Painting a colourful world

Deepika Ramji’s tryst with paint brushes has given her immense satisfaction. She has fondly named her start-up ‘Kili’ and works with different shapes of wood. She also sketches and uses a whole lot of colours.

One look at her works and one will instantly fall in love with them. Her eye for detail will leave one spellbound. ‘Kili’ in Tamil means parrot and the vibrant colours come through in all products and is as beautiful as the bird.

Its unique selling proposition is its colourful, fun, kitsch and trendy hand-painted and printed home decor.

Deepika transforms the basic household items like trays, tables, kettles, lanterns, trinket drawers, cookie jars, mirrors, bottles, boxes and the like into hand-painted master-pieces that one will treasure for life.

She loves everything that is Indian and Indian paintings, art and colours excite her to no end.

A graduate of sculpting from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Deepika was always passionate about painting. She soon realised that she could do wonders with the brush. Deepika sees the prospect of of adding an artistic touch to the most basic things, such as an autorickshaw, umbrella and even a bus.

“My father, a furniture designer by profession, wanted me to take up science and become a doctor but he soon realised my passion for art and guided me to become an artist.

All the drawings, I made when I was young soon transformed to sketches which later developed into painting on products,” says Deepika. All the  products are hand-crafted and made from wood, metal and glass.

‘Kili’ has a team of three who hold regular workshops at Mysuru.
They later source all their metal and glass products from the markets. Once sourced, the sketch is first done on the product, painted and finally lacquered.

For the print range, they illustrate the designs and then print on products. ‘Kili’ now retails at ten stores across the country and offers over 80 unique personally hand-painted and printed products.

‘Kili’ also takes customised orders and makes personalised gifts as far as the design and products are concerned. “When we started, the brand  sold only hand-painted products. But we have now ventured into printing as well. We also plan to start a range of ceramics and fabrics,” adds Deepika. For details, log on to www.kili.com