Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonal Gadre-Shintre.
Hi Sonal, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I think my creative journey really started when I was in 9th grade.
I was one of the students selected from my school to submit work for an All India Drawing Competition. Each student had to create five artworks, and I still remember the process — deciding what I wanted to create, choosing the subjects, and then sitting for hours drawing and coloring each piece.
I felt incredibly relaxed.
At that age, I didn’t know anything about meditation, but looking back, that is probably the closest way I can describe the feeling. I could sit there for hours, completely absorbed in creating something. I remember having a very simple thought: What if I could live my entire life like this — creating something every day?
That thought stayed with me.
I started researching art colleges and told my parents I wanted to study art. They were surprised because I was a strong student academically and consistently did very well in math and science. Art wasn’t necessarily the direction they expected me to choose.
But somehow, I wasn’t confused about it. I was convinced.
I went on to study Commercial Arts in Mumbai and began my career as a graphic designer. Even then, I had a plan in my head: I would work for about five years, gain professional experience, and eventually start my own boutique design studio.
After about five years of working in India, life took me in a different direction when I moved to the United States in 2013 because of my husband’s job transfer. Suddenly, I was starting again in a new country.
I felt it was important to gain professional experience here before starting something of my own. Design is ultimately communication, and understanding a country’s culture, people, businesses and visual language makes you a better designer. So I continued working, learning and gathering experience.
Interestingly, the idea for my future studio already had a name — Kalākattā. It combines two Marathi words: Kala, meaning art, and Katta, a platform or gathering place where people come together, exchange ideas and have conversations. I loved the idea of creating my own little platform for creativity. The name stayed with me for years before the actual business existed.
Then came 2020. I was working for an event company when the pandemic brought the events industry to an abrupt stop, and I was laid off. My son was only about a year and a half old at the time. With all the uncertainty around COVID, I wasn’t comfortable putting him in daycare and immediately looking for another full-time job.
It was an uncertain time, but it also gave me an opportunity to stop and think.
The dream of having my own boutique studio had been sitting in the back of my mind for years. The name was already there. The experience was there. Maybe what I needed was simply a push.
So I gathered all those thoughts together and started Kalākattā Design Studio in 2020.
What began as a small independent studio grew organically through projects, referrals and long-term relationships. Today, I work with businesses across hospitality, real estate, flooring, fragrance, lifestyle and other industries, helping them tell their stories through branding and visual communication.
Along the way, my work has received recognition from Graphic Design USA, including being named one of its People to Watch, as well as recognition from the New Jersey Ad Club and other design organizations. Those milestones are meaningful, but they were never really the reason I wanted my own studio.
When I look back, I realize that the thought I had as a 9th grader never really changed.
I wanted to create. And I wanted to build a life where creativity wasn’t something I had to fit around everything else.
Of course, adulthood doesn’t allow me to sit peacefully and draw for hours every day! Running a studio involves clients, deadlines, emails, finances and plenty of responsibilities my 9th-grade self knew nothing about.
But the underlying feeling is still there.
Whether I’m developing a brand identity, designing a book, sketching ideas, traveling somewhere new or simply experimenting with an idea, creating still gives me that same sense of fulfillment.
More than building a business, I think that has been my journey — trying to build a life where I can remain curious, keep creating, live on my own terms and find something beautiful in each day.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think any meaningful journey is completely smooth.
Moving from India to the United States was certainly a major transition. I came with education and professional experience, but I was entering a new country without the professional network or cultural familiarity I had built in India. In many ways, I had to learn and establish myself again.
I also didn’t have work authorization right away. I didn’t want to completely disconnect from design while I figured out the process, so I started volunteering my creative skills with a nonprofit organization. I volunteered for almost a year while working through the process of getting my work authorization. Looking back, that period taught me to keep finding ways to create and move forward, even when the path isn’t completely clear.
Years later, starting Kalākattā brought a completely different set of challenges. I quickly discovered that being a designer and running a design business are two very different things.
As a designer, you are trained to solve visual problems. As a business owner, suddenly you are also finding clients, pricing your work, writing proposals, managing timelines, handling finances, marketing yourself and deciding where you want the business to go.
One of the biggest things I’ve had to learn is how to value my own work. As designers, we can easily think in terms of the hours spent creating something, but clients aren’t simply buying a logo, website or brochure. Good design can influence how a business is perceived, how clearly it communicates and how confidently it presents itself to the world. Learning to see my own work from that perspective has been an important part of growing as a business owner.
There has also been the constant balancing act between entrepreneurship and family life. Starting the studio gave me flexibility, particularly as a mother, but flexibility doesn’t necessarily mean fewer responsibilities. Sometimes everything needs attention at once.
Over time, I’ve become much more comfortable with the fact that you don’t need to have everything figured out before you begin.
You start. You learn. You make mistakes. You adjust. And you keep going.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a graphic designer and the Founder & Creative Director of Kalākattā Design Studio, a boutique branding and design studio based in New Jersey.
At the core of what I do is visual storytelling. I work with businesses to translate their ideas, personality and purpose into a visual language — through brand identities, print and digital communication, websites, packaging, environmental graphics and other brand experiences.
My approach to design is very thought-driven. I naturally gravitate toward minimalism, strong typography and simple visual ideas that have meaning behind them. I don’t believe in adding something simply because it looks beautiful. I like to ask why it is there and what it is communicating.
Over the years, I have worked across many industries, with a particularly strong body of work in hospitality. I love working with restaurants and hospitality brands because there are so many layers to the experience — the identity, menus, interiors, food presentation, photography, digital presence and even the smallest details all come together to tell one story. At the same time, working across industries such as real estate, flooring, fragrance and lifestyle keeps me curious and constantly challenges me to learn something new.
Many of my client relationships have lasted for years, and that is something I’m especially proud of. Over time, I become almost an extension of their team. I get to see a brand evolve from an initial idea into something people actually experience in the real world. Seeing a logo I created on a storefront, a package, a restaurant menu, a product or an entire space never really gets old.
My work has also been recognized by Graphic Design USA and the New Jersey Ad Club, among others. Those recognitions are meaningful because they validate the quality of the work, but what makes me most proud is when the design genuinely works for the client — when it gives their business a distinct personality and they continue trusting me as their brand grows.
I think that is ultimately what I want my work to be known for: thoughtful design that is simple, distinctive and meaningful — where there is an idea behind the beauty.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
It is difficult for me to choose one favorite childhood memory because what I remember most fondly is really the feeling of my childhood as a whole.
My parents, my sister and I were a very close little unit. Some of my favorite memories are actually very ordinary ones — spending time together, staying curious, celebrating festivals with cousins, and taking family trips. We had a second home in a small beach town called Murud-Janjira, and I have beautiful memories of going there, spending time by the sea and swimming in the ocean at sunset.
Growing up in India also meant being surrounded by festivals, colors and traditions — making rangoli, decorating the home, visiting markets, getting together with extended family. I think those experiences naturally became part of the way I see and appreciate the world today.
More than any particular memory, though, I am grateful for the environment my parents created for me. They guided me and were always there when we needed them, but they also gave us the freedom to think independently and make our own decisions. They encouraged curiosity rather than defining a particular path for me and my sister.
Looking back, I think that freedom was a wonderful gift. It gave me the confidence to dream about becoming an artist and designer, even when that wasn’t necessarily the obvious career choice, and eventually to build a life around creativity.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kalakatta.studio/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kalakattadesignstudio
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonal-gadre-shintre-31810912/
