Photo: Anshuman Sen, Architectural Digest India 2015
Kriti Monga is a visual artist, creative strategist for brands, graphic designer, illustrator and design educator, with a passion for all things type and hand-crafted.
The many hats she has worn over 19 years of professional practice include starting and running Turmeric Design, being a partner at Quick Brown Fox Design (both amongst India’s leading brand design studios), working extensively with lettering and typography, teaching regularly at design schools and independent workshops worldwide, creating type installations and drawing travel and sketchnotes journals.
Having become very good at telling stories for others over the years, Kriti is currently exploring more ways to tell her own.
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she says she's fine2022, 19.5 x 25 inches unframed
Personal
Self Portrait in graphite and white chalk on Canson drawing paper. More images and video of process on my Instagram.
the patience of ordinary things2022, 32 x 40 cm unframed
Personal
Still Life in graphite and white chalk on Canson Drawing paper. Inspired by the poem The Patience of Ordinary Things by Pat Schneider. More images and process on my Instagram.
afternoon bus to cochin 20082022, 35 x 42 cm unframed
Personal
Coloured pencils on Canson drawing paper. After a photograph from my travels in Kerala, 2008. More images and process on my Instagram.
le baiser2022, 22x30 inches unframed
Personal
Auguste Rodin’s The Kiss, in graphite on natural cartridge paper.
newborn in kutch2022, 32 x 40 cm unframed
Personal
Coloured pencils on Canson drawing paper. Study from a photo from my travels in 1999.
scaffolding2021, 14x19 inches unframed
Private Commission
An interpretation of Seamus Heaney’s breathtaking poem ‘Scaffolding’, in hand lettering that expresses both structured solidity and tender fragility. Combined with the old world charm of Bombay’s shipping history, Art Deco details and iconic tetrapods.
Hand drawn custom lettering in black and gold, hand embossed, embroidered details in gold metallic thread, custom sticker-medallion.
edith, the piano at Narendra Bhawan, bikaner2016, Vintage Baby Grand Piano
Commission
It's not often that you get to turn a vintage red piano into a Maharaja's memoir. As the erstwhile Maharaja of Bikaner’s palace-residence was being turned into a luxury boutique hotel, several of his belongings were given new life to express various aspects of his personality. The Baby Grand Piano— painted bright cherry red and covered in hand-drawn gold lettering from one of his favourite singers— became a canvas for expressing the Maharaja’s reputation as a bon vivant.
Custom lettering, hand painted directly on the piano.
beatrice warde certificate2019, 14x19 inches unframed
On Request for Type Directors Club, USA
Handcrafted certificate custom drawn for the 2019 recipient of the Beatrice Warde Scholarship, on request for the Type Directors Club USA and Monotype.
A female undergraduate design student is awarded the scholarship every year, and as a symbolic gesture, a female letterer/calligrapher from around the world in invited to create an original certificate for her.
Hand drawn custom lettering in black and gold, hand embossed, custom sticker-medallion.
Ruth vows2021, 22x30 inches unframed
Private Commission
Ruth 1:16-17 in Foundational Script calligraphy. Gold and copper metallic paint markers on Navy Blue art paper.
phoenix2010, 36 x 36 inches unframed
Personal Piece
JRR Tolkein’s words in custom hand-drawn lettering, for a group exhibition, DesignxDesign 30 under 30, at the Alliance Francaise de Delhi
happyness2017–18, 14x21 cm Hardcover book
Private Commission
Illustrations and cover design for a self-help book by India’s leading de-addiction therapist. Published by Amazon Westland in 2018
integrity2016
Commission
26 artists were invited to create their interpretation of an aspirational value (each word beginning with a letter of the alphabet), for a book for young readers. Integrity lies in doing the right things, against all odds and with repeated, well-intentioned action. This is expressed in not only the illustration, but also the painstaking pointillistic hand embroidery used to create this piece.
