LEONARDO RINALDI
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
“Narayan & Narayana
Narayan is an Indian name, of Sanskrit origin, meaning ‘the path of man’, signifying the quest for knowledge, peace and wisdom – in short, the ideals of Hinduism and most of the religions we know. However, this spelling is a modern transcription of Narayana, the name in its original form.”
“Narayana or Narayan is an important Sanskrit name for Vishnu (the god responsible for the maintenance of the universe) and, nowadays, a common Hindu name.
The name Narayana is composed of ‘nara’ (human, man) and ‘ayana’ (eternal, endless). Tradition associates the component ‘nara’ with the meaning of water, indicating the characteristic that it can permeate everything and drawing an analogy with an infinite ocean, where the ceaseless movement of birth, life and death of the cosmos takes place. Narayana, according to this etymology, is that which moves within the infinite waters and is also the water itself.
This intimate association between Narayana and water explains his frequent depiction in Hindu art as sitting upon an ocean. Another translation of Narayana is ‘the supreme man, the foundation of all men’. In another interpretation, the term ‘nara’ means ‘human’ and ‘ayana’, ‘direction, objective’. Hence, Narayana refers to the ‘direction of man’.”
Based on this initial briefing, I have explored a few ways that would align with the motivations they had sought. I have presented my research with about ten pages of images; they have really liked the lines of reasoning and approved the visual concept of the “gyan mudra”, which is precisely the store’s brand icon, where the index finger meets the thumb, signifying the meeting of man with God, I have immediately drawn an analogy for them with Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel, where God, in the form of an older man, almost touches his index finger to the index finger of a younger man, who symbolises the human being.
For this project, I had done a great deal of work on paper before moving on to the computer; I had produced many sketches of the brand’s text and icon (some are shown in the featured images above, others in the supplementary project images below the text, and others I have not included here in the portfolio).
And using Sanskrit references, I have sought to make the spelling of the Indian letters in the written part of the brand as close as possible to the original.
Later, I have created a small leaflet and a poster (the leaflet is among the featured images), for which I have created some illustrations for the artwork, depicting female hands performing massage therapy in various ways.
