Design in focus: A labour of love : UDD

Yuti and Atul: the heart and brain behind UDD

The name Udd meaning `fly’, evokes many images. That of soaring the skies,  to venture where most people resist, unshackling and taking flight.. It does not surprise me in the least that the name of the label under which husband and wife duo—Yuti Shah Edward and Atul Edward - decided to float their new venture a year and a half back was Udd.

For the incredibly talented Yuti and her adventurous husband Atul, Udd has meant crossing crucial boundaries and breaking quite a few chains in the pursuit of a dream.   "I had had enough of deadline based design,’’ says Yuti, a graphic designer by training. This was also around the time the couple had decided to tie the knot.

"We both quit our steady jobs, with very little idea about our future was going to be " adds Yuti.  It was on the couples many travels that Yuti’s constant doodling struck Atul as something they should take on for a new venture.

It was with this germ of an idea and little else that Yuti quit her four year old job at Freedom Tree Design  and started to draw in all earnest. Important learning from an exhibition later, Udd came into being.. A label that boasts Yuti’s folk art based graphics digitally printed on to fabrics with bold, primary colours.

The array of dupattas, scarves, skirts and sarees Yuti designs , speak volumes on her strong sense of colour besides  her expertise at drafting her designs.


Having spotted her range for the first time at an exhibition in Mumbai, I was completely hooked!.. So when an opportunity presented itself to me, I found myself at the door of Udd’s Andheri based workshop, a tiny hole in the wall where the incredible range of clothing is put together.

With enough room for just three or four people to sit at one time, the tiny sun filled space was a pleasure to hang around at,  take photographs and listen to Yuti and Atul wax eloquent about the passion that they invest into their work.


Today’s is going to be a series of posts on the bright brilliant people I have met over the last two years. This one about Yuti has been a long time coming! Part of the trouble I had with writing this was how I was going to manage all that I wanted to say about Udd in one post !

Am taking the plunge today wholly knowing there is no way to do complete justice to her work.

Yuti Sporting a Udd Matsya Dupatta. The range features graphics of mythical half man half fish figures

The tailors

Sewing up the vibrant squares

The embroiderer at work

Devil in the finest details !

The Master Draft's Man, Islam Bhai models for the camera :)

Colour, colour and more colour !

A skirt bearing the peacock motif 

Buttons, trinkets and baubles