NAQQASHI
A timeless Craft from Lucknow
Craft Documentation • Field Research • Publication Design • Visual Identity
We spent 10 days in Yahiyaganj, Lucknow, living alongside craftsmen who practice a 200-year-old art that most people have never heard of. This is what we made from that experience.
Naqqashi began as a craft documentation project and evolved into a complete publication design system.
Along with my batchmates Lavanya and Ashi, we conducted pre-research on the 200-year-old metal engraving craft of Lucknow and spent 10 days living in Yahiyaganj, documenting the lives, processes, and challenges of the craftsmen practicing it.
What started as observation turned into original content creation, photography, writing, and eventually the design of a fully realized book ready for publication.
Building the Visual Identity of the Book
The field research gave us the content. The design phase gave it a form worth holding.
We built the visual identity from the craft itself — the deep greens of patinated metal, the gold of freshly engraved brass, a typography system that carried the weight of something 200 years old without feeling like a museum exhibit. The book cover, the logo, the colour palette, the internal layout — every decision traced back to Yahiyaganj.
The goal was simple: make something that felt as considered as the craft it documented.
Brochure as a Takeaway Artifact
As part of the publication, we designed a gate-fold brochure to be placed inside an envelope attached to the last page of the book.
Multiple copies of this brochure can be taken by readers as a souvenir — extending the experience of the book beyond reading into something tangible they can carry with them.
The form, fold, and layout were designed to mimic the layered richness of the craft itself.
Postcards from the Documentation
A set of postcards was curated from the original photographs taken during documentation — visual fragments of the larger story, allowing the craft, the people, and the environment to exist independently of the book. Each one preserves the format of correspondence. Documentation turned personal.
The Final Publication
From research and writing to photography, editing, identity design, and print artifacts — every part of this project was built from scratch by us. Today, Naqqashi exists as a fully designed, print-ready book that documents not just a craft, but the people and stories behind it.
What This Project Represents
Naqqashi taught me that design research isn't just desk work — it's showing up, earning trust, and staying long enough to see past the surface. Ten days in Yahiyaganj gave me more than content. It gave me a way of working: observe first, design second, and never mistake documentation for understanding.
The visual system we built had to carry the weight of a living craft — its history, its practitioners, its precarity. That's a different kind of design problem than most briefs hand you. It's one I'm glad I learned early.