These were a series by Urumi for the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The idea was to create souvenirs for tourists in the form of magnets and keychains. We picked five ideas/themes that the city is known for.
1. Meenakshi Amman is an avatar of the Hindu goddess Parvati - the consort of Shiva, and one of the few Hindu female deities to have a major temple devoted to her.
2. Silapathikaram is one of the great epics of Tamil Literature. Its main character is a woman named Kannagi and is set in Madurai.
3. Mess halls are famous in Madurai, especially for their non-vegetarian delicacies.
4. Madurai is well known for its Mallipoo (Jasmine).
5. ‘I HEART MDU’ is a take on "I HEART NY' with a Madurai spin. The M takes the form of a gopuram (temple top), because Madurai is also known as a temple town.
I added many elements of Madurai to the packaging.
For the front packaging I used the yellow Madurai flag, a parrot* and the top of a cow’s head with its horns decorated with roses and bells.
*Tarot-reading parrots are common in Madurai, especially near the temple.
For the back packaging, I used a red and white boder that resembles the red-and-white stripes found on many temples.
