Our Story

Back in 2013 Indian Colours started with a handful of products such as coffee mugs, coasters and such like and small group of trusting artists. Over the years the brand has evolved and continues to grow. The idea of reproducing artworks by living and practising Indian artists came to Indian Colours' founder Jasmine Shah Varma who has believed in widening the appreciation for fine art through her writing, curation and now the art licensing brand Indina Colours. She has been a writer on art for 20 years and has curated art shows since 2005 for private art galleries. Having worked with artists to showcase their original artworks, she experienced a gap in the market. She observed that people thought art was too expensive, or there wasn't enough time to visit art galleries and museums and generally there was far less engagement with the growing and exciting contemporaray art scene in India. She also knew that earning a sustainable living and providing for their families only through sale of artworks is difficult for most artists. By licensing artworks to be used on a range of functional products two objectives are achieved - artists receive royalties and art becomes accessible. The accessibility is in terms of actual access and affordability. The customer is able to browse products online, purchase from the comfort of their home and live with art at a fraction of the cost of the original pieces. In addition, artists have the joy is in sharing artworks and engaging a larger audience beyond the walls of art galleries.

We firmly believe in living with art and making it a part of ones lifestyle. So go ahead start collecting our art merchandise now!

Our Process

We works with artists who are established; those with several years of practice in forming a visual language that is distinguishable and recognisably their own. These are artists whose social, political or persona concerns are reflected in their artworks and have consistently made art and exhibited over the years. While age is not a criterion, we work with artists of all ages, it is the expericence and quality of artworks that sets apart our carefully curated group of artists.

We use works of art already made as part of an artist's ongoing practise. That to say, artists who license their art to Indian Colours do not design, provide illustrations or paint any motifs to be used as designs for our products. This alone sets us apart from all the other brands that employ graphic designers for the visuals. We adapt an existing artwork or its details to the functional object.

We are most grateful to the digital print technology which allows us to reproduce myriad colours as they are in the orginals works. An artist paints using a range of hues and shades, typically mixing colours as they go along or painting one colour on another giving a depth of shades. We make sure all these are captureds as close to the real artwork. The textures of the surface be it the speckled watercolour or the grainy texture of canvas can be seen in some of the reproductions to get your art merchandise as close to the real deal in visuals terms.

Now that you know a little bit about us and our process, go ahead explore this site and we hope you will enjoy what you see.

"Bags and More"