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A BUSINESS IDEA for a LIFESTYLE BRAND

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This is a business idea jointly created by us:

Disha & Drishti Arya (we are twins), and we are
hugely excited by the immense possibilities

CALLIGRAPHY - A BUSINESS IDEA

ROMANCE OF CALLIGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATION

Origins and Art of Expression through writing
Era of Illumination Manuscripts
CREATIVE IDEA - ROMANCING WITH CALLIGRAPHY
Birth of an idea
Taking concept from one category to another seamlessly
Ability to create be-spoke goods
Absolute scalability of the idea
CATEGORIES
Dinner Service : Bone China, Porcelain & Silverware
Broideried Calligraphy: Chairs as Thrones
Wallpapers: Chinoserie re-defined through Calligraphy
Be-spoke Stationery: Creating personalised stationery
Textile: Redefining Chintz & Block Printing
Fashion: Haute-couture redifined

Illustration source: Https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/search/objecten?v=list&f=1&p=1&ps=10&rpkref=The+Illustrated+Bartsch+164&ii=0#/RP-P-OB-76.989,0

C alligraphy
(from Greek kallos "beauty" +
graph "writing") is the art of writing. A
contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is
"the art of giving form to signs in an expressive,
harmonious and skillful manner."
The story of writing is one of aesthetic
development framed within the technical skills,
transmission speed(s) and material limitations of a
person, time and place. A style of writing is
described as a script, hand or alphabet.
Calligraphy ranges from functional hand lettered
inscriptions and designs to fine art pieces where
the abstract expression of the handwritten mark
may or may not supersede the legibility of the
letters.
1

1 Mediaville, Claude (1996). Calligraphy: From Calligraphy to Abstract Painting. Belgium: Scirpus-Publications.

CALLIGRAPHY - A BUSINESS IDEA

ROMANCE OF CALLIGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATION

Origins and Art of Expression through writing
For centuries illustration was the first form of expressing creative thoughts
- then scripts were born.
Scripts in their evolutionary cycle then went on to get adorned in different
styles in different eras. However, the best era was when the Illustrative Art and
Script married as an Art of Expression. The scripts were getting flourishes after
flourishes and Calligraphy was getting romanticized as a true ART FORM.
Ever since both of us have delved into this beautiful form of expression we have been
overawed by what got created. We wanted to explore if we could utilize this
old art form to create day to day products that have history and character embedded
as a core IDEA.

CALLIGRAPHY - A BUSINESS IDEA

CREATIVE IDEA - ROMANCING WITH CALLIGRAPHY

Era of Illumination Manuscripts

Birth of an BIG idea

Taking concept from one category to another seamlessly
Ability to create be-spoke goods
Absolute scalability of the idea
We almost got the IDEA as a FLASH and realized that Calligraphy can
be applied to various product categories. A core creative idea which is
seamlessly scalable.
The examples in following pages demonstrate how one can apply this and create product
categories and even have the ability to create bespoke goods.
We carried this as a presentation to prospective individuals who could support us in
creating samples (proof-of-principle concept). This was required to establish that this
is a bankable business idea.
Also necessary was to create an emotive brand around our proposition. Various options
were discussed. From a very generic name of CALLIGRAPHIA to completely out of the
box brand names were proposed.
However, since we have been seeing the resurgence of our country in the global market
place - we decided to choose INDIA centric brand name. Also there was a need for a connect
to nostalgia. Following options were discussed and short listed and logo designs were created:
THE GRAND TRUNK ROAD COMPANY
THE SHERSHAH COLLECTION
THE RAJASHTHAN COMPANY
THE GREAT RAJ COLLECTION
THE GREAT INDIA COMPANY
THE SILKROUTE

http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/3983609

THE
GRAND TRUNK
ROAD COMPANY

The

SILKROUTE
THE SHERSHAH COLLECTION

THE
RAJASTHAN
COMPANY

The

Great Raj
Company

After great deal of deliberation the brand

The Great India Company was choosen by us
to represent our idea. We did a small dip stick
study and almost all the groups chose this brand
and logo style over the others.

IDEA
GETS a
NAME &
ITS
SIGNATURE

CALLIGRAPHY - A BUSINESS IDEA

CATEGORIES
Armed with the idea, we tried to get an investor who will help us
ideate one or two of the following categories that we were proposing
for a Lifestyle brand to the investee company:

Dinner Service : Bone China, Porcelain & Silverware

Furniture Couture : Broidered Upholstery Chairs as Thrones
Wallpapers: Chinoiserie re-defined through Calligraphy
Bespoke Stationery: Creating personalized stationery
Textile: Redefining Chintz & Block Printing
Fashion: Haute-couture redefined
We are demonstrating in the following pages the creative templates
of the Dinner Service idea.
Also, prototypes of Dinner Service and Broidered Upholstery Chair were funded and are ready.
We are confident that the Business Plan will justify the creation of lifestyle company under the
banner of THE GREAT INDIA COMPANY.
We decided to propose LIMITED EDITIONs for Dinner Service and Thrones in order to
position the idea from the beginning as a bespoke LUXURY lifestyle brand.
For Dinner Service a Place Setting of 3 Plates & Six Calligraphy Letters ABC & XYZ
&
For Thrones 6 Chairs with ABC & XYZ in sets of two and three color options
Initial feedback we received has made us confident to raise funds for our
idea. We have decided to incubate this into a full fledged business post graduation.
During all our breaks we will devote our time to create more categories and prototypes,
so that by 2019 we will have a fully baked business ready for launch.

