Street Smart

It’s a busy time at Nida Mahmood’s studio in Shahpur Jat. Her soon-to-be-launched new line,The New India Bioscope Company,deals not just with clothes,but is expanding into lifestyle accessories,furniture,home furnishing and even art works. But what’s common in them are the typical Indian street imageries that invariably find a way on to them. The Indian’s love for chai and the crow,and the bustling street life says Mahmood,who is also a painter,have always inspired her,though she’s hardly the first Indian artist to be reveling in the country’s unique imagery.

One of her more ambitious projects within this new company is to rehabilitate artist communities,who’ve fallen on bad days. To begin with,Mahmood is planning to revive the art of the hand-painted posters. “Ever since the digital explosion happened,the art of hand-painted posters have completely gone out of practice. I have met up with artists who are out of work and I have put together a team who have done this most of their lives,” says the artist-designer,who began her career working under the likes of Manish Malhotra,Aki Narula and Hemant Trivedi as part of the Sheetal Design Studio,Mumbai.

There are also talks of collaborations with other artists and art galleries which will display the works of The New India Bioscope Company. “We are working out the nitty-gritties now,things will culminate around the fashion week in October,” she says,even as she rushes through the blueprint of the soft launch on July 28.