Member in the Spotlight: Farid Bawa

Farid Bawa, Senior Designer at DDB Unlimited, is this week’s Member in the Spotlight – we chat with Farid about his side-project, All India Permit (an art organisation formed to promote the dying truck art of India), the differences between the Dutch and Indian creative industries and why his recent trip to Sicily sparked his imagination.

As the Club for Creativity, we'd like to start by asking you to get creative and draw a self portrait.

My childhood signature is my self portrait! In school we were once asked to create signatures, so we could learn how documents had to be signed by our own unique handwriting. I drew an f (for Farid) with a smile underneath it for my ‘unique’ signature to make a face. It felt almost like designing my own logo. The teachers or banks wouldn’t allow it as a signature… but it still lives on!

As a Designer, was pursuing a career in the creative industry something you knew you wanted to do from a young age?

I’d spend hours drawing when I was a kid and had a strange obsession with the smell of paint! My mom, who is a creative, noticed this in me. She made sure the environment around me was supportive of this from a young age, so I could eventually pursue something creative professionally. BIG thanks to her!

You are also the founder of All India Permit, an art organisation formed to promote the dying truck art of India. Could you explain a bit about what this is and why you started it?

In India, hand-painted truck art has been a tradition for generations of truck artists who are commissioned by truckers. Vibrant paintings, kaleidoscopic symbols, ornamental designs and three-dimensional typography are a common sight behind commercial trucks in India. Spending 60% of their lives on the road, the truck is a canvas for truckers to express their feelings to their lover, to pay respect to their deity, to feel pride in a national symbol, to show fandom for a movie star, and to remember their home. However, this art form is fading fast due to cheap DIY stickers and pre-painted trucks.

My grandfather ran a transport business and I grew up seeing seemingly endless numbers of trucks in the yard being brought to life by the truck artists. Over the years, I also witnessed the decline of the hand-painted form. I thought something needed to be done, otherwise the beautiful truck art of India would soon be history.

I founded All India Permit to create a community of truck artists and make their art form popular again, bringing them the recognition they deserve and financial stability they need.

All India Permit provides truck artists with recycled cold rolled sheets from truck panels, so buyers can own an authentic piece of truck art. By commissioning, promoting and selling their art on a global scale, we help truck artists keep their art form seen, cherished and importantly, viable. Our recent collaborations with brands like Google, Levi’s and Vans have really helped these artists get global visibility.

Out of the campaigns/projects you’ve worked on so far, which makes you the most proud?

That project is #GodSaveTheOcean. It’s an initiative to tackle water pollution caused during Ganesha festival in India. It was my first big project after my design school while I was working at Ogilvy, Mumbai in 2015.

During the Ganesha festival, millions of Ganesha idols are immersed in the sea. However, many of these idols are made of toxic materials like PoP, lead, zinc and mercury, which pollute the sea and kill the fish. To counter this, we created innovative Ganesha idols out of fish food. So these idols don’t pollute the sea, and are consumed by the fish instead.

The festival celebrates Ganesha as a protector and healer; the creative solution reflects this, staying true to the religious significance and symbolism of the tradition. The buzz around the work grew through winning the Young Gun Award and also the D&AD Pencil - that was additionally rewarding and helped with confidence early in my career.

If you could pick one recent campaign/project that makes you think, ‘I wish I’d done that’, what would it be and why?

‘The Tampon Book’

When I came across their case film, I was really amazed. It’s a super simple and elegant idea and outsmarted the tax system legally. It shows the true power of creative thinking.

What is your best source of creative inspiration?

Travelling! It may sound a bit cliched but it helps my creativity to continuously expose myself to new cultures, people and stories. It was seeking cultural difference and richness of experience which brought about my move to Europe from India.

What’s the one film you recommend that everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime?

Aaah that’s really difficult to answer! I’ll select my favourite from last year; horribly absorbing and beautifully made, it blew me apart - Parasite.

What type of music would we find in your most listened to playlist on Spotify?

Khruangbin Radio on Spotify is favourite at the moment and I love the music of The Bombay Royale. They sound like Bollywood from the 60s - a blend of funk, disco and pop. It’s brilliant!

What is your most impressive party trick?

I’m not a very religious person, but I wear a Kara (a religious metal bangle) on my right hand that was put on when I was about 12 years old I think, and now it’s impossible to take off. Over the years I’ve reinvented its purpose to open beer bottles, so I get asked about that one at parties.

Name one thing that recently sparked your imagination?

It was last week - a trip to the hilltop city Ragusa in Sicily. I had an opportunity to meet Damiano Rotella and Biagio Castilletti who are some of the last artists dedicated to painting and restoring Sicilian carts as a profession. The Sicilian cart, or Carretto Siciliano, is one of the prime icons of Sicilian folklore. The cart has been a means of transport that combined functionality with great story-telling, just like the Indian trucks! It was a super experience visiting their workshop, talking to the artists and finding similarities and connections between Sicilian cart art and Indian truck art. I’m extremely inspired and thrilled after that visit.

As we are now transitioning back to life post corona, what kept you sane during lockdown?

A lot of cooking. Cooking Indian food takes a lot of time and I was able to cook and recreate some of my mother’s recipes during the lockdown period. Slowing things down with some cooking was really therapeutic.

What is your biggest learning from life in quarantine?

I think one of the biggest things I learned while in quarantine is that it's OK to slow down. Also, during those late night walks, Amsterdam looked stunning in its stillness.

What do you think defines the Dutch creative community? Having also worked in the Indian creative industry, how would you compare the two?

It’s the diversity. Working with people of different nationalities and talents makes it really enriching for me at DDB Unlimited. I also love how everyone is so well connected in the wider creative community here, everyone knows each other. That wasn’t possible in India with the population there!

Who do you admire the most in the Dutch creative industry?

I love the graphic design work of Hansje van Halem and studio Lennarts & De Bruijn. Installations and performances by studio DRIFT; and the fashion by the duo Viktor & Rolf.

Best piece of advice?

Make time to start a passion led side-project. It gives you so much independence, a healthy creative outlet and a lot of thrills too.

Through our Members in the Spotlight feature, we aim to get to know both professionally and personally the unique qualities of our ADCN Members. If you would like to join ADCN, the Club for Creativity, you can find out more here.