Creative Direction
When I first started working with MEGABAD, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. A massive online retailer for bathroom products – everything from faucets to toilet bowls – MEGABAD is a household name in Germany, but let’s be honest: the brand was anything…
Since its founding in 2013, Cologne-based real estate firm Seffen has grown steadily – in expertise, in experience, and in the way it connects with people. With this evolution came the desire to reflect that development visually, and I had the pleasure of leading the…
When my brother-in-law – a longtime and passionate volunteer with the Cologne-Longerich Fire Department – asked me if I could design a new logo for his unit, I didn’t hesitate. There was no official briefing, no formal commission – just a family connection and a…
I had the pleasure of leading the brand development for Bhavi, a new consulting company founded by my longtime collaborator and cultural pioneer Sherry Kizhukandayil. With a deep legacy in shaping progressive South Asian cultural platforms in Germany, Sherry has now launched Bhavi – an…
When Reena Pathrose, an accomplished dancer and choreographer, asked me to design a logo for her dance school AGNI, I was immediately on board. Reena leads AGNI with heartfelt dedication – a school rooted in Vedic and classical Indian dance, but also a space for…
Currently I’m developing the brand and communication for a long-time friend and colleague. Carmen Spielmann is a strategist by mind and entrepreneur by heart. Her current work involvement consists of consulting in digitisation and company building. Additionally she holds board positions and is keen to…
On October 15 our annual Independent Indian Film Night took place at the iconic cinema Kino 813 in Köln. In cooperation with Filmclub 813, we presented a feature film by newcomer Tara Ramanujan and a great Beatles documentary directed by Ajoy Bose and Pete Compton.
We (Masala Movement) have supported a very special event this year … The first Ayurveda Festival in Germany. There were many inspiring lectures, creative workshops, relaxing meditations, moving yoga sessions and connecting live music! The lovely pictures were taken by Hanna Witte and the great…
Besides my regular design and cultural work I’ve also been little active in the field of angel investment recently. A year ago me and my long-time business partners and friends Hans-Jörg Dohrmann and Claudia Baumgart have founded PAWAO. The idea was/is to build a network…
Masala Movement had the honour of presenting a musical special at the renowned Museum Ludwig. In the photography room, the museum were showing twelve photographs by Raghubir Singh (1942 Jaipur–1999 New York). Inspired by the photographer’s atmospheric works and places of creation, me, Keshavara and…
A couple of months, I was approached by an acquaintance with the idea of building a healthcare staffing agency – specifically to help qualified nurses from India find placements in Germany. As a communication designer with an intercultural background and personal ties to the world…
These three words sum up my work quite well. It’s what I love doing and what I’m good at. In collaboration with KölnBusiness and Ginsep I had the great pleasure to host a networking lunch during the INDERNET exhibition at Kunsthafen Rhenania. In an artful…
For the fifth time I have the pleasure of directing and curating the annual exhibition INDERNET. After a great hybrid festival in 2021, this year we will fully focus on the physical experience on site at Kunsthafen Köln. We can look forward to numerous creative…
A couple of months ago there was an open call by Fries TV, a really cool initiative that shows video and animation art on a 56m long LED screen attached to the concrete frieze of the Ebertplatz, which is one of the main metro stations…
Wow, it’s been two years already since we launched the Masala Movement podcast hosted by Todh Teri. We can proudly look back at 24 global mixes full of musical diversity. Thanks to all the amazing artists who contributed. Stay tuned! We’re just getting started 🙂
My colleague Sepiedeh Fazlali organised a Voguing workshop – most probably the first of its kind in Köln. It was a great pleasure to support her promoting and documenting the event visually. Voguing is a movement style that emerged from the African and Latin American…
A few months ago, my dear friend Kalbiye Nur Yegnidemir (founder of Zeugen der Zeit) asked me if I would like to support her in an awareness campaign funded by the bpb. Her vision: Creating more visibility for inspiring people during the pandemic by creating…
I was very pleased that I got invited to speak at the DAAD IndiAlumni ConFest again. This year’s topic was „Mindfulness, Wellbeing and Health“. I’ve presented a curated selection of artworks and short films, illustrating the healing impact of transcultural creativity and the connection between…
Finally our annual Film Night could take place again at the cinema and I’m very happy about the two movies we showed this year. The Great Indian Kitchen was chosen as the best film of 2021 at the Kerala State Film Awards and Pebbles has been selected as…
kaethe:k Kunsthaus is a professional art studio setting for artistically talented persons with disabilities working on visual art forms such as painting, graphics, plastic arts and media arts. The institution is serving the idea of equal opportunity and effective access to the arts and the…
