Artist, entrepreneur’s love for stationery turns into a venture

CHENNAI: For 28-year-old Urusha Maher, paper, pens, pencils, binders and all things stationery are something she’s really very passionate about. Having pursued a degree in Architecture, she finds her peace in art, music, and the GSMs of paper and designs. “While I was pursuing my degree, I interned at a place where I realised that I was more passionate about stationery than architecture.

“Obviously, stationery is involved with architecture; I learnt the importance of the GSM of a paper and the sort of impact it has on designs. Another, aspect that we often seem to forget is the grades, dynamics and drafting of pencils. These things occurred naturally to me, I didn’t have to weigh their importance,” she says.

Urusha says that her admiration for stationery is so much that she looks at how the binding is done when a portfolio is made, rather than look at its content. Strikingly similar to Amy Santiago? “My friends tell me that I remind them of Amy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine (chuckles). I mean, I relate to her character a lot. She has all her things organised, is a control freak, obsessed with anything that has to do with stationery, so yeah, that’s me,” she laughs.

Taking her admiration and passion for stationery to another level, Urusha started her own business, The Paper Dolphin in 2015. The Paper Dolphin is an online stationery store with a variety and range of products. Adding another venture to her list, she started Art Flea Market in 2017.

“When I was initially trying out as an artist, it was very difficult for me to be able to afford a space in a pop-up to display my art and so I created a space for myself and others to benefit from it,” she smiles.

The pop-up exclusively features local artists around the city in an effort to support them and give them a platform to exhibit their work. Talking about what’s next for Urusha, she says, “I have been working on displaying my artworks in a solo show. So, that’s keeping me occupied. Alongside that, we are also planning to organise a Pongal pop-up. Hopefully, that works out,” she adds.