Ruchika Nambiar is a miniaturist, book artist, designer and writer who creates experimental, interactive stories. She is an alumnus of RISD with a research MA in Global Arts & Cultures (2023). Formally trained as a graphic designer, she completed her undergraduate studies at Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology in India, with a major in Visual Communication Design (2014). Her work is interdisciplinary and ranges across media, from artist books and graphic memoires to dioramas and interactive social-media stories. She publishes most of her book projects independently, such as her graphic memoire The Breadcrumb (2020). Many of her book projects take on visually rich forms and are often produced as limited edition/one-off pieces. Her work plays with the relationship between content, form and interaction, finding new ways to combine image-making, writing, research, miniature-making and more to create experimental narrative objects.
She is the creator of The Dollhouse Project (2017-present), an interactive miniature storyverse that has been featured in Architectural Digest, Marg Magazine, India Today and other publications. She works on experimental art commissions across miniature making and book art, with brand collaborations like Samsung and several publication design clients. She does talks and speaking engagements—most recently at TEDxRISD—and is also developing a mentorship program, The Creative Finishing School, for young artists and designers.
Also a researcher, she writes on themes of cultural philosophy and media studies. Her writing has previously been published in the Journal of Contemporary Thought. Her interests lie in studying media and its relationship to knowledge production and the formation of our conceptual frameworks, with a special focus on mainstream media, new media and pop culture. Her thesis at RISD, Memes for the Soul: The Internet and its Phantasmic Global Citizen (2023), is currently being translated into an interactive artist book as well as an exhibition.
Children have an underestimated capacity to process complex stories, and are often misunderstood as an audience. Their hungry minds depend on imagery to make sense of life and to navigate through their evolving worlds. In this course, students will explore a variety of art forms destined to educate, stimulate and delight children-books, displays, characters, games. Assignments will include works for a variety of industries including publishing, advertising, gift/novelty, and focus on a range of age groups: toddlers to teens. Students will be challenged to create opportunities for discovery that are worthy of this curious and gracious audience.
