ICARUS - People

Our diverse team of designers, researchers, strategists, engineers, programmers, managers and tinkerers-at-large allows us to tackle projects large and small.

GEORGE MATHEWS
Founder Director

George is founder of both Icarus Design and IcarusNova. His primary interests are in the overlap of Design, Innovation and Business. He nurtures a problem solving, multidisciplinary capability. He believes that Design's role in 'Experience Creation' has vast implications in bridging the gap between innovation and market success. A Designer from the NID and a Mechanical Engineer, George lectures regularly on Product Innovation at the lIMB. He is also a member of the NEC of the Association of Designers of India.

USHA E GERGAN
Director

Usha is the Co-Founder and Director of Icarus Design. A post-graduate in Product Design from NID, Ahmedabad with an engineering background, she has spent over 2 decades helping brands grow their business by harnessing design. She is a recipient of the OMEGA Award for Design Excellence.

SAPNA BEHAR

Sapna is Director and Founder of lcarusNova. She has a degree in Design from the IDC at lIT Mumbai and is also an Electronics Engineer. Sapna was a Senior Designer at the Titan Design Studio before she joined Icarus as a partner. She leads Strategy and Innovation and is a recipient of the DST-Lockheed Martin Innovation award. Amongst her other responsibilities, Sapna directs IP creation at Icarus.

ARGHA SARKAR

As COO, Argha assists Usha in running the branding team within Icarus. His ability to don different hats sees him work across different projects as strategist, copywriter, planner and manager. His creativity also finds expression in the form of writing. Argha enjoys reading and is adept at finding the humor in day-to-day situations!

U K DINESH

Dinesh heads the Graphic Production team within Icarus. His understanding of design, mixing of inks and the technicalities of printing makes him ideally suited to a role he’s been performing with distinction for over a decade. He goes to great lengths (often literally!) to ensure that Icarus executes on its design vision with perfection at the point of printing!

APARNA RAJAGOPALAN

As Director - Design Research, Aparna jumps right in when a project looks fuzzy and needs figuring out. An NID alumna with over a decade of design research experience, her keen interest in people, places and culture generate insights that drive our work, not to mention stories for newspapers and magazines. Among her other engagements, she's an external jury member and visiting faculty at NID and mentor, Kerala Startup Mission.

SAHIR K

Sahir is one of our Associate Design Directors, with over a decade’s experience designing some of India’s well-loved consumer brands. He is able to combine impactful and refined designs with an innate understanding of a brand's goals. His forays into baking and food styling have also contributed immensely to our ability to get that perfect ‘drool’ in our visuals!

DILIP MANIYAPPAN

As Associate Design Director, Dilip brings over a decade’s experience working on some of India’s iconic consumer brands. He guides the team to produce better work while simultaneously crafting eye-catching designs. Bold and modern, Dilip's design aesthetic extends to some excellent photography work. He also repurposes discarded items to create models of breathtaking detail and complexity!

VINOD KUMAR PR

As Associate Design Director, Vinod has over a decade’s experience crafting some of India’s leading FMCG brands. Vinod is always curious about what's happening in the world of brands and his guidance has helped many a junior make that step up to the next level. An avid adventurer, his bags are always packed and he's ready to head to the hills given any opportunity!

KIRAN PYNADATH

Engineer by training, designer at heart and a Lead Design Manager by choice, Kiran drives projects from start to finish. He can be counted on to come up with memorable, and outlandish, ideas for brand names and concepts! He passionately follows the latest in automobile design and loves driving for leisure.

APOORVAH SANKARAN

As Lead Design Manager, Apoorvah brings great enthusiasm while driving brand design projects and keeping clients happy. Her experience in communication and advertising brings a vital element of copywriting within Icarus. Her artistic skills extend to painting and up-scaling everyday objects into things of beauty!

SHRUTI KABO

As Associate Director - User Experience, Shruti’s versatility allows Icarus to experiment. A Srishti alumnus, Shruti is adept with design research, strategy, illustration, graphic design and digital design. A design hacktivist and animal activist, you’ll probably find her in the midst of nature when not at her desk!

