Adwel Art stands out from the crowd because of their creative works and innovative products

Vimal Kishore, who is at the helm of Adwel Art today, still remembers the word of his grandfather Shri Kanhaiya Lal. “Beta, you take charge of business. Now is your turn to take Adwel Art to a next level.” Vimal was just a fresh graduate then. Incepted in the year 1967, Adwel Art is brainchild of Vimal’s grandfather who was a popular artist, who painted soulful portraits and created stunning promotional signs for a number of corporate customers across north India and beyond.

Painting world

“My grandfather was my mentor and overall zeal that triggered me to enter into this industry,” says Vimal. He joined Adwel Art in 1975, the year his grandfather passed on the company’s entire responsibility to him. Vimal’s father was then in Indian Railways service, which he resigned in between to look after marketing in the family business.

Following his grandfather’s footsteps, Vimal started learning the art of painting signage and display graphics. “It was the era of painters, not printers. That’s why we handled everything manually, which would include conceptual signs, promotional graphics, wall art, etc,” he mentions, adding, “We could barely able to paint three hoardings a day, say two 20×10 ft pieces and one 40×10 ft.” Scaling up their activities, Adwel Art started diversifying into wood work for exhibition stalls and others. They worked for various state stalls at the ITPO Trade Fair held annually at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.

Landmark projects

As their popularity grew, Adwel Art started to partner with eminent personalities from the world of advertising, film and television. The company worked for creative elements at the shooting sets of Bollywood director Pradeep Sarkar, who is known for his blockbuster movies like Parineeta (2005), Lafangey Parindey (2014), Helicopter Eela (2018), Mardaani (2014) and others. In the 1990s, Adwel Art also involved in creation of the set of NDTV’s weekly programme The World This Week, then broadcasted on Doordarshan (DD).

“We further got the opportunity to work with a number of eminent companies and personalities in the film, TV and advertising industry. Siddarth Basu of Kaun Banega Crorepati fame is one of those for whom we created a lot of studio sets for his television programmes. The set of the chat show ‘Eyewitness’ on HTV, which was hosted by Karan Thapar & Sharmila Tagore, was also our handicraft,” mentions Vimal. Adwel Art also handled a chunk of projects in the sets of the eminent film producer FC Mehra.

In the advertising world, Adwel Art crafted the shooting set of the then popular commercial Boost TV ad that featured former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev with the popular tagline ‘Boost is The Secret of My Energy’. It was filmed at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. “Every bit of our activity was crafted manually when there were no machines in our production facility,” recalls Vimal, adding that they executed a large-scale promotional signage campaign across India when LML Vespa was first launched in the country. The campaign consisted of only screen-printed graphics mounted on manually-crafted display frames.

A new shift

During the early 1990s when there was a market revolution in automated sign making machines, Vimal never failed to visit popular signage expos abroad to explore the emerging machines and technologies. “We were the first to introduce cut-vinyl signage in India following our purchase of a cutting plotter at an expo in Singapore in 1993. ITC was our first client of plotter-cut vinyl sign board,” he mentions.

Adwel Art’s state-of-the-art production facility at Kundi in Delhi-NCR

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After cutting plotter, Adwel Art’s production facility was equipped with a digital inkjet large-format printer in 1996, perhaps the first in the region. Such update in the facility eventually accelerated the company’s production speed and volume to another level. “When Whirlpool acquired Kelvinator in 1995, we were assigned to prepare 3,500 outdoor sign boards in three months. We successfully made it happen,” asserts Vimal.

From time to time Adwel Art keeps updating its machine portfolio from one level to another. As on today, the portfolio in their Kundli facility consists of Mutoh ValueJet and EPSON SureColor digital large-format printers, Worldcut laser engraver, FlexiCAM CNC router, SDS channel letter bending machine, Shield laminator and a line of finishing machines. The facility is backed by a team of 40 well-trained professionals.

Key customers

Some of the key customers of Adwel Art consist of Keventers, Chaayos, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Dunkin Donut, Domino’s Pizza, JCB, among others. “We have been working for Domino’s Pizza since the QSR chain first landed in India around 20 years ago. Today more than 80 percent of their outlet fabrication jobs are handled by us. Beyond India we also work for Domino’s Pizza outlets in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” mentions Vimal. He adds that they enjoy working with clients whose projects involve highly innovative concepts.

LED & LCD products

Adwel Art has a division where they manufacture LED products such as modules, strips and power supply. A revolutionary product ever introduced in the division is a device called ‘Digital Electronic Timer’, which is designed to control LED signs or other equipments based on pre-programmed schedule of ‘Off & On’ operation from an Android mobile app without any human interference. “It’s a very ease of operation device with higher functionality and durability for power saving and cost reduction,” says Vimal, adding that users now can download the Digital Electronic Timer app from Google Play Store.

“Digital Electronic Timer (Wi-Fi Smart Timer) is a perfect power saver for our country where power shortage is a big issue,” mentions Vimal. Kotak Mahindra Bank has adopted this device for its ATM booth displays. “Apart from day and night option, this device can control days of the week or month as per your choice to turn ‘On or Off’ your signage, display system or any electrical equipment,” explains Vimal.

Designed as per the need of customers, Digital Electronic Timer is available in three variants—Standard, Professional and Premium. Standard is for planning On & Off the device each day. Professional is for weekly schedule, which means to turn On & Off the device on weekly. Premium is for planning On & Off days in a month.

“Wi-Fi LED Display Board and LED Electronic Display are excellent way of conveying information. The LED display boards show accurate message and the displayed message can be updated at regular intervals. We provide LED display boards with simple and intuitive Android app. With the LED display board technology evolving at a rapid pace, we have been in the forefront in providing latest LED display boards to our customers,” mentions Vimal. LED display boards are widely used in all the sectors ranging from Advertising, Manufacturing Industries, Health and Safety, Traffic Management, Schools, Colleges and Universities, etc. It has become a must have product in today’s digital world. “We are in the field of manufacturing, installation and servicing of LED display boards. We provide customised solution of LED display board as per needs of our customers,” says Vimal.

Wi-Fi LCD Token Display with human voice announcement is latest from Adwel Art. It is built with high efficiency microcontroller based technology. This system is very useful for Bank Counters, Clinics, Hospital OPDs, Government Offices, Customer Care Centres, Restaurants and many other such places where customers are served in queue. “All the systems are manufactured with user-friendly features and are very easy to install. All are connectable wireless with any keypad or Android phone, so that any ordinary person can install it within minutes. We have largest range of token display systems. We have provided this product successfully to many Hospitals, Doctors, Restaurants, Canteens, etc across India,” informs Vimal.

Digital signage is the domain which Adwel Art is planning to make it bigger in future. “Digital signage has a lucrative future because the technology is innovative, emerging and eco-friendly. Even scrollers these days are now digitalised. Someday all forms of display boards will be digitised,” observes Vimal.

Experience centre

Experience centre set in the basement of Adwel Art’s state-of-the-art plant in Kundli is where samples of the company’s works are put on display. “We introduce this centre for our existing customers as well as those who wish to see our works first hand. This gives them an opportunity to spend some time with us to explore and choose the products as per their choice and requirement,” informs Vimal.

So far, Adwel Art has invested around Rs 12 cr in their 40,000 sq ft production facility in Kundli. Next plan of the company is to equip the facility with machines and technologies encompassing applications like vacuum forming, powder coating and newer innovations in digital signage solutions.