Design · VOLO Design
Design
An independent design studio in Chennai.
The Museum of ChettinadLogo · Signage · Stationery
View the work →
The studio
Identities, brochures, menus and invitations, drawn from scratch for each client. No templates.
- Studio
- VOLO Design
- Based in
- Chennai, India
- Since
- 2014
- Practices
- Identity · Real estate · Hospitality · Invitations · Reportage
01
What we do
Six practices, one studio.
- 01
Identity & websites
Names, marks, stationery and the websites that carry them. New brands, and established ones brought up to date.
- 02
Real estate
Brochures, renders and sales material for developers. The documents a buyer takes home.
- 03
Hospitality
Concepts for restaurants and bars: the idea, the name, the menu and the room.
- 04
Architecture
Architecture and interiors with Philip Weeraratne Associates (PWA), whom we represent in South India. See Architecture →
- 05
Invitations
Wedding suites, launch and event invitations, and the stationery that goes with them. Each one made for a single occasion.
- 06
Reportage
Photography and film about the people who make things: their hands, their workshops and their way of working.
02
Selected work
Open any project for the full case study.
The Museum of Chettinad
Logo · Signage
Logo, signage and stationery for Mrs Visalakshi Ramaswamy's museum of Chettiar culture, in the Chettinad Palace at Kanadukathan.
View the case study →
Sadhev
Naming · Identity · Launch
A luxury Ayurveda house, from the first idea and the name to the packaging, the launch campaign and the launch film.
Asvah
Naming · Interiors · Menus
Our own bistro and bar on the sand at Neelankarai: the name, the rooms, the menus and the pictures.
Admiralty Estates
Naming · Brochure · Story
XI Rutland Gate, Chennai: the name, the marks, the story and the sales brochure for a residence on land with a long Madras history.
Paradiso
Naming · Packaging · Photography
Our own artisanal ice cream from Chennai: the name, the wordmark, the cups and spoons, and the pictures.
The Quarter
Naming · Menu · Story
A cocktail bar at Savera, Chennai, given a name, a mark, a Madras past and a menu to match.
Visalam Group
Logos · Guidelines · Print
Renewables: KKN Energy and Minooki, from the first logo sketches to brand guidelines, a solar brochure, a folder and a full-page press advertisement.
TankTech
Logo · Brochure · Website
Storage tanks: the TankTech wordmark, its Quality · Sustainability · Service · Redefined mark, the company brochure and the website.
Invitations
Weddings · Launches · Events
Wedding suites drawn for one family at a time, launches, workshops and evenings for Raisin Apart, Porsche, Apparao Galleries and Infinium.
Reportage
Film
Makers, filmed where they work: Arcuri ties and Catarisano shirts in Calabria, Sartoria Solito tailoring in Naples, and Bettanin & Venturi shoes in Verona.
03
Clients
Selected clients.
- The Museum of Chettinad
- Admiralty Estates
- Sadhev
- Tanktech
- The Quarter
- Asvah
- Stanley Lifestyle
- Waimea
- Arihant Developers
- TCP Limited
- Radio Room
- Jayz Arvind Enterprises
- Critical Collective
- ParadisoIce creams
Work with us
Bring us the brief.
We take on a small number of projects at a time, and work on each one directly.
The Museum of Chettinad
The Chettinad Palace in Kanadukathan is in two parts. The Museum of Chettinad occupies one of them, the part that belongs to the family's matriarch, Mrs Visalakshi Ramaswamy.
She has taken it upon herself to preserve the culture of the Chettiars and of Chettinad. Every room in the museum is given to a single subject that matters to that culture, and she curates it herself. It is a real gem in the heart of Kanadukathan.
We designed the logo and the signage. The identity is built around an interlaced monogram with a gilded centre. Under it sits a single line, Preserving Heritage, which also appears in Latin as Conservans Hereditatem. Gold, white and ochre carry it through everything the museum hands to a visitor.
- Client
- The Museum of Chettinad
- Curator
- Visalakshi Ramaswamy
- Place
- Chettinad Palace, Kanadukathan, Tamil Nadu
- Our work
- Logo design and signage. Tickets, stationery, the Friends of the TMOC mark, and identities for the museum store and restaurant.
- Year
- 2026
A ticket worth keeping
The front is set plainly: timings, price and admission. The back carries a Raja Ravi Varma painting, so the stub goes home with the visitor rather than into a bin. The tickets come in a family of edge colours.
White, gold, and an ochre edge
Letterhead and envelopes keep the monogram small and let the paper do the work. A single band of ochre runs along the envelope edge.
