Odloza Studio: Rewriting Visual Identities for Brands
Growing up in an Indian household in the early 2000s, carving a career in the arts was a harrowing prospect for any parent. They wanted you to walk the tried-and-tested path of engineering, law, or a medical degree, and were even willing to take a loan for it. But Mackwin Baptist, buoyed by his love for the arts, decided to take the plunge, converting his love for art into a business, and has since created Odloza Studio.
Mackwin pursued Science in 11th and 12th grade but switched to a Bachelor's in Fine Arts from the esteemed JJ Institute of Arts, which boasts of renowned alumni such as Nana Patekar, MF Hussain, and Raj Thackeray, among others.
Apart from arts, he’s also into sports such as individual freestyle football, basketball freestyle, and juggling with tennis balls. This acts as a therapeutic practice, wherein combining sports and arts not only calms but also helps propel his professional career.
The Inspiration behind Odloza:
When asked about the inception of Odloza, Mackwin concedes that the idea was simmering in his mind since the first year of his graduation. He had the vision to build something of his own, but one is still searching for clarity at that stage.
Not inclined towards the traditional teaching job, he remembers researching, and the concept of a design studio fascinated him. He’d subsequently chance upon a ‘cool’ senior named Sanskar, who also gave him work and guidance during the early years of building his craft.
Once Mackwin started working as a freelancer, earning steady work, the question hit him like a flash of lightning. ‘Why not take this work under a studio name?’ But the inspiration for the name was adorably simple. A mother calling in to check up on her son in the evening, only to end the call with a classic Konkani phrase. ‘Bore kon shik ani odlo zaa.’ (Learn well and become successful.)
As Mackwin would then look out the window frames at the bustling traffic of Bombay, a city that never sleeps, the Eureka moment caught his attention. The studio had to be named ‘Odloza’ because success in life is something we all desire, not just for us, but our loved ones too.
Marketing and Building a Studio:
The biggest marketing for Odloza studio at this point is through word of mouth and referrals. In his experience, brands and the corporate and residential sectors have a higher demand for art, while explaining the value of this work to a middle-class family that may still view art as a luxury rather than a necessity.
Right now, their studio primarily focuses on murals and installations while slowly getting into branding. While expanding on branding, he explained that his studio focuses on creating the aesthetic language for the brand, such as the logos, the packaging, the kind of fonts, and a visual identity to align with the brand.
He gave the example of starting a food brand. If one is to take the case of McDonald's, one knows their typography, their colour scheme, and visual identity, which also translates into their packaging and other graphics. Odloza studio mimics the same for brands that are looking to establish themselves in the sea of businesses out there.
One of the most enjoyable learning curves so far was while working with a legacy brand called Budhani. Anyone who has lived in Pune will swear by the crispness and delightful taste of their paper-thin wafers, one of their standout products. Mackwin’s studio primarily worked on the coffee vertical that Budhani is trying to slowly incorporate into its brand.
When asked about mural work, he recalls a project with an Italian café in Andheri called Café Buratta. Where he mixed the modern with the classic, a painting of Mona Lisa winking and having spaghetti, utensils found in an Indian kitchen popping up on the wall, a guy tossing a pizza with all the elements of the pizza popping up and flying off, a guy with the saltbae style of sprinkling salt.
Discussing his struggles, communication seemed to be a big part in the early days. He had to keep his artistic side on the back burner and think from a layman’s perspective to explain these ideas and concepts in common words.
Speaking of advice, he humbly stated that listening to your customer and trying to understand their needs and desires, rather than peddling the idea that you have in your mind, is very important. At the end of the day, they are the ones who need to be satisfied with your work, and in a visual medium such as art, ‘jo dikhega woh bikega.’