No matter how much stress and effort it takes to make this annual festival possible, it feels so incredibly satisfying every time – The magical atmosphere, the amazing art, and of course the beautiful mix of people. Wow! The three-day programme consisted of visual showcases,…
At the end of the 1990s, the children of Indian / South Asian migrants in Germany began to network. Among other things, they organised parties, seminars and created internet projects. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of theinder.net, me and three other panelists talked…
I am very happy that I was assigned to develop the branding for an exceptional management consultancy based out of The Hague. Inclusive Growth is a team of advisers, trainers, coaches, and facilitators that aim to spur a future where inclusion, diversity, and equity (IDE)…
The Cairo Opera House is not only a landmark for classical music, ballet, and theatre in Egypt – it’s one of the most important cultural institutions in the Arab world. So I was excited when my former colleagues at Silverkey Technologies in Cairo reached out…
Especially in times like these, the importance of medical staff and the need for sustainable solutions securing health care globally become more than evident … „What health workers need is the proper recognition of their value in society. They do not want to be called heroes who…
The music producers Sitara (singer-songwriter) and Henning Schmitz (sound and mixing engineer) assigned me to come up with the branding for their new label electromantica. Since the name says a lot already and consists of numerous letters, I focussed on developing a recognisable type logo…
Since 2009, the New Generations – Independent Indian Film Festival Frankfurt brings cinematic highlights from Indian Independent Cinema to Germany. The program features exciting feature films every year, as well as documentaries and short films, including several German premieres. As an official extension of the festival, I’m…
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of theinder.net the first Indo-German online community I was interviewed by co-founder Kristian Joshi. Read the full interview here (Sorry German only).
Sepiedeh Fazlali is a media scientist, editor, educator, cultural mediator and of course the programme director of Masala Movement. She is currently setting up her own office for creative communication and project ideation. Sepiedeh critically engages with issues of identity and culture, seeks to make…
I’ve come up with two project ideas for more diversity in German media and economy. Both got selected at the Open Innovation Challenge initiated by startup incubator Media Lab Bayern. With great support from Vimal Kandoth and Sepiedeh Fazlali I was able to create beta…
DutchCulture (Amsterdam) invited 40 communication experts to address cultural differences and inequalities that arise from the use of language when cooperating internationally. The aim is to promote international cultural collaborations in a manner that recognises different working modalities and acknowledges unequal systems while promoting mutual…
Happy Independence Day! I couldn’t resist to do this month’s Masala Movement podcast myself. One good thing caused by the pandemic is that I’ve been listening to a lot of music again .. favourite tunes from the past as well as recent beats, rhymes and…
Me and my partners at Masala Movement Sepiedeh Fazlali and Pravini Baboeram are currently carving out the brand principles and vision for our growing platform. Meanwhile I couldn’t resist to put a representative visual together based on a mix-and-match illustration set I came across some…
One of my many teenage dreams was to become a hair dresser and open my own barber shop despite the fact that it was considered to be a pretty „gay“ job and not hip at all. But for me growing up with hiphop music it…
Due to the current circumstances this year’s exhibition took place exclusively in virtual form. Of course I took this as an opportunity to further expand its global reach through targeted marketing. An extensive multilingual programme was developed and made accessible free of charge and regardless…
Who does? This little publication called Indien verstehen is at least trying. It’s part of the SympathieMagazine series including more than 50 country magazines and special issues on religions, development, globalisation, human rights and more. The overall idea is to support a travel culture of…
CHAKKARs wants to facilitate spaces in which PoC, postmigrant, decolonizing, critical intersectional, anti-racist, and critically white perspectives can be negotiated in and through dance, bodies and physical cultures. The initiators Sandra Chatterjee and Sarah Bergh asked me to come up with a brand idea for…
I always wanted to record a vinyl only mix and since I’m kind of stuck at home it seemed like the perfect time to do so. It was late in the night or rather early morning of April 1st, so please don’t take it too…
The previous Todh Teri EP sold so well that he assigned us again to develop the cover art for his upcoming record Deep In India Vol. 7 (vinyl only). The availability of the record can be checked here. Check out this amazing track by guest artist Kone…
