For Mumbai-based architecture graduates Amal Nair, Kirthi Pillai and Yash Shetty, the pandemic proved to be a boon for the most part as it gave birth to a hobby that turned into a freelancing project over the past year. Titled Doodle Mapuls, the project is an attempt to bring hip-hop and hypebeast aesthetics to art and architecture through artwork that is inspired by the culture and slang of the city. “The word ‘mapuls’ is a Mumbai slang for ‘friends’. Since the movie Gully Boy was released, people have been using such phrases. These were words we used back in college, and suddenly since the movie, there was a lot of hype about this. We just wanted our artwork to reflect this culture and get our Indian influences in the mix as well. In India, the hypebeast [a term for something that’s in fashion] culture is not promoted much, so we wanted to bring that to the fore too,” says Nair.

(From left) Amal Nair, Kirthi Pillai and Yash Shetty