A Malayalee from Chennai who now lives in Bengaluru, Aakansha Menon dons many hats. A graduate in fashion designing from NIFT, Bengaluru, she calls herself “a curious creative cat” and says art is her superpower.
Going by her artist name, Hued Spirit, Aakansha draws for a living. She narrates, “I started actively posting my illustrations on Instagram almost a year and a half ago to widen my platform for sharing my work. Today, I get custom orders which I enjoy doing because it is personal and more valuable.”
Some of the products she designs include notebooks, badges, wall frames, postcards, and bookmarks, among other items. She has put up stalls to showcase her work at various flea markets such as Sunday Soul Sante, Shor Bazaar at Courtyard Café, and Open house at WeWork Galaxy. “Doing this helped me explore and understand customer likes and the market,” she says.
Prior to starting off on her own, Aakansha worked as an assistant fashion designer for a retail brand called Caravan Crafts, in Bengaluru, for a year, before she moved into a more art and illustrative field to channelise her thoughts into visual art and see what she could make out of it.
“I had a very tough time at the beginning with one or no projects,” she admits, adding, “In the meantime, I built on my portfolio by creating self-projects and experimenting with styles. It has been a rollercoaster ride but a fun one since a lot of learning and understanding has been happening.”
One of her biggest challenges she says involves marketing her work. “It is important to get the right kind of work to explore and experiment with.”
Apart from her penchant for art, being the foodie that she is and a photographer by interest, Aakansha has also created a food blog, My Endless Cravings.
In the near future, she hopes to establish her own brand, stemming from her artist name, which would be “full of artistic madness.”
This column features those who choose to veer off the beaten track