The editor-in-chief of Meine Welt Rainer Hörig contacted me because he wanted to do a feature about young Indo-German entrepreneurs. I think it’s pretty useful to write about your profession once in a while … especially when you have to keep it short. Before I…
Me and my friend Dr. Margret Müller (specialist for humanitarian affairs) started the Facebook group Corona Hilfe Köln bringing volunteers and people in need together. I quickly put a logo together and created some visuals for different threads making it easier to navigate within the…
My talented friends Vathsalan Rajan and Reena Pathrose came up with an Indian dance theatre including 31 dancers. I was more than happy to help them organising and promoting this great project. We had two fully booked shows with 772 sold tickets in total. „Desolate…
The Köln India Week, which takes place for the 12th time in a row this year, deals intensively with the bilateral relations between Germany and India through a variety of high-profile events from culture, business and science. KölnBusiness the main sponsor of the event assigned…
It was really nice to be back at the German University in Cairo, exactly 10 years after teaching there for the first time. My friend and old colleague Miroslaw Leczek who’s still teaching at the GUC invited me to share some insights with the students…
25 years ago my dad and his other friends in Germany who grew up in the same South-Indian village called Edathua started organising an annual function in Köln to pay tribute to their mutual hometown. For the upcoming silver anniversary the organising committee asked me…
What happens when centuries of craft meet a new wave of creative thinking? When tradition is not preserved in amber, but translated into form, function and storytelling for a global audience? Morning Land is a project that explores exactly that. The idea was initiated by…
Finally Masala Movement is starting its monthly podcast featuring global artists, expressing musical diversity and breaking barriers between genres. I was very happy to do the kick-off 🙂 Tracklist: 01 Lorbeerblatt (Instrumental) – T9 02 Gosh – Jamie xx 03 Candy (featuring Hashback Hashish) –…
My trusted illustrator Costanza Coletti and me had the pleasure to develop the cover art for Todh Teri’s latest release. Deep In India Vol. 6 is a limited and vinyl only edition. The availability of the record can be checked here. This one is my…
Since 2009, the New Generations – Independent Indian Film Festival Frankfurt brings cinematic highlights from Indian Independent Cinema to Germany. The program features exciting feature films every year, as well as documentaries and short films, including several German premieres. As an official extension of the festival, I’m…
I’m happy that we got a bit more media attention than last year …
mer. Store Frankfurt invited me and my partner in crime Vineetha to present the documentary movie „Brown Angels“ and our little photo exhibition „Schwester Kerala“ tracing the migration story of Indian nurses in Germany. Thank you airbag craftworks and Indian Goods Co. for being such amazing hosts!!! We had…
The Indo-German Young Leaders Forum is a platform for bilateral exchange of the young and rising generation of India and Germany. I was invited to their annual conference which was held in Berlin. During a session on migration at the Humboldt University me (representing Masala Movement e.V.), Prof.…
The medical cannabis industry has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. Once stigmatized, it’s now a fast-growing market with political support, increasing social acceptance, and tremendous innovation potential. In Germany especially, the conversation around alternative therapies has shifted — backed by regulatory initiatives, broader…
In the form of a multi-day exhibition, we (me and the Masala Movement team) presented artworks and designs by Indian and India-inspired creatives, who use the Internet as both an instrument and a stage. The second edition of INDERNET took place as part of the…
I was invited to the Max-Planck-Institute in Dresden to conduct a workshop at a conference organised by IndiAlumni which is a group of people who have taken part in Indo-German academic experiences sponsored by the DAAD. The workshop was about exploring the identity and positioning of IndiaAlumni amongst other…
I guess my baby ain’t a baby anymore. The new Masala Movement platform is finally live! During the past year I’ve been working on rebranding and relaunching my heart project dedicated to intercultural creativity and lifestyle since 2004. In order to strengthen its structure and vision…
My dad always wanted me to be an engineer and I know my mom secretly wishes I would have become a doctor. I told them they can call me whatever they like .. Design Engineer, Dr. Brand or Master of Communication … as long as…
I was very pleased when Kami Mahmoody told me that he is doing his „Meister“ in electrical and medical engineering. I usually get excited when friends are planning to start their own business, especially when they ask me for help regarding the branding. Meister Mahmoody…
No, I’m not planning to become a fashion model 🙂 I just helped out at a shoot for an urban adventure project. The air was crisp, the sunlight amazing and it was fun spending some time with this secret photographer. What I like is the…
A little TV feature about me, my mom and Indian culture in our hometown Cologne. Watch the video in their media centre or below.
