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I am Nikheel Aphale (1979), born and raised in Mumbai, India, a historically and culturally rich country with striking diversity in nature, art, music, food,​ languages,​ etc. I have been practicing calligraphy for the past 15 years; though I predominantly focus on the Devanagri script.
 

I am currently based out of Bangalore, south India. I also have a graphic design practice called Studio Em & En with my wife Maithili. You can get in touch with me at anikheel@gmail.com.

​

Education:​

• Undergraduate degree in Applied Arts (Bachelor in Fine Arts), L S Raheja School of Arts, Mumbai, 1995-2000​

• Post-graduate diploma in Visual Communication; specialization in Graphic Design, National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, 2003-06​

• One-week residential course and two-year long online course on advanced calligraphy by master calligraphy Brody Neuenschwander, Brugge, Belgium, 2015 & 2020-21

 

​​Exhibitions:

Solo:
2024: Nirakar Akar, Artisera, Bangalore International Centre (BIC), Bangalore
2023: Sacred Strokes II, Artisera, Bangalore
2020: Sacred Strokes I, Artisera, Bangalore

​

Group:

2023

  • The Asian Calligraphy Exhibition, Seoul Calligraphy Museum, South Korea (2022)

  • The World Calligraphy Biennale, Jeollabuk, South Korea (2015, 2017)

  • KaChaTaThaPa, International Calligraphy Exhibition, Kochi, Kerala (Since 2019)

  • Miraj International Calligraphy Exhibition, Institute of Indo-Islamic Art and Culture, Bangalore

  • SCALE, Artisera, Bangalore

 

2022

  • A Brush with Silence, Bruges, Belgium (online)

  • Cheongju Jikji World Calligraphy Exhibition, South Korea (2019, 2021)

  • Me, You and the world, Artisera, Bangalore

  • Mixed Bag, Artisera, Bangalore

​

2021

  • Trail of Hope, Artisera, Bangalore

  • Forms of Faith, Artisera, Bangalore

​

2020

  • India Art Festival, Artisera, Mumbai

 

2019

  • Centre D’art, Auroville as part of a residency, South India

  • Tool art, National Library of Singapore, Singapore

​

2018

Gandhi Virasat Kaagazkala, an exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts expressed through calligraphy on handmade paper, IGNCA, Delhi

 

2016

Zones of Privacy, books, sketchbooks as a work of art, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai

 

2015

Fibre Fables, a collaborative art show between eleven artists and the carpet weavers of Raj Group, Panipat, The Stainless Gallery, Delhi

​

2014

  • Calligraphy tells the beauty, an exhibition of calligraphy works by

  • Korean and Indian artists, Korean Cultural Centre, Delhi, India,

  • Haanji Festival, Korean Cultural Centre, Delhi, India

  • One Asia Project, Taipei, Taiwan

​

2012
One Asia Project, Delhi

​

2011
RASA, Russian Centre of Science and Culture, Delhi

​

2010

Letterformative, Mocha Arthouse, Delhi

​​

Features and accolades:

• Awarded ‘excellence in calligraphy’ at Jikji International Calligraphy Exhibition, South Korea 2024
 

​• An artwork longlisted for the Jackson Painting Prize 2023


• Invited to participate and showcase the work in prominent calligraphy events in South Korea including the World Calligraphy Biennale, the Cheongju Jikji World Calligraphy Exhibition, and
the Asian Calligraphy Festival


• Work selected and published in Typism since 2021, curated collections of the world’s best type
and lettering


• Calligraphy works were published in a few annual juried issues of Letter Arts Review an esteemed international calligraphy magazine from USA


• Winner of the prestigious blue elephant at Kyoorius Design Award 2018 for ‘Harper Perennial Series’ under the ‘Design for Books’ category


• Firaq Gorakhpuri, Ajai Mansingh, Roli Books, was a finalist in the second Oxford Bookstore
Book Cover Prize 2016


• Speaker at TEDx Shiv Nadar University, NOIDA, India


• Recipient of a gold award for outstanding work in Calligraphy (Callihunt 2016); organized by
Achyut Palav School of Calligraphy, Mumbai (APSC), 2016


• Featured as an ‘Artist of the Week’ on ‘The New Creative India’; a television series on NDTV Good Times, 2014


• Invited to exhibit for ‘20 Under 35’ – as an emerging designer at DesignXDesign, at the Alliance française, Delhi, India, 2014


• Work and interviews have been featured in Portraits of Indian Design Dr Alka Pande, Juggernaut, Vogue, Platform, NDTV (TV Channel), Kyoorius, POOL, Desi Creative, and many blogs, and websites

​​

​​​Workshops and teaching:

​• Ecole Intuit Lab, Bangalore
• Avantika University, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh
• Mudra Institute of Communications, (MICA), Ahmedabad
• National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Bangalore & Panchkula
• SASI Creative Institute of Design, Coimbatore
• Srishti school of art and design, Bangalore
• Strate School of Design, Bangalore
• The Valley School, Bangalore

​

• Aichi Association, Ladakh
• Kalakshar (design festival), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi
• Ka Cha Ta Tha Pa (calligraphy festival), Kerala
• Callifest, Surat, Gujrat
• Sulekhan,  International Calligraphy Day 2022

​

• Ashoka University, Sonipat (NCR)
• AccionLabs, India
• CEPT, Ahmedabad
• Frog Design, India
• Philips Design, India
• RV School of Design, India

Works here are copyrighted either by Nikheel Aphale or by the respective clients or as mentioned in the project description.

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