Happy New Year 2025!

“Consistency = Growth”

2024 is Ending. It’s December, the month when I exhibit my work as merchandise at events and schools. This has been ongoing since 2017.

My close friend once advised me, “Why don’t you try putting up a stall at my school? This is a way to grow, Kriti. Try it!” With a mix of fear and uncertainty, I set up my first stall. The experience was a whirlwind of emotions, marking the beginning of my journey of yearly exhibitions, from Comic-Con to numerous schools, music festivals, and hotels.

But is it all smooth sailing and guaranteed success?

Absolutely not! 

Initially, I was more of a “procrastinate and hope for the best” person, which I eventually understood was merely an illusion and a source of uncertain expectations.

The thing is,

I’ve always focused on making one core product: The Calendar. Therefore, my planning, designing, and manufacturing efforts for the calendar were always distinct. However, the selling aspect remained uncertain. The expected outcome never aligned with the actual results.

I faced losses and still have some inventory left as a reminder of that period. However, as I mentioned earlier, Consistency equals Growth. Growth encompasses more than just sales figures. It’s about self-discovery, understanding your audience, refining your artwork, developing observational skills, and making informed investment decisions.

In 2022, I decided to quit my full-time job to dedicate more time and value to my artistic pursuits. This decision paved the way for professional growth. For the first time in 2023, I sold out 40 calendars.

“40 is nothing,” someone remarked.

“It is for me!” I countered.

Indeed, 40 was a significant milestone for someone who had typically sold a maximum of 10-15 calendars. 

This success boosted my confidence to experiment further. As a result, 2024 saw me design and produce nearly 90% of my merchandise from scratch. Along with a new calendar, I also introduced a 6-month custom-designed journal to my product line.

Events are in full swing this busy December!

You know the feeling when you create something and receive the anticipated reaction from your audience?

It’s like watching a director witness the desired response from their audience. I experienced that same sense of fulfillment when people admired my calendar and journal.

However, let’s rewind a bit. As mentioned earlier, my sales had been limited to a maximum of 10-15 calendars until 2022 and 40 in 2023. Consequently, I didn’t plan for large production runs. Thankfully, my parents’ persistence encouraged me to produce around 30 calendars and 20 journals. Honestly, I hadn’t anticipated needing to reprint anything.

To cut a long story short, I ended up reprinting the calendars and journals 5 and 4 times respectively, often at short notice. This unexpected surge in demand resulted in the sale of over 100 calendars and 60+ journals to date.

Something I least expected actually happened. And it took nearly 6 years to achieve this level of success.

For many, 100 might seem like a small number, but it represents a significant growth for me.

Thank you to everyone who believed in me and supported my journey.

P.S. I still have few pieces of each product remaining! If you’re interested, please visit my shop now...

Thank you so much for reading.

Lots of Love,

Thoughtpotarts

Whenever it comes to choosing a name, either it is an instant decision or it is a long, meticulous process of surfing the web or shifting through a dozen of books.

Well, it’s not about choosing a baby’s name I’m talking about.

It’s about the name of my brand.

My identity.

I started making short films alongside my first full-time job around 2015-16.

The fun and excitement were real!

The hunger to grow fast with all the knowledge absorbed during my years in Mumbai, learning direction, was looking for an expressive vent out.

Every short film I shot revealed my numerous shortcomings and lapses and whatnot. It helped me set on a path of self-discovery.

So, let’s continue…

During my second job,

(Yes, the first job was gone due to company closure but, that was and still is my favorite place I worked.)

I started a YouTube Channel with a friend.

Weekends we turned to weekdays, brainstorming, sitting at Mc Donald’s, and having our favorite Mcspicy Chicken Burger with fries.

If weekdays were for full-time job work. Weekends and weeknights were for the Channel.

We planned our next big video, themes, ideas, and many things on how to keep growing.

And that’s how ‘CARRYBAG’ was initiated.

We decided,

“Whatever it is, we are going to share it”

“We need to make it.”

As I had experience in animation, video editing, and stuff, automatically the workload on me increased.

But, things didn’t go smoothly and the overload took its toll on me. And we mutually decided to stop.

It was 2018.

Comic-Con started in India, from Delhi in 2011 at INA, Delhi Haat.

Ever since, I have been a regular at Comic-Con, Delhi.

The one in 2018 took place on NSIC grounds, Govindpuri.

And the reason for my excitement was I was also exhibiting my work for the first time at Comic-Con, Delhi, 2018.

The registration was done super-fast without having an idea of what it was that I was going to show and sell. I researched, created rough drafts, and planned and that’s how my days and nights went by. And yes, I traveled a lot to get merch manufacturing work done.

My family support and excitement were evident, and I can surely say much more than my own conviction in my work.

‘I wonder how! Don’t they get tired of running with me! ‘ (suspicious)

So, all things were set. But, then I needed to have a name for the stall and artworks.

My mind churned out various names: Creative Dump, ‘KritikaAkriti’,

CreativeHub…But nothing clicked.

“It was as if something was missing.”

Then while relieving my bowels…sitting you know where!

Time to end this right here right now!

So, the only thing growing and spreading rapidly is the Coronavirus, the rest of everything has been on a decline, especially jobs.

Almost every fourth person has been laid off. And I was too.

“I was highly disappointed, I won’t lie. But I need to move on, right!”

I decided that I should finally accept the 100s of suggestions to start ‘Your own work and Shop’.

So, here is the story as to how ‘Thoughtpotarts’ began its journey!

I needed one simple, direct, continuous, unique identity and ‘Thought_pot’ was messing it up.

Any search on Google would not yield to the right platform until this ‘underscore’ is typed in, which is very tricky to always type because you obviously don’t consider it when writing in a flow.

So, as I said I didn’t want to leave this name.

“C’mon, the washroom is my den for solutions and ideas! How can I leave it!”

So, that’s how ‘THOUGHTPOTARTS’ was born and is here to stay.

Final note.

“Don’t leave something because it’s not working. Find ways to make it work the other way round. And I am talking in a positive sense. Don’t let negativity overpower the positive. And keep on going”

Till then, share your love and support.