Like almost all men in Kerala my uncle wears the Lungi at home. Basically it’s the Indian version of jogging pants. I was always impressed by the colourful and trippy designs. This one seems like a little accident or maybe not. Anyways my uncle loves…
Since 2009, the New Generations – Independent Indian Film Festival Frankfurt brings cinematic highlights from Indian Independent Cinema to Germany. The program features exciting feature films every year, as well as documentaries and short films, including several German premieres. As an official extension of the…
Quite some time ago m-way (retailer for e-bikes) asked me to come up with brand suggestions for potential in-house products. Eventually they’ve never launched any. My favourite brand idea was vlo-e … basically it stands for „flowing electrically“. My inspiration was the similarity between the words „velo“…
AfricaWorks is an impact recruiting and employability agency that want to contribute to a model of sustainable business and link highly qualified African candidates with European companies. My job was to help positioning and designing the brand. Besides the identity I’ve designed the website and several…
Me and Vineetha organised a photo exhibition at the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum. In the 1960s, the first nurses from the southern Indian state of Kerala came to Germany. They could barely speak the language and had never seen a country other than their homeland. Sister Kerala…
Dolff Pyschny Piper is a consultancy firm based in Zurich that stands for excellence in product lifecycle management (PLM). Actually I was just assigned to optimise their corporate design and to come up with a style for their infographics. but eventually I was able to…
After the INDERNET exhibition I was interviewed by Kunal Anand from Kulture Shop. We had a realy nice chat about design, internet and a globalised Indian identity. Read full interview here.
While I was in Dubai for some work I went on a day trip to Abu Dhabi. In the land of excessive striving for superlatives and disgusting pomp, the Emirati version of the Louvre is definitely a real cultural highlight. But that shouldn’t be too…
The project INDERNET wants to explore the parallels and above all the interaction between digital and Indian culture. Here, it is important to balance on the increasingly narrow level between inflation and innovation, commercialization and self-fulfillment, technology and spirituality, nationality and identity. As part of the 10th Cologne…
Meine Welt is a magazine supporting the German-Indian dialogue since 1984. Editor-in-chief Rainer Hörig met me at Masala Empire in Cologne to interview me regarding my upcoming exhibition. Read full interview here.
