Shibangee Basu — Bajaj Archive · Freedom to Progress

01 — THE IDENTITY LOCKUP

Bajaj Beyond,
and the word Legacy

The exhibition needed a mark that could sit beside the Bajaj house logo without competing with it. The answer was a lockup, not a new logo: the blue Bajaj block, the BEYOND wordmark with its lifted "Y", and Legacy set underneath in a handwritten script — the one soft, human element in an otherwise rigid corporate system. It was built out in a positive, a reversed and a mono version so it could survive gallery signage, print and a steel tag equally well.

Identity LockupReversalsSignage Ready

bajaj-beyond-legacy — positive · reversed · mono

The lockup, three ways. Positive on white, reversed on Bajaj blue, and a mono cut for single-colour applications like the engraved steel tag.

02 — THE INVITATION

An archive photograph,
and the name down the side

The invite had to do two things at once: feel like a document from the archive, and read as a live event listing. So it splits — a sepia photograph from the archive on the left, the BAJAJ name running vertically down the seam like a spine label, and the dates, hours and address stacked cleanly on the right. Nothing decorative was added. The archive itself was the artwork.

Exhibition InviteArchive PhotographyEvent Listing

freedom-to-progress — invitation · 11 Aug – 4 Oct

Freedom to Progress exhibition invitation with an archive photograph and BAJAJ set vertically

Freedom to Progress. An immersive journey through time — Kamalnayan Bajaj Art Gallery, 226 Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021.

03 — ONE POTLI, ONE PATTERN

From a woven bag
to a steel tag

The merchandise didn't start from a moodboard — it started from a traditional potli with handwoven stripes. The pattern was illustrated digitally to capture its essence rather than copy it, then set into a bookmark, and finished with a premium steel tag for weight and durability. That four-step chain became the spine of the whole object range: every piece that followed carries the same green and the same woven rhythm.

Craft TranslationPattern IllustrationMerchandise System

storyboard — potli → pattern → bookmark → steel tag

Four-step storyboard from handwoven potli to illustrated pattern to bookmark to steel tag

The four steps. Traditional potli → digital pattern illustration → bookmark design → crafted steel tag, attached for elegance and durability.

Brushed steel 100 Years Bajaj tag on a green braid — **The steel tag**Brushed steel, screwed corners, hung on a woven green braid

Green potli keychain with an embroidered cow and the steel Bajaj tag — **Potli keychain**The potli itself, shrunk to pocket size — tassels, embroidery and tag

04 — THE OBJECT RANGE

Things a visitor
could take home

The rest of the range put the archive into everyday objects. The notebook is the clearest example: the front is a collage of the family's own book jackets — Gandhi's Coolie, My Life's Journey, the Hindi and Marathi editions — while the back reproduces the green shuttered door of the Bajaj house with its painted panel above. The pouch carries an archive photograph on one face and the mark on the other. The serving tray is designed on both sides: a sepia streetscape under glass at 5×5 inches, and the centenary mark on the cork reverse.

MerchandiseNotebookPouchTraySpec'd to Size