Design & Development Manager
Safari Industries · Mumbai, IndiaApr 2024 – Feb 2026 (recruited back) & Jul – Dec 2023 (promoted)
- Recruited back by a former employer at a higher base to restabilise the Genie brand and broaden design leadership across four consumer brands (Safari, Genie, Genius, Urban Jungle).
- Led all visual design output across four brands — print and surface graphics for products, packaging, POS, catalogue design, photoshoot art direction, social-media visual direction, and seasonal trend presentations for leadership.
- Designed the brand-identity evolution for Genie — typography, colour systems, graphic language, surface and print design across 84+ SKUs per season.
- Designed 60+ print/surface designs per year across the portfolio; ~95% approved at range review and taken through development to market launch, several reordered based on sell-through.
- Colour Quest. Led Colour Quest, a 3-person colour programme: restructured a stalled workflow into a repeatable system delivering 12 new colours and 12+ colourway combinations, owning research, competitive mapping and Pantone direction.
- Phoenix. Designed and developed the Phoenix laptop trolley — premium read on a $30 FOB cost base. Concept selected over competing internal proposals; 13-page manufacturing pack; 3,000-unit run sold out + 2,000 reorder. Winner, Travel Sentry Product Award 2025.
- Created the Hue printed hard-shell range (print and CMF direction) — ~8,000 units/month at peak; 43,000+ ratings.
- Sampling. Redesigned the sampling protocol (China to Bangladesh to India): cut from 3 rounds to 1, reaching ~90% first-sample accuracy by validating colour and print against Pantone before construction.
- Collaborated with factories across India and China on capability assessment, specs, sampling and quality sign-off; attended the Canton Fair.
- Scaled the range from 21 to 84 SKUs on a locked-component architecture. Built a successor to run the brand independently.
Deputy Product Manager, Category Management
Bagzone Lifestyles (Lavie) · Mumbai, IndiaDec 2023 – Apr 2024
- Owned product direction and visual communication across five accessory categories.
- Quality fix. Diagnosed a structural fault behind a ~50% return rate and re-engineered the construction — cutting returns from ~50% to ~15–20% at minimal added cost.
Assistant Manager, Design & Development
Safari Industries · Mumbai, IndiaMar 2021 – Jul 2023
- Created the Cool backpack line — reordered for three consecutive seasons on commercial demand.
- Launched a printed luggage category for women — persona-based design, a strong commercial performer.
- Built kids’ backpack ranges season after season — trends, materials, print direction and colourways.
- End-to-end product design — form, CMF, prints and specs — in direct collaboration with factories.
Product Designer
High Spirit Commercial Ventures · Mumbai, IndiaJul 2018 – Mar 2021
- Designed graphic and surface treatments across three consumer brands (Priority, Hashtag, Traworld), adapting visual language, CMF and price point per audience.
- House of 100. Rationalised the component library from 240+ to 100 — cutting unnecessary purchasing, warehouse waste and excess inventory.
- Pitched and delivered a COVID-19 category pivot — designed an S/M/L sizing architecture; secured a 6,000-unit export order in ~4 weeks.
- Mentored 3 junior designers on process, software skills and brand standards.
Product Design Intern
United Colors of Benetton (India) · Gurugram, IndiaJan – Jun 2018
- Developed visual concepts for a multi-category accessory collection, concept to sampling.