Cultural anthropologist Prof. Dr. Urmila Goel asked me if I could design the visuals for her upcoming workshop. I always enjoy working on projects that are related to my mother’s migration story. In the 1960s and early 1970s there were not sufficient nurses in Germany.…
My friend and long time client Hans-Jörg Dohrmann has started a venture capital management firm. Its focus will be investing in retail innovation. After working together with him on the positioning I came up with a catchy yet relevant brand name and logo. Designing the…
… is the core message I came up with for the repositioning of m-way. For the past five years I have been working as a freelance brand consultant and designer for Switzerland’s largest e-bike retailer. Here a few kind words of the former marketing director…
In the heart of Ehrenfeld, on the lively Neptune Square, the Masala Empire is an authentic piece of India. All the richness of Indian culinary art merges with exotic interior. But by no means does the ambience reflect the well-known clichés of India; the guest…
A pretty big corporate asked me to come up with a brand idea for their sub division focussing on analytics and tackling big data. Data & Goliath was my favourite suggestion. But of course they went for something less exciting 😉
Me and my neighbours love to hang out in front of our Büdchen (small corner shop) at Clever Street. Most people in Cologne have their favourite kiosk. Usually the shop owner becomes a significant part of your everyday life. Besides selling snacks, beer and newspapers,…
It’s always nice to create a branding for authentic people who are offering authentic stuff. I came up with the name „Woosch“. It means sausage in the local dialect Kölsch and at the same time it has a very international and contemporary feel and sound.…
My dear friend Vineetha Panalickal is starting a monthly night called Nyx at the legendary Roxy club in Köln. This special event series is named after the Greek goddess of the night and will focus on female DJs and musicians. Of course it was a…
My architect friend Kathrin Seifert who works for Koelnmesse needed me to design an icon for one of their special exhibition areas called Rotes Sofa.
After we had to shut down our Cairo office due to the recession after the revolution I moved back to Europe and my business partner Sagar Ghoting eventually went on to do his Master in Service Design at the Glasgow School of Art. Of course…
ewz, Touring Club Switzerland and Migros has launched a pilot project in Zurich for sharing state-of-the-art electric vehicles under the leadership of Migros subsidiary m-way and with the support of SwissEnergy. m-way as one of my main clients asked me to come up with a…
When my mom called me two days ago she said „Did you know that I was 34 years old when I gave birth to you? And today you are turning 34 yourself. Isn’t it incredible how time flies? Happy birthday, monkey.“ For a moment I…
During my time at Interbrand in Köln me and four other brand design experts from the London, Zurich, New York and Seoul offices where assigned to come up with a vision for the new website of ABB. ABB is one of the largest engineering companies…
The name of my friend’s restaurant was given and not necessarily easy to read nor to pronounce. On top of that the signage areas on the building’s facade were very narrow. So I decided to focus on the word and letters itself when redesigning the…
I have developed the visual identity for a new nightclub in Köln. The result was not only the title Reineke Fuchs (German fable) in combination with an unmistakable paw print as a logo, but also the following design concept: Twelve months, twelve animals, every year…
Shahira Fahmy Architects (SFA) is an award winning outfit in Cairo that practices design, functionality & sustainability focused urban planning, architecture, interiors and product design. SFA is committed to rethinking the ways in which people interact with spaces, objects and each other. Me and my…
The Dutch Embassy Cairo assigned me and my business partner Sagar Ghoting to design a bi-lingual publication about four Egyptian students who were sent to Holland and the cultural differences they’ve experienced. We came up with a striking cover that defined the bold and playful…
Me and my business partner Sagar Ghoting were assigned to develop the branding for MEAT – an independent art gallery based out of Cairo. We helped MEAT to present a new perspective on art, and on the Middle East. It allows works of art to…
Me and my business partner Sagar Ghoting designed a prototype tracking interface for our development partners Silverkey Technologies and their client Bavarian Auto in Cairo.
TheInder.Net magazine asked me if I could write a review about the India compilation from the Putumayo series. Sorry but there’s only a German version so far: „Wer kennt sie nicht – die tollen Putumayo CDs. Warte, ich helfe Dir auf die Sprünge. Es handelt…
Many people have a place in their personal environment where they keep special mementos – a personal altar that is supposed to increase the sense of well-being in that particular place. But many of these archetypal objects, such as letters, photos or music, hardly take…
Hi Susheela, I’m Manoj from Masala Movement and I’m a freelance writer for TheInder.Net magazine. How do you like Germany? What’s your personal impression of this country? Well I haven’t been here very much to be honest actually. I mean I’ve played once in Köln about…
At 20:30h Tina, Malik and me arrived in Treptow a very clean and artificial looking suburb compared to rest of Berlin. After a ten minutes walk, we reached the arena Berlin where the popdeurope festival took place and where Nitin Sawhney was to perform. I…