We have all doodled in the last pages of our books in a boring class or on pieces of paper to just vent what is running in our minds. But turning this random pass-time into a business is not what many think of. And it all happened for Siddhesh Sapte and Mital Dubal, just as their company’s name suggests — ‘Over a Pint of Beer.’
Having taken up a job in Kenya in 2014, Siddhesh took the help of doodles to pass through a rough patch in life. However, on his return to India, Siddhesh met Mital who then grained the idea of how his art skills can be turned into a possible business venture and that was just the beginning of all.
Both Siddhesh and Mital, who belonged to the advertising world until then, started with having doodled faces on bed sheets and curtains. “As both of us didn’t have a fashion degree, it took a little longer to venture into the textile industry. However, our experience in the field of advertising came as a boon to us. We started making cotton clothing with art on it and slowly moved into hoodies and dungarees,” shares Mital.
Their hoodies are, however, quite different as they are mostly half-hand ones. “Since we live in the South, the weather here is not very cold and thus we thought of bringing half-hand hoodies which people can wear even when they want to go for a stroll in the early hours of the day,” says Mital who manages the sales part of the company. However, the brand received a great boost when actor Kalki Koechlin wore their products and posted photographs on her Instagram Stories.
The brand’s USP is its doodles of human elements and faces. When quizzed about the story behind it, Mital shares, “We launched the brand in an exhibition whose theme was ‘time spent with real and unreal people’. That became our inspiration then. These faces are of several people that Sid has met somewhere and sees their characteristics coming through the art form. Also, as he spent a good time in Kenya, which is known for artwork around faces and people, I think it connected with him quickly. However, we have always believed the less you define, the more meaning you find, and thus, the art is quite simple and celebrates different people.”
These doodle designs made by Siddhesh are either block printed, screen printed, or embroidered depending on the final product.
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