About the Authors
Prof. Bhuleshwar “Arun” Mate, AUTHOR
Prof. Bhuleshwar “Arun” Mate
Prof. Mate is a designer, educator, and academic leader whose career spans over four decades at the intersection of applied arts, communication design, and higher education. He has served as Vice Chancellor of Assam University, Silchar, and earlier as Pro Vice Chancellor, Dean, and Head of Fine Arts. Alongside his academic leadership, he has held senior creative roles in the hospitality industry, including as Art Director at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi, and Manager of Graphics & Design at Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, New Delhi.
His design practice bridges institutional, corporate, and cultural projects — from visual identities, packaging, and exhibition design to editorial and signage systems. His work has been showcased at international platforms, including the International Film Festival of India (1993), for which he designed the festival’s identity and collateral.
As an educator, Prof. Mate has mentored generations of artists and designers, supervised doctoral research, and actively contributed to India’s discourse on art, communication, and vernacular design practices. The Vernacular Branding project continues his lifelong pursuit of connecting everyday culture with contemporary creative thought.
KAUSHAMBI MATE, CO-AUTHOR
Kaushambi Mate is an architectural designer and planning specialist based in Germany. A former licensed architect in India, she explores the intersections of architecture, culture, identity, and design, examining how these elements influence built environments and the media we consume daily.
While at the Städelschule Architecture Class in Frankfurt, she co-curated The Feast, a performative exhibition about food and cultural identity that opened her path toward interdisciplinary and cross-cultural dialogues. Her Master’s Thesis, Violating Architecture: Staging an Assemblage of Intrusions in the Discipline, examined how architecture is unsettled by other media through assemblage and intrusion. Her subsequent project, Strange Contextualism: The Image, extended these ideas through a collage-like architectural installation for a fictional reality TV show. Together, this body of work was recognised with the AIV Best Thesis Award at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM), Frankfurt, in 2016.
Since then, she has worked on the design, renovation, and restoration planning of heritage and listed buildings, as well as in urban and industrial planning. Since 2017, she has also contributed to brand identity projects and cultural initiatives as a voluntary creative partner at Envisionar Design Atelier. As the co-author and designer of Vernacular Branding, she brings her cross-border perspective and sustained interest in vernacular heritage and modern design to the book and its evolving platform.
Vernacular Branding 