Many years ago, the late Steve Jobs said in an interview: “The Macintosh turned out so well because the people working on it were musicians, artists, poets and historians who also happened to be excellent computer scientists.”
From a dream that began on April 1, 1976, to becoming a multi-trillion-dollar company, Apple has cultivated a digital orchard where everyone is welcome to enjoy its fruits.
For Mumbai-based artist Mira Malhotra, the iPad is something of a magic tablet — a sketchbook that often seems to come alive, glowing as if a genie is always present to grant creative wishes. One such wish took the form of a mural for the company’s first retail store in India — Apple BKC in Mumbai (which opened in April 2023) — created to mark 50 years of the brand.
If the Sydney Opera House was briefly transformed into an iPad canvas a few days ago, Mira ensured that Apple BKC became a celebration of community and culture.
“When the Apple team approached me, they wanted to highlight the idea of community. My work too celebrates community, joy and expression. It’s sometimes built on slightly complex thoughts, but presented in a way that’s accessible — something you can immediately relate to,” Mira told us when we met her at Apple BKC on Saturday.
Several ideas blend seamlessly into her murals marking Apple’s 50th anniversary. She draws inspiration from traditional sports such as mallakhamb and festive celebrations like Janmashtami. The work speaks both to today’s youth and to timeless, intimate moments — like women braiding each other’s hair. Ultimately, it comes together as a lively group portrait of young Indians in a shared moment of connection.
“In this mural, the community angle comes through because I wanted to show it in multiple ways. There is a contemporary aspect, seen in people exchanging high-fives. Then there are references to how Janmashtami unfolds alongside mallakhamb. There is also a girl braiding another girl’s hair, which feels like a marker of childhood. It’s about how young people relate to one another,” she said.
Mira is known for her bold feminist illustrations, animations, murals and zines. Her work has consistently explored representations of Indian women that are often missing from mainstream media.
She trained with a BFA in Illustration at Mumbai University before going on to complete a Master’s in Graphic Design at the National Institute of Design. She is also a founding member of Kadak, a global collective of South Asian women graphic artists, and the founder of one of India’s most cutting-edge design studios — Studio Kohl.
The artist is no stranger to iPads and Apple Pencils. “We are often creating a file on a small iPad and then scaling it up several feet. When you’re working with a Procreate file of this size and dimension, you tend to lose layers. I was struggling with layers towards the end, but I had a great deal of fun,” she said.
A toolmaker for the creative community
Apple’s hardware ecosystem allowed her to push the boundaries of what’s possible. She developed the mural using Apple tools — sketching on the iPad Pro with Apple Pencil in Procreate, refining the artwork on a Mac, and capturing early ideas on an iPhone.
Reflecting on the beginning of her journey with Apple hardware, she said: “My first device was a small iPad, and it really helped me discover my style. When I first used it, it felt like facing a blank canvas. I also dislike wasting paper. I like how files are saved on Procreate, and there’s always the Undo button. With traditional media, incorporating feedback is difficult because you can’t easily change marks on paper. Here, digital files can be modified. The iPad feels like a sketchbook — it’s the closest anything has come to one for me.”
Despite her embrace of digital tools, the artist avoids using artificial intelligence in her core creative process. “I don’t use AI for drawing. My illustration work doesn’t involve AI because it’s simply too enjoyable to do it myself. You take on a project because you enjoy the process — why remove that joy by using AI?”
Studio Kohl has now been around for quite some time, engaging with themes such as identity, gender and mental health. “I’ve grown up seeing the range of products Apple has created. As a graphic designer, I think about the rich history Apple has been associated with — its logo, its use of typefaces and so on. It means a lot to me. The use of colour, the early iPod advertisements — these were never typical of a tech brand.”
Over the decades, Apple has eased the transition for people coming to terms with the digital world. It hasn’t just been about making technology user-friendly for writers and artists — the physical design of Apple hardware has remained consistently seductive.
Not everything under the digital sun is entirely new, but Steve Jobs always knew how to make it shine — in our offices, our homes and our private lives.
“If you’ve looked at computers, they look like garbage,” Jobs told a crowd assembled in Aspen, Colorado, for the 1983 International Design Conference. Apple was set to sell three million computers that year. He continued: “This new object — it’s going to be in everyone’s working environment, in everyone’s educational environment. It’s going to be in everyone’s home environment, and we have a shot at putting a great object there.”
Even after 50 years, Apple continues to position its products as central figures. The company speaks not just about functionality and usability, but about the emotional value users derive from interacting with its devices. Beyond the product itself, what Apple offers is a certain feeling — an experience.
Singer Anuv Jain, who was at Apple BKC on March 28 as part of the special celebration, spoke about how the company’s hardware and software help in his creative flow. He continues to make music that’s all about human touch and connection. Jain said: “In Mission Impossible, we know Tom Cruise does most of his own stunts. It makes you feel more attached to the films because of the thrill the actor brings. It is the same for other art forms. If there is a machine behind it, you can still enjoy the music, but if there are human-generated elements, it matters much more. I still think we want something that is made by humans.”
Also at the store was actor Rohit Saraf. He shared a personal anecdote about his late father’s iPod, saying that the device continues to function after all these years, highlighting the long-term personal value associated with technology.
Besides offering top-notch hardware and software, it also helps that Apple continues to take privacy seriously in an era where social media companies monetise user data. The company has made a deliberate choice to build trust with its users — a decision that feels increasingly significant in AI’s turbulent phase.
Mathures Paul