Diwali is a time of year when we love to welcome newness in our design practice and the 2025 collaboration with Pottery Barn was just right for the occasion. This was the first time the American home brand was working with an Indian designer for a design and packaging line, and we wanted to create something festive that spoke to this East-meets-West moment.

Pottery Barn’s aesthetic evokes gracious country living, at once charming and comforting. The Diwali design - for gift boxes, note cards and festive stationery - had to reflect this elegance, infused with the sparkle, sizzle and style of festival season in India. We wanted to create a packaging design with original artwork that was rooted in a culture of celebration.

To evoke the idea of disparate pieces coming together to create a new pattern, we used the visual language of mosaic. For inspiration, we turned to the radiant intricacy of tiled mosaics seen in Byzantine and Mediterranean architecture. As a historical bridge between the cultures of the west and the east, the Byzantine empire was a particularly apt muse for this collaboration.

For the packaging design, artist Tanish Malji of PRD hand-painted classical Indian motifs, like pomegranates, peacocks, palm trees, and lotuses, within a mosaic-like grid. These timeless forms were reimagined in contemporary ways and an autumnal palette of soft pumpkin, sage green, blushing pink, and a deep Wedgewood blue. The motifs alternated with tiny starbursts of light, traced like the grid itself with gold luster. Set against a row of lit diyas, the gilded design comes twinkling to life.