The Eastern Metropolitan Club is a poolside members' club in Survey Park, Kolkata. I joined as its monthly design partner in the middle of the pandemic — and for two years designed everything the club put in front of its members: the Durga Puja campaigns, the Rasoi kitchen brand, the festive calendar from Bhai Phota to New Year's Eve, the club newsletter and annual calendar, the exhibition gates and entry passes, the event systems, and the letterheads, fact sheets and membership collateral of club life itself.
A club runs on documents — affiliation letters to sister clubs, fact sheets for enquiries, picture brochures for prospective members, tiered membership programmes. All of it was rebuilt on one system: the pinwheel crest, navy, and a steady typographic hand.
When lockdown closed the dining hall, the club's kitchen went out to members' homes. I built EMC Rasoi from scratch — the scooter-plate-fork logo, the delivery stickers and box tops — and designed the food festivals and delivery menus it ran on.
Durga Puja is the heart of a Kolkata club's calendar — and 2020's had to happen under SOPs and social distancing. The campaign carried it with warmth: the invitation, the Mahalaya and Bijoya greetings, the Secretary's message, and the five-day Bhoj menus in full festival colour.
Between the big festivals sat a full calendar of moments: Bhai Phota lunches, Christmas greetings, a New Year's Eve party sold poolside with masks on, and the small print of the pandemic — covid-norms posters designed to be read at a party.
Twice a year the club becomes a publisher. I designed Volume 27 of the club newsletter — Secretary's desk, tournaments, foundation-day coverage — and the 2021 wall calendar, each month set over the club's own grounds.
Club events shipped as complete systems. Valentine's Night came with invites, tent cards and snack coupons; the Chaitra Carnival exhibition needed stall-booking posters and a printed entry gate; and Nababarsha 1428 scaled from an Instagram post to a 32-foot stage banner — with a thali menu and sponsor certificate in between.
The club's festive week — 23rd bonfire, 25th Christmas party, 31st New Year's Eve — shipped as a single family: a three-panel banner, a poster and standee per night in its own palette, and a season ticket that carried members through all three.
The last season leaned into the club's Bengali heart: a Holi day festival with menu and 12-foot flex, the Ritu Rang spring concert, a Women's Day greeting, a Satyajit Ray centenary tribute set in Bengali typography, and Nababarsha 1429 — poster, standee and a poolside jam session to close.
Puja to Poila Baisakh — every festival and party planned, designed and shipped on time.
Bengali and English side by side — greetings, menus and tributes set with equal care.
Poster, standee, menu, coupon, ticket and gate — every event as one coherent system.
From a die-cut sticker to a 32-foot stage banner, the same identity holds.