PATNULU: A HANDMADE POEM
Travelling Exhibition Posters • Illustration and Graphic Design • Design and Fabrication • Khadi • Textile posters
In 2024, the Chitrika Foundation conceptualised and developed a travelling exhibition featuring Patnulu, the handspun khadi of Ponduru. The exhibition consisted of several elements including a film, posters, live demonstrations of the craft, exhibits and souvenirs. I joined this endeavor the capacity of an identity and poster designer, conducted research into exhibition and poster references, presented ideas and directions for the possible identity of the entire exhibition and developed posters for the same.
I worked with diverse vendors to source samples and materials, and printing on canvas fabric, prototyped them for mounting and executed them with bamboo to be lightweight, portable and easily mounted at various venues, delivering a series of eight large textile posters and one banner for the exhibition.
TIMELINE
January - June 2025
ROLE
ROLE
Exhibition Identity Designer, Poster Designer
CLIENT
COLLABORATORS
SKILLS
TOOLS AND SOFTWARE
Chitrika Foundation, Creyo
Samyuktha Gorrepati, Project Manager
Shreyans Harsora: Final Posters Documentation
With special thanks to Mrs. Uma Shankari, Barkavi S, Oorja and Naveen
Copy editing, graphic design, illustration, vendor liaison, material handling
Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, Bamboo sanding machine (you read that right)
OUTCOMES
Eight posters printed on textile and mounted on bamboo:
Six of 40"x24" and two of 40"x46.5".
1 event banner printed on textile and mounted on bamboo: 18"x48"
GLIMPSES OF THE PROCESS
The process was rich with learning and discovery; I learnt a great deal about spinning, handloom, cotton textiles and distribution through the reading material Samyuktha, the project lead, shared with me. Upon understanding the project scope, I put together a deck with four moodboard options to guide the visual style of our posters. After reviewing the initial copy, we also discussed how the information could be worked into a series of posters in a concise and engaging manner. I collated a few ideas for how the posters could be mounted for display.
Once our information was divided and edited across eight planned posters, I set about making thumbnails for the illustrations and layouts for each of them.
The client chose the second mood board, and we went ahead with the illustration style of short strokes repeated in patterns, and an earthy colour palette. I made the illustrations on Procreate. Each poster took some iterations to nail down the exact colours, layouts and text. And then, it was time to identity fabric samples for cotton canvas, printers, tailors and bamboo pole vendors. Production related hijinks follow.
REFLECTIONS
Patnulu: A Handmade Poem was exhibited in Bengaluru at Ambara, Halasuru on National Handloom Day, and the Bangalore International Centre in August 2025. It was later showcased at other venues including Saptaparni, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad and Our Sacred Space, Secunderabad.
It was a deeply enriching experience to learn about this incredible craft heritage, and rewarding to see my designs exhibited at that scale, witnessing how they interacted with the space and the people who moved through it. Through this project, I pushed myself to work in a new visual language, and figuring out the production and fabrication was its own kind of play, full of challenges and small victories. It was a pleasure to understand the intricate world of patnulu and khadi by illustrating, designing and thinking my way through it.