Saloni Shah

Saloni Shah is an architect, artist, and educator whose practice interweaves design, art, and spiritual inquiry. An alumna of CEPT University, she co-founded ESSTEAM Design Services LLP with her husband, Ar. Snehal Shah, and launched OBL/QUE to explore site-specific, abstract artworks. Alongside professional practice, she has taught at the Faculty of Architecture, Sarvajanik University since 2004. Saloni believes that art should be contemplative, abstract, and transformative—capable of connecting the material with the spiritual. As the Design Head of Pushpam, she shapes the vision and design of all products, while also creating the graphics for the Jainism and Wisdom collections.

Contemporary-Quirky

Jain manuscript art and ritual motifs like the Gahuli reflect order, purity, and spiritual depth. Traditionally intricate and symbolic, these designs inspire Pushpam’s Jainism series. Instead of copying directly, we reimagine the clarity of Kalpasutra illustrations and the geometry of Gahuli circles in a simplified, abstract manner. The result is a visual language that feels meditative, timeless, and harmonious, resonating with both tradition and contemporary aesthetics.

The Wise Monkeys Series

The artworks in this series depict the "Three Wise Monkeys" in a stylized, circular composition. The style is highly textural and intricate, reminiscent of pointillism or stippling, where countless tiny dots or marks create the form and shading of the monkeys. The rich, earthy tones of the monkeys' fur stand in starkcontrast to the flat, gradient background, which is also textured with a granular, speckled appearance. The use of a bold black outline for the circular frame and the monkeys’ tails enhances the graphic quality of the piece. The expressive, almost caricatured faces and the repetitive, symmetrical arrangement give the artwork a folk-art or mandala-like quality, suggesting a blend of traditional symbolism with a modern, decorative aesthetic. The overall effect is both ancient and contemporary, with a meditative, hypnotic quality.