Popularising pulli kolams through playing cards

CHENNAI: During her graduation at NIFT, artist Nancy John interned at a clothing label, where she began doing illustrations for social media. It was during the lockdown, Nancy’s interest in illustrations grew. She designed notebooks and sold them online while taking numerous online courses. “I became intrigued by graphic design and illustration.

Seeing many illustrators spreading positivity through their work on social media inspired me. I’ve always had a passion for drawing, and I thought, ‘Maybe this is something I can pursue.’ So, I started working towards that.”

A few months ago, Nivedita Ganeshram, the founder of Madras Finds, reached out to Nancy for a collaborative project to create unique cards featuring pulli kolam prints. “It was a challenge for me, something I haven’t tried before.

I did numerous rough sketches, and the main challenge was integrating the kolams into the shapes of the four card suits - hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs. Nivedita provided the idea, and we had to find a way to keep it simple yet effective.”

Nancy wanted to infuse a more personal touch into the face cards - kings, queens, and jacks. “I’ve always admired the drawings in Tamil storybooks, so I wanted to incorporate that style into these cards. Additionally, pulli kolam holds significant cultural value in our tradition, and I hope these cards will help people learn more about the different types of kolams,” concludes the artist.