Pro Helvetia’s 2019 Programme – Season 1 and 2
Pro Helvetia New Delhi (PHND), the liaison office of the Swiss Arts Council, supports and disseminates Swiss arts and culture in South Asia. They promote cultural exchange, develop and nurture long-term partnerships, initiate co-productions and support residencies. PHND’s programme is interdisciplinary in nature with focus on themes like literature, contemporary dance, visual arts, music, theatre, design and photography.
Starting from 2018, PHND decided to roll out their calendar of events on a semiannual basis. Announced in January and July, these calendars highlight various artists/events being supported by PHND through the next six months. Tiffinbox worked on the design of these calendars and other communication collaterals which were usually unveiled at a launch party. Working on the giveaways linked to each announcement is especially exciting for us, given the creative freedom both in terms of idea and execution. We worked on five such announcements with the last one being in January 2020, after which this was suspended in the light of pandemic and replaced by Now On.
Take a look at our designs for season 1 (Jan to June) and 2 (July to Dec) of 2019 below. Our designs for 2018 can be found here.
Programme for 2019: Season One
Modelled on a panchang, the kitschy and ubiquitous Hindu calendar, this season’s calendar was an exploit of iconography and rusticity. Each individual box houses an artist/event, dates, locations, genre, and a visual – the paanch angs (five parts). These and the related information follow the layout system of a traditional panchang. Two other features of a panchang – colourful borders and flimsy, metallic strips at the top and bottom – were incorporated too. The calendar doubled up as a giveaway by literally including a calendar at the bottom left (perforated sheets for the 12 months, stapled to the base). These were printed on bill-paper to complement the look.
The icons had a rough and uneven look
Photos from the launch party. Calendars were printed on Tyvek, rolled up and placed inside Toblerone-shaped boxes.
Photos ©️ Sangeeta Rana
The same theme was carried forward for the season’s greeting card.
Programme for 2019: Season Two
None of the previous calendars had an outright focus on genres, which this time around PHND was keen to highlight. The result was a set of six postcards, each containing a celebratory burst of collaged elements from the artists’ works in a particular genre, delicately wrapped inside a tissue paper representing a mix of all genres and artists.
A digital preview to the season launch.
Season Two Giveaway: Attar
The coinciding of season launch with monsoon in India drove us to the busy streets of Chandni Chowk in search of a specific attar – petrichor; the perfect fragrance for the season.
Season Two Giveaway: Genre Notebook
The genre notebook made a comeback, for everybody at PHND loved the first notebook and they soon ran out of copies. The cover got a new look and a hard backing while the rest of it remained the same. Read up on the first notebook here.