First up, a disclaimer. We would like to keep the words as few as possible here and let the amazing visuals speak for themselves. But since this needs to be an article, here’s a brief account of what this exciting venture is all about.
What exactly is it? Well, it’s an illustrator collective created by three architects—Yash Shetty, Amal Nair and Kirthi Pillai—who have been working in tandem since their early college days and call themselves ‘Mapuls,’ which is synonymous with ‘bantai’ (friend) in Tamil and Malayalam. Hence, the name Doodle Mapuls.
What do they do? They make amazing illustrations on T-shirts, jackets, shoes, skateboards, and even rugs, in a vibrant street culture genre, hypebeast, not yet as popular in India as in the West. The trio grew up in Mumbai, hence inspiration comes not just from its mean streets, but also its biggest draw, Bollywood. Check out their vivid collaborations with brands like Urban Monkey, SlimJim India, NBA India, Ishq Bector, D’evil, Doc Sneakers, Toesmith, Goa FC and Dust of Gods to know what we mean.
When and how did it start? The three friends had been working with each other since college on various mediums of art but never termed it or clubbed it under one specific umbrella. But after they graduated in May 2020, they were faced with a pandemic and subsequent lockdown. That’s when they decided to start materialising the art they had always envisioned.
Where can you get these? Log on to www.doodlemapuls.com, or purchase directly from their Instagram page as well as WazirX NFT store.
They make illustrations on T-shirts, jackets, shoes, skateboards, and even rugs, in a vibrant street culture genre, hypebeast, not yet popular in India