Ochre
The museum store got its own name and mark. The shape comes from the fan-lights over Chettinad doorways, and the colours come from the ochre walls of the mansions.
Sapadu
The museum's restaurant, opening soon. In Tamil, sapadu simply means a meal. The wordmark is set on a black-and-white chequer.
Sadhev
Sadhev began with a walk through Vallapad, in Kerala, the ancestral home of Cholayil Kunju Maami Vaidyar, a healer remembered as a doyen of Ayurveda.
Two hundred years later, his descendants Lasakan Cholayil and his mother Jayadevi Cholayil launched Sadhev in 2019: luxury Ayurvedic care made with ingredients from Sadhevana, the brand's own 80-acre organic estate in Tamil Nadu. The line it lives by is The Art of Ayurveda.
We were there from the first conversation: the idea, the name, what each product would be called, and how the brand would speak. The mark is a single letter S grown from watercolour flowers and herbs, and the same hand-painted botanicals run across every label and carton. Then we launched it, with the first website, the launch campaign on social media and the launch video.
- Client
- Sadhev — The Art of Ayurveda
- Founders
- Lasakan Cholayil and Jayadevi Cholayil
- Our work
- Ideation, naming and product nomenclature, identity, packaging and illustration, campaign photography, launch communication, first website, launch social media campaign, launch video, 2021 media press kit
- Year
- 2019–2021
From Aynaa to Sadhev
The brand was first going to be called Aynaa, and the early packaging was developed under that name: a Rosa centifolia painted in watercolour, then laid across the carton. The name changed to Sadhev before launch.
One still life per product
Each product got its own scene: a dark table crowded with the plants and spices that go into it. Saffron and red flowers for Kumkumadi Tailam, coconuts for the Virgin Coconut Oil, roses for the Rose Water.
Painted by hand
Amber glass, a quiet label, and a carton wrapped in watercolour botanicals drawn for each product.
The Secret Garden
The website opens on The Secret Garden. Social posts and launch notes kept to the same palette, and a 30-page media press kit gave each product its own story.
Asvah
Asvah is our own: a 130-seat bistro and bar set directly on the sand at Neelankarai, in Chennai.
Because it belongs to the group, the studio is also the client here. We named it and drew its identity, designed the rooms inside and out, made its menus, and shoot the pictures it shows the world.
In 2022, 30 Best Bars India named it one of the country's Top 100 Bars.
- Client
- Asvah — our own venue
- Place
- Neelankarai beach, Chennai
- Our work
- Naming and identity, interiors for the bistro, bar, terrace, pool and cabanas, food, cocktail and dessert menus, photography and social media
- Recognition
- 30 Best Bars India — Top 100 Bars, 2022
Inside and out, by the sea
Indoors: timber, rattan and low, warm light. Outdoors: the terrace, the pool and the cabanas, open to the beach.
Set for candlelight
Menus for the kitchen, the bar and the dessert list, including the seasonal Southern Winter menu.
One drink at a time
The cocktail list, shot drink by drink on deep green, on the bar's own coasters.
Every night, its own poster
Posters, menus and announcements for Asvah's evenings, from 2019 to 2025: music under the stars, wine dinners, tastings, festivals and the seasons in between.
Admiralty Estates
XI Rutland Gate stands on land with a long Madras history. It was once owned by the proprietors of the original Admiralty Hotel, home to the city's first serviced apartment, and was part of the holdings of the Royal Family of Vizianagaram.
We named the developer and the project, drew their marks, wrote the story, and designed the sales brochure: thirty-one pages, from the heritage chapter to the floor plans.
- Client
- Admiralty Estates
- Project
- XI Rutland Gate, Chennai
- Our work
- Naming, logo and marks, story and copy, sales brochure, floor plans and site plan
- Homes
- Elevated, Garden Duplex and Grand residences, about 4,500 to 6,700 sq ft
- Year
- 2025
The building as a signature
The logo is a line drawing of the building itself. XI, the house number, became a mark of its own, set in a field of gold.
A piece of history
The brochure opens on the city, not the building: Fort St. George, the Admiralty Hotel, the Vizianagaram family, and the English custom that gave Rutland Gate its name.
"You are not merely purchasing a property; you are becoming the steward of a piece of history."
Thirty-one pages
Sage, brown and gold, with plenty of room. Each residence and amenity gets a single idea per page: three of four rooms are master bedrooms, the 65-foot living room, the club house.
Clear enough to read at a glance
The estate plan, each residence's floor plan, and a one-page site summary for buyers.
3D renders shown in the brochure were supplied by the project team.
Paradiso
Paradiso is our own artisanal ice cream, made in Chennai.
