Ishmeet Kaur’s mom knew all about her daughter’s creative side.
She even granted her the privilege to design logos and flyers for the family preschool and afterschool program.
But Kaur had no formal training on graphic design whatsoever.
“I was exploring what other softwares I could use to do that kind of stuff and I saw Adobe Illustrator,” Kaur said. “That was like two or three years ago.”
By her third year, studying one of the most tech-oriented majors at San Jose State, business administration with a concentration in management of information systems, Kaur said online tutorials fed her drive to keep on illustrating.
Her craft went on the up and up.
A source of early influence came from the Indian jewelers who sent magazines and catalogues to her house, Kaur said. One of the models she flipped through caught her eye, and imagination.
“Recently I got one in the mail and I thought the chick was really pretty, just, everything looked really royal about it,” Kaur said. “I basically take it and try to use my lines to digitize it.”
She said she was also influenced early on by the many Indian creators on her Instagram feed.
“So as you can see, my designs are very kind of Indian-based,” Kaur said. “I felt like that was the easiest place to start from and I had a couple friends who got me into this too.”
Tracing over images of models and paintings, Kaur would then manipulate the images using illustration software. This was where her drawings came to life.
Kaur said she really loved Phulkari, which are patterns and hand-embroidery designs that are common in Punjabi culture. Punjab is a region that covers northern India and
eastern Pakistan.
She began posting her doodles only on Instagram, creating an art account separate from her personal account.
“Self-taught graphic design,” reads the bio of her art account, @Kaur_Design.
Her designs and efforts eventually landed on the radar of San Jose-based merchandise and clothing brand company, Phulkari Co.
Founder of Phulkari Co, Gurlynn Gill, who is also a finance senior at SJSU, said she was impressed with the “old school” design of Kaur’s skills.
Gill was especially a fan of one particular design.
“Her design of the women in traditional wear enjoying themselves outside is so great,” she said. “We’re going to be releasing that design onto a shirt very soon.”
Kaur and Gill connected online and are now partnering to print Kaur’s design on a shirt and market it to Phulkari Co.’s almost 6,000 Instagram followers.
“I am releasing two collaborations by the end of this year,” said Kaur. “So after that, I might think about getting into selling my own merch if those are liked.”
Hesitant at first to share her work with the rest of the world, Kaur said her boyfriend convinced her to “dive in” because everyone in her circle already knew she occasionally dabbled in the arts.
“My boyfriend was kind of like, ‘Go for it, I mean we all know you draw sometimes and you’re mediocre at it but go for it,’ ” Kaur said.
While many of her designs and drawings are inspired by Indian culture and empowering women, Kaur said she is expanding her imagination move toward different influences.
“I still want to keep exploring and kind of veer away from Indian culture and start making designs that anyone I’m living around can buy,” Kaur said.
