Our Story
It started at the vaasal
Vaasal means doorway or entrance in Tamil—the place where I first learned to love kolam.
Growing up, I watched my mom create kolam at our veetu vaasal, especially during festivals and celebrations. I learned by watching her, and over the years, drawing kolam became a tradition of my own. Every holiday, you could find me at the entrance of our home working on increasingly elaborate patterns.
Where precision meets creativity
What has always drawn me to kolam is its balance of structure and art.
The patterns are geometric, precise and deeply symmetrical. Creating one can feel almost like solving a puzzle—following the pattern, anticipating where each line needs to go, and making sure everything connects exactly as it should.
I love that process. There are rules and structure to work within, but endless possibilities for what can emerge from them.
And at the end of all that precision is something simply beautiful.
Tradition, made for modern spaces
The idea for Vaasal Designs came when a friend was decorating her new home and struggling to find Indian-inspired artwork that felt simple and contemporary. I had been looking for the same thing.
There were beautiful traditional pieces and plenty of modern décor—but finding something that felt rooted in our culture while still fitting naturally into a modern home wasn't easy.
That gap became the beginning of Vaasal Designs.
I began translating the kolam patterns I have loved for years onto canvas, pairing traditional designs with a more minimal approach and color palettes ranging from warm, earthy tones to soft pastels.
My hope is to create pieces that help people stay connected to their roots and traditions without asking them to compromise the feeling of the spaces they've created for themselves.
Made by hand
Every Vaasal piece begins with a blank canvas.
I paint each background by hand before drawing the kolam individually, line by line. Because each piece is handmade, no two are ever exactly alike.
Vaasal began with wall art, but I'm continuing to explore the ways kolam can live beyond the traditional doorway—from prints and signs to custom pieces and objects for the home.
