations. The bottom doubles as a postcard, and at the end of the year, there will be 14 cards holding memories of this year’s journey. This could be converted into a card journal, a small book, or postcards. “Producers need to think about the life cycle of the product and be more wary of what it becomes after it serves its purpose,” she adds.
To order, DM @kiranmayi_ on Instagram or at 9677484988
Price: Rs 500+postal charges
Madras Inherited
Designed by the Madras Inherited team in collaboration with Binsan Oommen Baby, the calendar intends to keep the spotlight on the essence of Chennai while ensuring that the sheets are reusable and repurposable. This is their fourth year of launching calendars. Ashmitha Athreya, trustee, head of operations and lead storyteller, Madras Inherited, says, “This year we have changed the design instead of a spiral bound calendar. It is a calendar sheet with a stand that can be reused. This year we’ve focused on signs and signage in the city, with the hope that the photos serve as reminders to pause, look around, and learn a little bit about the city, its history and fabric from these elements.”
To order, message on 8925704437. The calendars are currently open only for bulk orders.
Price: For orders of three or more calendars, it is Rs 499 per calendar
Shajan Kafka and Kiruba
More than dates and days, the Jai Bhim calendar, designed by Shajan Kiruba, helps keep track of the dreams once envisioned by leaders Periyar, Ambedkar, and Karl Marx. As a team, Shajan Kafka, an illustrator, and Kiruba, who handles orders and shipping, are working towards spreading the message of social justice. With Ambedkar and his quotes as the central theme for this year, Shajan says, “The idea is to bring sudhanthiram, samathuvam, and sagotharathuvam (freedom, equality, and fraternity). The inspiration is drawn from the life led by Ambedkar, who worked hard every day for what he believed in.” He adds that Ambedkar and his ideologies shouldn’t be contained in or associated with one person, community, or part of the country. It should reach every household. “We aim to take Ambedkar to every home so that conversations about equality, worker rights, feminism, and the abolition of casteism are ignited and echoed,” shares Shajan. While the duo designed wall calendars for the last two years, they have released a table calendar for the first time this year. Last year, Jyotirao Phule and Savitri Bai Phule took over the 12 sheets of the calendar among others. The motive is to break the stigma and spark discussions.
Price: Rs 390+courier charges
To order, DM @shajan_kiruba on Instagram
Or WhatsApp: 9176463672
(Inputs by Aparna U, Archita Raghu, Devrishi, Diya Maria George and Sonu M Kothari)