The Calm In The Chaos | Aditi Chaddha Batra For Feministaa

In a tiny room with white walls and a huge brown table is a shelf that stands out for its neatly stacked pastel products in the form of cups, plates, notebooks and kulhad cups. And as you look closely, the meticulously created products give you an overwhelming feeling of the tints of belonging; the tints of India.

Indus people is a home and lifestyle brand creating products inspired by the various hues of India formed by the very creative and the very ingenious Aditi Chaddha Batra.

Aditi has been a graphic designer all her life. With no intention of starting a brand of her own, she had already resigned herself to always having a life of working under someone else.

All she had was an idea, to create something inspired by the diversity of India but done in a very modern and minimalistic manner and so her new venture and her very own home and lifestyle brand Indus People was formed.

According to Aditi, all the designs inspired by India had a reputation of being very colourful, ethnic and loud. Being a big fan of minimalism and inspired from the Scandinavian and Japanese designs, Aditi wanted to cut through this trend and create a brand that insinuated inspiration from all around you in a manner which was both minimalistic and beautiful to look at.

“My idea was that you can still be inspired from the clutter and chaos of India and be the calm in the chaos.”

As Aditi delved into creation, she became intricately connected with India’s origin and found the origin of her own brand in synchronisation.

“India’s first civilization was settled near the Indus, and the name ‘India’ has come from the land of Indus itself. I was very clear that I wanted all my products manufactured in India by Indians so that’s why I felt it all made sense and the name Indus People came to my mind.”

A set from the Confluence Collection. The Source collection is derived from the colours of Indus as it weaves down into the terrain. An extension of The Source Collection, The Confluence is an artistic rendition of the confluence of the mighty Indus and Zanskar Rivers.

For a brand which is still at a niche stage, Aditi’s clarity and her insight into her work attach with it great potential for the future. Especially, in creating a brand in a place in which people believe that if there is not too much happening, there is no design.

“Many people in India don’t understand the concept of minimalism and believe in the notion of ‘If I can’t see it, there is no design’. So, I knew that my brand was not going to appeal to the masses.”

The Kulhad collection is a part of a ‘Dip in The Ganga’. ‘Dip in The Ganga’ is inspired from the restoring powers of Varanasi and Ganga’s Spirituality.

According to Aditi, with travel and exposure design’s taste has evolved. Indus people thus becomes exclusive to people with an evolved sense of design who have been exposed around the world.

“Design is not something you learn, design is a sensibility.”

Aditi’s first exhibition happened a month ago and the response she recorded made her believe all the more that she was headed in the right path.

When you’re doing something minimalistic, every surface stands out and every small flaw shows and maintaining the quality that goes beneath it makes it the biggest challenge. All her products are handmade products, made in a process called Slip casting. The collection is cleaned and glazed by hand as well.

“If you’ve started something new, you will be faced by many challenges and you need to be mentally prepared to go for an enormous emotional and financial investment. But you have to keep working at it until you get out what you want, otherwise, you’ll just be any other brand”

Something that Aditi learned to rectify in herself as a process of growing up was not to get restricted in her own designs but rather finding meaning out of the mistakes. In fact, one of her collections The Confluence Collection was a result of this mistake.

“You never know, maybe that mistake is much better than what you had imagined! Somewhere, as a designer, you have to let go and let things happen. Inspiration can come from anywhere and anytime and you just have to be open to it!”