‘It all began when a science student started scribbling doodles in her notebooks.’
[NOTE: I guess you’ve already read the ‘About us’ Page! If not, give it a read, it will help you catch up with this story better!😀]
Hi there! I am Ashwini, and I’ll be walking you through the journey of creation of ACU’s First product.
More like a writer turned into an Artist, this story goes back to the creation of Ahiru and everything that came after that.
2017 was a crucial year for me as I was transitioning from being a writer and or a poet, to an artist who liked expressing herself better with doodles and colors. Around that time I was also working as an intern on a writing app ’Lettrs’ (Now ‘Musist’). I consider that Lettrs played a huge part in the creation of Ahiru with its Write & Doodle feature. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of combining my quotes and poetries with doodles and one thing led to another and My elder sister suggested naming this Girl character I used to doodle everywhere. Thus ‘Ahiru’ was born!
As a very passionate blooming doodler, I used to doodle Ahiru a lot in my notes. Some of these were elaborate comics too on how I used to feel ‘What a drag’ each time I came across understanding a new scientific pathway.
My classmates during college were the first ones to have Ahiru doodled on all of their Lab coats!
This was a very exciting phase of my life where all I could think about was ‘I can doodle this and that’, and ‘maybe print the designs and create something I can wear or carry!’ So, I went ahead and printed three of Ahiru’s designs on a color paper and laminated them.
I had no clue about the printing industry and how printed products were manufactured. So what I basically did was make cut-outs from the laminated sheet and attached a keychain at the top.
It’s funny how awestruck I felt doing that, but it all adds up to seeing how Ahiru’s designs just lights up all of your faces at the exhibitions I host. The feelings are mutual I guess 😀
This was during my bachelors in 2017. I loved Ahiru and I was delighted to know that my friends could relate to her too!
Unaware about my future career choices during my post graduation, I decided on printing around Hundred badges and selling them to my classmates. The response turned out to be great and a few months down the line I had to ship these badges via India Post (cost effective att) to locations all over India! Later on I got my first customized badge order from a junior and so began the personalized gifting range!
Head to ‘Ahiru’s Library’, for exploring all the original Ahiru designs! Also, Thank you for reading!