As with Asvah, the studio is also the client. We named it, drew the wordmark, designed the cups, lids and spoons, and shot the pictures.
- Client
- Paradiso — our own brand
- Place
- Chennai
- Our work
- Naming, logo and identity, packaging, product photography
- Year
- 2023
Lettered by hand
The wordmark is drawn rather than typeset: letters of different heights in black, red and blue, finished with a small red star.
A white cup, a round label
Plain white paper cups, the wordmark on every lid with the words Artisanal Icecream, Chennai, and the name again on the wooden spoon.
Each scoop with its ingredients
Every flavour photographed beside what goes into it, on pale linen in soft light.
Invitations
An invitation is the first thing a guest holds, so no two of ours look alike.
Weddings are most of the work: suites, ceremony cards, envelopes and invitation films, each drawn for one family. We make them for launches and events too. Below, each suite is shown in full, card by card, in the order the guests received them.
- Our work
- Wedding suites, ceremony and event cards, launch invitations, envelopes and stationery, invitation films
- Shown
- Four weddings, an alumni gala, two evenings, two launches, two workshops and an exhibition
- Years
- 2018–2026
Sita & Ashwath
Temple architecture drawn as if in sugar and silver, on soft gradients: a different colour for every event of the wedding, from the Mehendi to the Muhurtham at Vayalur.
Akhila & Anand
A Rajasthani miniature for every ceremony, each framed by peacocks and a lotus arch, from the Haldi to the Baraat. The whole suite was also animated into an invitation film.
The invitation film. Tap for sound.
Gokul & Ananya
White card, a deep red frame and Kalamkari line work in grey, with a single painted flower. The flower opens again inside the envelope and closes it as a round sticker seal.
Rubah & Siddharth
Under an Indian Sky: green watercolour, an envelope with a painted lily, a poem, The Circle, inside the gatefold, and a card for each evening, by the bay in Kerala and back in Chennai.
The Sunday before Christmas
The Sishya Alumni Annual Gala: an alumni get-together for everyone who went through Sishya, held on the Sunday before Christmas. A red theatre curtain, an ornate frame and a dress code of t-shirts to tuxedos.
Mezcal en Madrás
A night of mezcal in Madras, by invite only, hosted with Raisin Apart at The Leela Palace Chennai on 18 October. Jalisco meets Madras: a gold sun, painted agave and a red sash, carried from the invitation to the programme and the tasting menu, where each course is paired with a tequila.
French grapes & German horses
An evening with French grapes and German horses: La Vieille Ferme wines and two generations of the Porsche 911, for Porsche and Asvah 24.
Infinium Altitude
An evening unveiling the Experience Centre and the launch of Infinium Altitude, a residential address in Coimbatore, on 14 April 2026. Teal and gold, with the Altitude wordmark set in fine line.
The Collage Lab & A Tryst with Klimt
Two evening workshops with designer Sita Mahan at Apparao Galleries. The Collage Lab, a Women's Day special on two muses, Frida Kahlo and Amrita Sher-Gil. And Gold, Glitter & Glamour, a mixed-media workshop for Apparao's Secret Garden, part of The Craftpreneur Series.
Julia & Sita at the AD Design Show
The invitation for Julia & Sita, haute couture and interior design embroidery, at the Power to the Karigar pavilion of the AD Design Show, Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai, 15 to 17 September. An embroidered sun sits at the centre.
Raja Ravi Varma: An Everlasting Imprint
The Save the Date and invitation for the launch of the first of six volumes on Raja Ravi Varma and the Ravi Varma Press, held at the Lukshmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara. The books themselves were designed by the studio too.
The Quarter
The Quarter is the cocktail bar at Savera, in Chennai. It began as our branding pitch for the hotel's Bamboo Bar, The Madras Pour, and became The Quarter.
We named it, drew the Q, and wrote it a past: a discreet circle of architects and botanists, writers and musicians, gathering in the shaded lanes of Mylapore in the early twentieth century. The menu carries that story, and every cocktail is named for a corner of Madras.
- Client
- Savera, Chennai
- Bar
- The Quarter, formerly the Bamboo Bar
- Our work
- Naming and logo, menu design, cocktail names and story, illustrations
- Year
- 2025
The Q and the wordmark
A high-contrast wordmark, QUARTER, whose Q carries the word THE inside its bowl and a long tail that curls away underneath. The Q also stands alone as the bar's mark, as it does at the foot of every menu page. Gold on cream, and pale gold on the bar's brown.
Old Madras, after dark
Silk lanterns under a high ceiling, teak shutters and library shelves, tan leather booths, marble-topped tables and checked upholstery: the room the menu's story describes.
