Brand: Tarun Tahiliani
Scope: Illustration, motion design
Year: 2022
Location: Bengaluru, KA
Tarun Tahiliani needs no introduction, but his first ever store in Bengaluru definitely needed one. Cues were taken from the architecture and it turns out, vintage mansions can be a great muse for projects like this.
The interiors of the TT Store, Bengaluru
The façade of the restored house
The interiors of the TT Store, Bengaluru
For his first store in Bengaluru, Tarun Tahiliani decided to restore and repurpose a heritage house in the heart of the city - a cantonment house with architectural characteristics not really found in this day and age. This was something that really resonated with Tarun as his designs also bring out the best from the lost Indian heritage crafts. Restoring lost heritage felt just about right.
The invitation was a bit of a tough spot. For a fashion designer, Tarun Tahiliani's aesthetic is not necessarily all bling, shine and stars. It is soft, reserved, classy and elegant. The same was expected in the invitation, with one exception - the use of a specific bright shade of maroon was mandatory. Whether it was his personal liking or a creative decision from his team, we'll never know. I still do have second thoughts about this, but I tend to incorporate different opinions into my designs. Whether it worked this time... well, that is up for debate.
The restored house had to be the centre stage. At the time of designing the invitation, the restoration was still underway and the photos provided to me had a lot of rubble and debris in front of the otherwise stunning façade. I used Photoshop to clean up some of it and reconstructed the image to get rid of perspective distortions and make the structure mathematically symmetrical.
The next stage was to make a line art drawing of the house. And not just draw, but also record the process so I could use the time lapse as part of the design. I had to do it thrice, because the first time I carelessly forgot to turn on the recording feature. Foolishly, I didn't turn up the recording quality the second time. Finally, I got the perfect footage the third time.
Eventually, after a million rounds of changes in the text, RSVP details, phone numbers and the music, I was done with this beauty. It was a worthwhile experience working for a celebrity for the first time. Check out the invitation video below.