RAJESH P P

As Lead - Specialized Design, Rajesh's work has an understated elegance and class to it. Despite having over a decade of experience, he is constantly challenging himself to learn something new and it reflects in his work, as well as his guidance of juniors. Rajesh is also a skilled photographer and miniature model maker.

VIJAYA KUMAR

As Lead - Specialized Design, Vijayan's work is a mix of beauty and complexity. With over a decade of experience, his understanding of structural design lends an added dimension to his work, literally! His passion for leatherwork is one he’s been pursuing for years - lucky are the ones who've received one of his handcrafted notebooks!

SHYAM GOPAKUMAR

A Senior Lead Designer, Shyam brings great style and refinement to any project. Keenly interested in type and identity, you'll see him crafting a visual to perfection for hours. A self-trained drummer and a creator of beautifully crafted videos, Shyam is quite possibly the most-followed online personality at Icarus!

AJITHKUMAR V S

As a Senior Designer, Ajith’s sense of youth and quirkiness adds an element of surprise and uniqueness to our work. He can always be counted on to come up with a playful idea, and his sense of abstraction adds a different layer to his work. Stylishly dressed, one look at Ajith and you know what’s in fashion!

DHANIL C NAMBOODIRI

As Lead Designer, Dhanil brings expertise in both digital and print design at Icarus. Known for pushing boundaries with explorations in stylized graphics, he brings a modern twist to everything he works on. In his free time, Dhanil trades design pitches for the football pitch and is a die-hard Manchester United fan.

YATHISH L N

As our Finance Manager, Yathish is pretty much our most important team member - he makes sure we get paid on a regular basis! His passion for numbers has ensured Icarus is in fine fettle on that front. When he's not chasing numbers, he likes to unwind by listening to some regional music!

ARCHANA PRAKASH

Leading Human Resources at Icarus, Archana’s great people skills and ability to think on her feet gives her an innate ability to resolve any issue. So, if we seem like a happy place to work, you know whom to thank. Enthusiastic and energetic, her dance moves from our office trips are now the stuff of legend!

PARAMESHWAR HEGDE

As the Office Manager, Param is the person who ensures everything is running smoothly at Icarus. Whether it's our IT infrastructure, research support or administrative requirements - he does it all. Not to mention, shouldering the burden of organizing everything when the rest of us are busy partying or going wild on office trips!

PRIYANKA RANA PATEL

A Senior Designer with a modern aesthetic, Priyanka brings great skill and a youthful verve to her craft. She has a love for print design and typography, and is always on top of trends in the field. When she’s not crafting designs at work, she’s usually catching up on the latest TV series or a particularly interesting film.

RIYAZ

As Lead Designer, Riyaz's skills with illustrations lend a unique quality to his work. A perfectionist, he’ll work for hours on end to get that perfectly mouth-watering food shot! A skilled painter and a fantastic dancer, Riyaz is the life of our office parties!

ABDU SAMAD

An Associate Lead - Specialized Design, Samad’s flair for illustrations always makes his work a visual treat. Always with a smile on his face, Samad can coolly deliver exquisite designs in very little time. His love for detail extends to model making, with elaborately constructed pieces of great beauty and intricate complexity!

MADHUSUDHAN S

Madhu is a Senior Designer whose versatility allows him to handle design and artworks with equal ease. Reliable and consistent, you can count on him to deliver on any design need! A man of many interests - when he's not painting or playing cricket he spends hours watching documentaries in multiple languages!

MOHAN A

As a Senior Designer, Mohan’s illustration skills lend great detail and complexity to our work. This is also evident when you look at his stunningly detailed paintings that wowed everyone at our exhibition. His diligence and eagerness make him ideal, whether it’s for design projects, hi-res illustrations and artworks.

