What do pigeons and coronavirus have in common? The Cryona Campaign.
Founded by college buddies Saurabh Malhotra and Vipin Babu, Pigeon & Co. is a design studio that gets its name from the founders’ shared love for pigeons. The studio collaborates with different brands to breathe life into creative projects. Their style is quirky, funny, inspired by pop-culture, and of course, pigeons.
It’s no surprise their fundraisers are creative too.
We got in touch with the creators of Pigeon & Co .to learn about their collaborations and their latest ‘Cryona’ donation Campaign.
‘Cryona’ – The Crying Corona
Since the lockdown started, many businesses have set up fundraising campaigns to help those in need. But Pigeon & Co, true to their name, flew in a different direction.
Vipin and Saurabh took a light-hearted approach to their campaign with Goonj that is helping raise funds for people struggling with basic needs.
“We are lucky we don’t have to worry about essentials like food or medicines. As artists and communication professionals, we wanted to help raise funds for people that are a lot more vulnerable to the crisis. This led to our fundraiser campaign called ‘Cryona’ (short for crying corona).” – Saurabh told us in an email conversation.
How do you contribute to the campaign?
Simply buy their specially curated ’Cryona’ t-shirts and tote bags with block printed ‘Cryonas’, and the net proceeds from the sale will be donated to Goonj.
“We feel that beyond a point, tearjerker campaigns reach a blind spot, instead an idea that is fun builds a case for hope and has a better impact.” – Saurabh explained.
How do the donations work?
After subtracting all third party costs, which include T-shirt sourcing, shipping, GST, Taxes, Instamojo fee and packaging fee, an amount of Rs. 500 per T-shirt is donated to Goonj.
Contribute to Cryona right here – Pigeonandco online store
“We saw quite a few people in the creative community using Instamojo and were impressed by the ease and speed at which one could set this up. We used it sometime last year when we put a few of our prints on sale. With the urgency of the ongoing Corona crisis, we saw this as the fastest way to set up the ‘Cryona’ fundraiser. We’ve played around with the instant transfer feature once, and look forward to using it again whenever we need quick funds at our disposal.” – Saurabh
The artistic duo is now working towards building their free online store on Instamojo and their first line of products.
Supporting artists, campaigns, and other small businesses –
Pigeon & Co. sought the help of multiple artists and brands to join them in creating the Cryona tees! They collaborated with multiple artists on different products (Poorva Shingre, Pranjal Kalia, Prabhleen Kaur, The Glu Affair and Sayitwithapin.)
“We feel collaborations are key to the idea of extending the reach of our ideas beyond our practice and limitations. We really look forward to more of these in the coming future!” – Saurabh told us.
Pigeon & Co. are currently working on a super-fun range of party tissues for a tissue brand. The designer duo is also working on a range of wooden toys with Studio Chisel.
Here’s a peek into their video collaboration with Tajdar Junaid for the song ‘ Ekta Golpo’
Pigeons? Really?
When the two artists-turned-entrepreneurs decided to start an art & design studio, they needed to close in on a name. Vipin and Saurabh were looking for a window of opportunity to get the perfect name when they found it on their window!
“As most naming exercises go, we looked for things that were common between the two of us to reach a name both of us could relate to. We realised that the only thing common through all our time together were pigeons living by the window; literally through every house/hostel/office, we’ve been in. We decided to honour this coincidence and decided to name the studio after Pigeons, and we became the ‘Co.’
Besides Pigeons are funny, and stubborn. So it was a no-brainer match for us.” – Saurabh revealed.
Vipin and Saurabh took their love for humour and design to not just set up their own business – but also to help other businesses and artists flourish.
You can too! Contribute to the Cryona Campaign or start your own on Instamojo.