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28 cm Dinner Plate
Sourced from17th century German book on calligraphy entitled The Proper Art of Writing: a compilation of all
sorts of capital or initial letters of German, Latin and Italian fonts from different masters of the noble art of writing.
Although some can be recognizable as letters, it seems that a penchant for elaborate decoration has made most of
them wonderfully illegible. These images were digitized and vectorized by us so that we could use these digitally.
Credit is due to the original unknown artist who did render these in ink originally

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28 cm Dinner Plate
Sourced from17th century German book on calligraphy entitled The Proper Art of Writing: a compilation of all
sorts of capital or initial letters of German, Latin and Italian fonts from different masters of the noble art of writing.
Although some can be recognizable as letters, it seems that a penchant for elaborate decoration has made most of
them wonderfully illegible. These images were digitized and vectorized by us so that we could use these digitally.
Credit is due to the original unknown artist who did render these in ink originally

by

28 cm Dinner Plate
Sourced from17th century German book on calligraphy entitled The Proper Art of Writing: a compilation of all
sorts of capital or initial letters of German, Latin and Italian fonts from different masters of the noble art of writing.
Although some can be recognizable as letters, it seems that a penchant for elaborate decoration has made most of
them wonderfully illegible. These images were digitized and vectorized by us so that we could use these digitally.
Credit is due to the original unknown artist who did render these in ink originally

by

28 cm Dinner Plate
Sourced from17th century German book on calligraphy entitled The Proper Art of Writing: a compilation of all
sorts of capital or initial letters of German, Latin and Italian fonts from different masters of the noble art of writing.
Although some can be recognizable as letters, it seems that a penchant for elaborate decoration has made most of
them wonderfully illegible. These images were digitized and vectorized by us so that we could use these digitally.
Credit is due to the original unknown artist who did render these in ink originally

by

28 cm Dinner Plate
Sourced from17th century German book on calligraphy entitled The Proper Art of Writing: a compilation of all
sorts of capital or initial letters of German, Latin and Italian fonts from different masters of the noble art of writing.
Although some can be recognizable as letters, it seems that a penchant for elaborate decoration has made most of
them wonderfully illegible. These images were digitized and vectorized by us so that we could use these digitally.
Credit is due to the original unknown artist who did render these in ink originally

by

28 cm Dinner Plate
Sourced from17th century German book on calligraphy entitled The Proper Art of Writing: a compilation of all
sorts of capital or initial letters of German, Latin and Italian fonts from different masters of the noble art of writing.
Although some can be recognizable as letters, it seems that a penchant for elaborate decoration has made most of
them wonderfully illegible. These images were digitized and vectorized by us so that we could use these digitally.
Credit is due to the original unknown artist who did render these in ink originally

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28 cm Dinner Plate

31.75 cm Charger
20.5 cm SidePlate

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28 cm Dinner Plate

31.75 cm Charger
20.5 cm SidePlate

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28 cm Dinner Plate

31.75 cm Charger
20.5 cm SidePlate

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28 cm Dinner Plate

31.75 cm Charger
20.5 cm SidePlate

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28 cm Dinner Plate

31.75 cm Charger
20.5 cm SidePlate

Our proof of concept culminates in final production of prototype

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These are Bone China Dinner Plates of Size 28cms as per our calligraphic design

This is a limited edition of abc & xyz in sets of 2 each in gold

Our proof of concept culminates in final production of prototype

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These are Chippendale Velvet Upholstered Chairs. Embroidered with gold bullion threads as per our calligraphic design

This is a limited edition of abc & xyz in sets of 2 each in black

Our proof of concept culminates in final production of prototype

by

These are Chippendale Velvet Upholstered Chairs. Embroidered with gold bullion threads as per our calligraphic design

This is a limited edition of abc & xyz in sets of 2 each in RED

Our proof of concept culminates in final production of prototype

by

These are Chippendale Velvet Upholstered Chairs. Embroidered with gold bullion threads as per our calligraphic design

This is a limited edition of abc & xyz in sets of 2 each in AUBERGINE

Our mission statement of how to

fructify an Idea

IDEA IS
BORN
OF TRUTH
FORGED IN
HISTORY,
FIRED BY

INTEGRITY
AND
SUSTAINED
BY THE
FORCE OF
PASSION

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c Copyright Disha Arya & Drishti Arya

Publisher: The Great India Company, Karamchand House, 72 Okhla Estate, New Delhi 110020 India
All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the coyright holders.
disha.arya@gmail.com
drishti.arya@gmail.com