PARUL LAVAKARE

A Visual Designer with a great deal of versatility, Parul is equally comfortable working on identity, UI/UX, illustrations and even a little bit of animations and videos. She loves crochet, crafts, coffee, cats - and probably any other thing that starts with ‘c’!

SAMANTHA GODFREY

As Design Manager, Samantha keeps a meticulous tab on the progress of design projects, particularly at the chaotic, implementation end of things! Her calm demeanor sure helps keep things smooth. A trained sportsperson, she enjoys football and basketball, and also loves word games, puzzles and singing!

PRAGYA BHUWALKA

As Design Manager, Pragya delves deep into design projects while also closely engaging with clients. Her training in media and communication, and innate skill in simplifying the complex, helps us navigate through tricky projects. A cheerful person and foodie, she’ll treat you to baked treats or challenge you to a board game anytime!

SURAJ NAIR

As Design Manager with experience in design, Suraj brings an artistic side to managing projects. Calm and balanced, he’s quick to establish a rapport with clients and keeps them happy. He’s happy to have long discussions over football and bikes any time of the day!

ARITRA ROYCHOWDHURY

As Design Manager, Aritra combines attention to detail with an easy going demeanour that keeps projects humming along smoothly. A confident communicator with a sarcastic sense of humour, she loves travelling, has never ordered a bad dessert and is fluent in 5 languages!

AKSHATHA RAI

As Design Manager, Akshatha brings an air of calmness that douses the fires of chaos, ensuring projects do not veer off course. An eye for photography and a love for travel add a visual dimension to already-strong verbal skills, making her an asset in any team!

JAYANTH S

An experienced member of our Production team Jayanth's speed and efficiency ensures things run smoothly at the tight end of a project. His knowledge of printing techniques and intuitive grasp of colours and effects adds greatly to our designs. An avid nature lover and a keen follower of politics, he’s happy to engage in debate!

EDWIN XAVIER

As Deputy Manager for Graphic Production, Xavier will be seen expertly working to ensure our designs are translated to printable artworks. His amiable manner helps him straddle from team player to mentor with great ease. His interests in reading and listening to music reflect his quiet and gentle personality.

SHAJEESH K M

An indispensable member of our Graphic Production team, Shajeesh can be counted upon to deliver highly accurate artworks. His dependability ensures we’re able to meet those tight deadlines clients always set for us. He's also a keen learner of design, often seen working away at illustrations and offer packs.

MITHRAN.A

As a senior member of our Graphic Production team, Mithran ensures designs are converted to artworks with pinpoint precision. An avid photographer, his eye for detail is evident in all his work. An avid agriculturist, he loves dabbling with co-farming projects –all of which have come to sweet fruition!

SRINIVASULU

The ever-smiling Srinivas is the youngest member of our Graphic Production team. From an aspiring designer while working in Admin team to a successful induction to the Production team, he’s come a long way! Surely, a shining example of our belief in allowing people to reach maximum potential!

SOLY SAMUEL

Like silent clockwork that keeps ticking, Soly our Senior Executive - Finance & HR Admin keeps finance and administrative work running smoothly and efficiently. Her calm demeanor helps her cope with all the chaotic situations our office can present. Her free time sees her engaging in games of Sudoku, or reading a book.

MOHAMMED IBRAHIM

As Project Coordinator, Ibrahim is the go-to-person for all inter-department coordination and billing. Poring over lines of data in our Project Management software with an eagle eye, he ensures that our services are invoiced accurately. Ibrahim loves a good horror film (and some bad ones!) with a personal favorite being The Conjuring.

SRINIVAS K

Srinivas, or Seena as he’s better known, has been around helping us as long as we can remember. He patiently hangs around in case we're working late and need help and is usually the last person to leave the office. He zips across town in his scooter getting printouts or making a delivery across the city!

MOHAN KM

Always smiling and always on his feet, Mohan scurries around getting us lunches and making deliveries across town. Super efficient, he’s happy and willing to go beyond the call of duty to get things done! Since joining, Mohan has proven to be an indispensable cog that keeps the wheels of the office running!