Saptan Stories : An inspiration for design collabs

I have always been an admirer (read fan) of artistic collaborations. Be it in the field of music, films, dance or graphics, such alliances have been a great source of inspiration for me as an architect/designer. I find the whole idea behind 'collaboration' fascinating. People from different fields come together at one stage and work on to create something beautiful – something which is a mix of two (or sometimes even more) different ‘characters’ and attitudes. The artists bring out the best of their arts and the final result is a perfect example of what we call as ‘ek ke daam mein do’ (two in the cost of one).

Now, expand your vision and imagine having ‘ek ke daam mein saat’ (seven in the cost of one)! ‘Saat’, Hindi for number Seven, and that is from where Saptan Stories get its name (saptan is number seven in Sanskrit). What makes this even more interesting is the format. Seven different artists/illustrators from India and UK, each with their different styles and artistic characters, come together to interpret a storyline which grows every week as the Indian audience contributes a line to the platform. As they say, it is “India’s first ever crowdsourced digital art project” – a 7-week series which is a part of British Council’s ongoing India/UK 2017 – a yearlong celebration of 70 years of relationship between the two countries.

I was fortunate to witness the unfolding of the ongoing story in its fifth week. In the premises of their beautiful building, British Council India organized a small get-together where the artists revealed their fine artworks. The artists Adrita Das (Mumbai), Gavin Strange (Bristol), Gemma Correll (Suffolk), Janine Shroff (London), Priyesh Trivedi (Mumbai), Saloni Sinha (Bangalore) and Tom Mead (Bristol) were brought together by the Oscar award winning Aardman Animations, and were given this tedious yet never-done-before kind of project. As an artist and illustrator myself, I do relate to them and understand the complexities of interpreting the line of the story into an artwork especially when they do not have any idea of what lies ahead. As the story progresses every week, and a line is selected by online voting, it is impossible to guess what turn the story would take. That is what, in my opinion, makes it the most exciting campaign ever. Nobody knows what’s going to happen next.

The Illustrations for the Week 05 for which the winning lines were -

"I was falling through what seemed like a long tunnel, blinded by lights. I somehow landed on my two feet and found myself in a large hall. Walls covered in photographs. Photographs of my entire life."

Adrita Das

Gavin Strange

Gemma Correll

Janine Shroff

Priyesh Trivedi

Saloni Sinha

Tom Mead

Personally, I was bowled over by Tom’s inputs. The way he has managed to interpret the whole thing in his own characteristic manner is commendable. Unlike others, his interpretation in black and white gives the whole story a different edge. On the other hand, I was also shocked to see Priyesh’s signature ‘Aadarsh-baalak’ like-character in this very different and unknown realm! With each and every artwork that was revealed, I was forced to think ‘How they managed to do it?’ I found the whole idea of this project so unique and fascinating. Kudos to the team at British Council. Their efforts and hard work of all the artists have brought this never-done-before kind of project to its last stage. Everyone, even the artists, wishes that the story gets a happy ending!

The whole ‘experience’ brought me back to the point where I was asking myself, “Why don’t we, as designers and architects, do something like this more often?” Saptan Stories has definitely shown us a new perspective to look at the collaborations and cross-country art projects.