A stamp worth a quarter
Napier Bridge, drawn as a postage stamp: 25 paise, quarter postage. A second stamp turns Art Deco Madras into an emblem.
Every pour, a piece of Madras
Cream stock, wide-tracked capitals and a single gold Q. The Guntur Accent puts Guntur chilli and gongura into tequila; The Mylapore Degree runs vodka and amaro into filter coffee; Burma Bazaar and Toddywalla & Co. follow.
"Not driven by spectacle, but by nuance."
Now open
The opening announcement: Experience Old Madras, translated into cocktails and cuisine.
Visalam Group
Visalam Group is heavily focused on renewable energy. We built two of its brands: KKN Energy, a solar company built for the future, and Minooki, a charging station with shopping and a place to rest, under the line Recharge Yourself.
We designed both logos: KKN's rising amber arc and Minooki's plug-shaped double O. Then we wrote the brand guidelines for both, with colour palettes and a type system, and carried KKN into print: a Go Solar brochure, a presentation folder, and a full-page advertisement in The Hindu.
- Client
- Visalam Group
- Brands
- KKN Energy · Minooki
- Our work
- Logos, brand guidelines, brochure, presentation folder, newspaper advertising
- Year
- 2021–2024
Finding Minooki
Minooki's mark went through round after round: stacked letters, plus and minus terminals, a hand-drawn emblem, and icons for charge, shop and café sitting above the name, before the double O settled into the final logo.
Two brands, one system
KKN's amber arc and its palette of sun, earth, sky and leaf. Minooki in yellow and orange, with Lora and BW Vivant as its type.
Go solar
A brochure and presentation folder built around a single line, Go Solar, set in letters cut from intricate solar patterns.
Stop paying for electricity
A full-page advertisement for KKN Energy in The Hindu, Chennai: a rooftop installation in R.A. Puram, and the promise that clients have cut their bills by up to 98 percent.
TankTech
TankTech Asia makes internal floating roofs and aluminium domes for storage tanks. We gave the company a wordmark, a mark built from its four words, and a brochure and a website to carry them.
The wordmark sits under the thin line of a dome. The mark turns Quality, Sustainability, Service and Redefined into a single loop of arrows. The brochure works in grey and fine line: wireframe domes in blue and gold, then photographs of the tanks themselves.
- Client
- TankTech Asia Private Limited
- Based in
- Chennai
- Our work
- Logo, mark, company brochure, website
- Year
- 2017
A dome, and four words
A light wordmark under the outline of a tank roof, and a circular mark that reads Quality, Sustainability, Service, Redefined.
Grey, line and light
Nineteen pages that move from wireframe domes to photographs of the real ones, with the savings from a floating roof drawn as a chart.
The finished book
The brochure, printed and bound.
Reportage
Reportage is how we tell a maker's story: the people, the hands and the room where the work happens.
We go to the workshop and film the work as it is done.
- Films
- Arcuri Cravatte, Calabria
Sartoria Solito, Naples
Bettanin & Venturi, Verona
Catarisano Camiceria, Calabria - For
- VOLO
Arcuri Cravatte
Arcuri is one of the finest tie makers in Calabria, run by Franco Arcuri and his family. This reportage, made for VOLO, follows the workshop: silk cut by hand, ties sewn and hand-stitched, and the shop.
Shot by Alessio C.
Arcuri Cravatte · 30 seconds · Turn the sound on for the music.
Sartoria Solito
Sartoria Solito is a tailoring house in Naples. This reportage follows the jacket through the workshop: canvas pressed with a heavy iron, buttons sewn and finished by hand, cloth basted on the cutting table, and conversations in the house.
Shot by Alessio C.
Sartoria Solito · 58 seconds · Turn the sound on for the music.
Bettanin & Venturi
Bettanin & Venturi are maestri calzolai, master shoemakers in Verona. This reportage follows the shoe through the workshop: patterns cut from the hide, the sole hammered and stitched by hand, the edges finished and the leather polished, and the people who make them.
Shot by Alessio C.
Bettanin & Venturi · 1 minute 30 seconds · Turn the sound on for the music.
Catarisano Camiceria
Catarisano Camiceria makes shirts in Calabria. The film opens on the sea at Catanzaro Lido, then follows the shirt through the workroom: cotton cut with shears, sewn by machine and by hand, buttons and sleeves set with a thimble. Along the way we meet the people of the house: Antonio, Massimo and Mr. Catarisano.
Shot by Alessio C.
Catarisano Camiceria · 2 minutes · Turn the sound on for the music.
Via della Spiga, Milan.
