Studio Em & En is a visual communication studio based out of Bangalore, India. While working as independent designers, Maithili and Nikheel often landed up brainstorming, helping each other on projects, considering they were sharing the studio space. One fine day they decided it was best to formalize things and work together. That’s how studio Em & En came into being.
It is a very personalized studio focusing on branding/identity design, packaging, publication and anything else (small or big) that requires design insights and expertise. With a very transparent and healthy relationship with their clients and recommendations, the studio has grown very organically.
Maithili and Nikheel are a team of two (and only designers) who ideate, design, make tea, file returns, clean desks and go for meetings. Though depending on the nature of the project and its magnitude, they collaborate with designers, illustrators, and experts in the required fields.
Get in touch with us on either maithilyd@gmail.com or anikheel@gmail.com
— Maithili (em)
With over a decade of experience as a graphic designer in diverse areas including brand identity, packaging, and publishing; Maithili has worked with a mid-segment to large scale brands—spanning a range of areas from corporate to hospitality and education to fashion & lifestyle.
Delhi and Penguin Books, India (where she worked as a Senior Designer) introduced Maithili to the world of publishing. Since then she has enjoyed designing for books of diverse genres, enjoying the creativity and variety that publishing has to offer.
Recently Maithili also received The Oxford Book Store, Book cover prize for her cover design for the book Himalaya, edited by Ruskin Bond and Namita Gokhale.
Maithili also works as a consulting art director for Speaking Tiger Books, Delhi. Prior to this, she was an art director at Rupa Publications India and senior designer at Ray and Keshavan, Bengaluru.
Browse various book covers designed by Maithili here.
– Nikheel (en)
Nikheel is a trained graphic designer and calligrapher with an experience of more than twelve years. An alumnus of the National Institute of Design (NID); he had worked on various projects related to branding, identity, print & publishing, corporate communication, event & environmental graphics, etc.
He practices calligraphy in both Roman and Devanagri (Indian) scripts and primarily focusing on the contemporising the latter. He has got various opportunities to explore a wide spectrum of calligraphy through commercial work, art, exhibitions, teaching, products, etc. I have been invited to participate in residencies and group shows in India & abroad and to conduct workshops in many schools and colleges – Ashoka University, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), MICA, NIFT, Srishti, etc. (www.leehkin.com)
View Nikheel's calligraphy work here.