What kind of brands or artists inspire you, and how do you incorporate your influences into your work?
As a 90s kid, growing up in a globalizing India, I was highly influenced by the American culture, their shows, and movies. I spent most of my free time on weekends watching Pimp My Ride, NBA, Hip-hop Hustle, which is what I believe started my obsession with sneakers. I am heavily inspired by music – hip-hop to be particular. I grew up listening to Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Timbaland on my cheap Nokia. Once I got into design school, I was introduced to a whole new world of art and design, and really liked everything by Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens, and Dries Van Noten. To this day, I haven’t been able to perfect a method of deriving original works that combine all of these influences, so that’s something I am working on.

Is a collaboration like this one with The Hundreds something you’ve done before or was this uncharted territory for you? What are some of the challenges when designing something for a different audience than the one you’re normally engaging with?
This was the first time I was collaborating with a brand as big as The Hundreds, so it was a little daunting at first. However, when everything went so smoothly, I felt right at ease. Having worked on different projects in design school with independent-minded creatives from various fields, I felt ready to design something based on the audience The Hundreds targets. I would say that the only thing which made things tougher was probably the time difference and having to work online-only. I really like to feel things in hand instead of digitally, so that was a minor hiccup in the otherwise great experience.

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