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KolamOS — From Archival Lines to Contemporary Life
What happens when a pattern leaves the page and becomes something we can wear, carry, or inhabit?
KolamOS explores that question through archival Tamil kolam illustrations. Their interwoven loops, dot grids, and stepped geometry became the starting point for a contemporary visual collection created in Recraft.
I built a custom Recraft Style from selected archival references, then explored how that visual language could move across different materials and scales—from graphic compositions and imagined neighbourhood spaces to fashion and accessories.
The featured fashion image brings the idea into focus: white interlaced motifs animate a black dress, while a structured handbag reinterprets the archive’s geometric detailing. Rather than simply reproducing an old page, I wanted to explore how its lines could take on a different character through fabric, surface, and form.
My process involved selecting references, developing the custom style, generating variations, and iteratively refining the strongest compositions. The comparisons shown here place the selected creations beside their archival sources so the connection remains visible.
This submission presents a curated selection. The wider exploration lives in my Recraft project.
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200 years ago, local artists painted the everyday people of the subcontinent: barbers, porters, chai wallas, knife sharpeners. Each one got a portrait, flat colours, a fancy border, total respect.
So I asked: what if those same painters time travelled to Lahore today?
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Same old painter, new Lahore. 😄
Love this. Giving chai wallas and porters that old portrait treatment again feels really respectful. The borders are beautiful.