PROFILE

Hemal Kapadia has a dream: she wants to take fine stationery made in India to the rest of the world. The 28-year-old, who’s the founder and design director of Olive Design, has already carved out a niche for herself in personalised stationery and other everyday items. Kapadia’s collection — now stocked at Oxford Bookstore and the luxury store, 85 Lansdowne in Calcutta — ranges from stylish gift tags, notelets, wrapping paper, wedding cards, letterheads and logos to personalised diaries, coffee mugs, trays and even paper totes.

Kapadia, a Gujarati born in the city, studied commerce at Calcutta University and then switched tracks and went to study design at the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.

After returning from New Zealand, Kapadia started working on her own in 2006. Last year she launched her retail brand, ’live Fine Stationery.

The big orders followed and Kapadia soon found herself working for clients like The Park, Spencer’s, Flury’s Confectionery and The Kenilworth in Calcutta. “The brand name, ’live stands for ‘One lives with’ and that’s because I design everyday products including stationery to mugs, trays and more,” says Kapadia. She’s also planning to export her products to big departmental chains in New Zealand and Australia.

Kapadia is working on two new collections of her stationery and travels to the villages of Rajasthan and West Bengal to get inspiration for her designs. Her first collection (’live of Arabia) still retails from 85 Lansdowne and Oxford and is based on Islamic themes and architecture. “I feel local art and crafts need to be given a fillip. Some crafts are vanishing too and need to be preserved,” she says.

Her new collections are based on terracotta motifs from Bishnupur (Bengal) and the rich textile weaves of Rajasthan. “You will also get to see the traditional red-bordered Bengali sari on my stationery in the new collection,” she says, showing off a red and white diary, with a traditional woven border on it.

Trends

Asian motifs are trendy and Indian designs are hot in other parts of the world, feels Kapadia. The designer is hopeful that her fine stationery, with its minimalist look and muted colour schemes, will make a mark. “Zen is in. In all my work, you see a lot of white. I also use a lot of geometric patterns which are internationally acceptable,” says Kapadia.

She’s also hoping that more and more Indians will get into the habit of using personalised stationery — those ‘Thank you’ cards, gift tags and specialised wrapping paper for their family functions, weddings and so on.

Taking a cue from global trends, Kapadia uses a lot of white though her motifs are done in gold, silver, and beige. However, she does plan to give a burst of colour in her Rajasthan collection, which will derive its flavour from the architecture and textiles of that state.

PROducts

O’live is branded fine stationery, hence the pocket pinch is obviously much higher than run-of-the-mill envelopes and greeting cards. The classy-looking white and gold or white and silver notelets which come in sets of 10 (with matching envelopes) cost between Rs 350 and Rs 500. Kapadia says the cost of imported paper (from Italy and the US) makes the price a bit steep.

The gift tags cost Rs 20 each and the coffee mugs will set you back by Rs 350 to Rs 400. The wedding cards are expensive and cost Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 just for the design. Printing charges are extra.

If you want to have a CD made with a personalised visual (an abstract image or a photograph) on the surface of the CD and print a personalised message on it, it will cost Rs 30 a piece to start with. The content of the CD — music, images, video clips and so on — can also be made to your choice. A wooden tray costs Rs 600, and wrapping paper comes at Rs 40 apiece. A diary with a Banarasi cover will set you back by Rs 500 and it will be costlier if you want your name on it or have any other personalised touches. Kapadia has deliberately made the coffee mug and CD designs a bit more colourful, keeping in mind the younger clientele.