Pachakuth, one of Kochi’s favourite tattoo and piercing studios, is more than just ink and needles. For Eric, the founder, and his team at the collective, the creative journey transcends these two art forms. At CULTR 2025, Pachakuth created a lively universe of art that invited everyone to create without the fear of judgement.

Staying true to their core belief that "art is all about making mistakes," Pachakuth handed out paintbrushes to festival attendees—children, security staff, daily wage workers, artists, and anyone who happened to pass by their stall. We sat down with Eric and a few of his team members to explore their roots and identities as artists, their personal styles, dreams, challenges, and much more.

Eric Edward

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Eric Edward
“I’m an artist whose style keeps evolving. When something stops giving me that rush, I move on to a new space in art,” says Eric, the founder of Pachakuth. His artistic journey has been one of constant reinvention, driven by an insatiable curiosity. From pursuing architecture to being expelled from three colleges, Eric's path has been anything but conventional. But since childhood, his idea of the future has been this image: a group of people drawing together, with paint splashes on clothes and paint bottles scattered everywhere.

His introduction to tattooing as an art was rather serendipitous, and it was this experience that led him to build Pachakuth. “My art often revolves around fish and the sea,” he shares. Growing up by the beach in Alappuzha, Eric’s childhood was filled with the sights, sounds, scents, and stories of fishes, fishermen, boats, and the ocean. His upcoming series, Pachameen, delves deeper into this connection. Pachameen draws and depicts fishes in various artistic concepts like the evolution of fish, their potential to fly, and more. “Whenever I draw intuitively, I end up drawing fish. It makes me feel connected to my roots and makes me happier than ever.”

Keerthi Mohan

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Keerthi Mohan
Keerthi describes herself as an "explorer student of everything." As an art facilitator, she focuses more on the creative process than the final output. “I create spaces where people can explore and grow without judgment,” she says. Her workshops, which span various mediums like clay, music, movement, and visual arts, reflect her belief in art as a tool for self-discovery and expression. Although trained as a computer science engineer, Keerthi’s true passion was always art. “I never worked a day as an engineer,” she admits. Her path has been one of unlearning societal expectations and discovering her authentic self. “I came from a space where I didn’t have someone to guide me to myself, which is why I want to give people cheat codes to do just that,” she shares.

Sunflower (Surya Gayathri)

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Surya Gayathri
Sunflower’s journey into art began with a childhood passion for cartoons. Whenever she saw a cartoon character on the television she would meticulously recreate it on paper. As a child, she attended school competitions and kalotsavams, further expanding on her artistic horizons. Over time, this passion transformed into a career in 2D animation, where she now explores storyboarding, art direction, and more. “I don’t want to settle for one style,” she says. “I want to experience everything.” Her art frequently features animals, particularly cats and dogs. “I have a dog and love street dogs, so they naturally find their way into my work,” she says.

Deepak

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Deepak
A tattoo artist by trade, Deepak views art as a means of communicating emotions that words cannot. “Art helps me express the ideas of my heart,” he explains. As an artist who juggles various mediums and makes a stylistic shift every now and then, Deepak wanted to get into something that offered a sense of discipline and precision. This is what drew him to tattooing. His personal work often explores darker themes like death and gore. “While some may find my art uncomfortable, others might unknowingly connect with the place from which these pieces were born. That’s what art must do—evoke emotion.” Deepak is also deeply connected to clay as a medium and the eye as an image. “I love drawing eyes,” he says. “They bring life to any painting.”

Vidhun

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Vidhun
Vidhun sees himself as a “medium to create art.” For him, art is about giving new meaning and life to forgotten and discarded objects. His genre, ‘found object art’, turns discarded materials into creative masterpieces. When asked why he chose this art form, he said, “Art is expensive, but if you have just enough willingness and vision, you can find art in everything around you. For me, scrap is cheap and efficient. It is a medium that speaks to me.”

What Is Pachakuth & Pachakuth Tattoo School, Really?
Though primarily a tattoo and piercing studio, at Pachakuth, the team’s passion for art is palpable. Each member of the community is truly “high on art,” and creating together is their kind of ecstasy. They draw inspiration from one another, constantly learning and evolving as a collective. No one claims to know everything, and this openness keeps the atmosphere fresh and dynamic. While the CULTR team is different from the studio team, they all share the same creative mindset. Everyone is fully immersed in their craft, exploring new ideas and fully relishing the process at all times.

Pachakuth Tattoo School follows the same philosophy. Beyond a tattooing course, it’s a school of thought that challenges the conventional stream of consciousness and thinking. Students are encouraged to unlearn and relearn, connecting with their bodies and instincts. Instead of following a fixed path, they are encouraged to embrace mistakes and use them as tools for growth, ultimately enabling them to make confident creative decisions. On most weekends, artists gather for art jams, story sharing, collaborating, and creating in a relaxed, enjoyable environment.

Why the Name Pachakuth?
“What else could I name a tattoo studio in Kerala?” Eric responds nonchalantly when asked about the name. But the name Pachakuth was a deliberate choice. First, he wanted something memorable—something that stuck without repetition. Second, it had personal significance. When Eric returned to Kerala from Poland with a tattoo kit and started working in Alappuzha, locals referred to his work as Pachakuth instead of tattooing. “Jimmy Chettan’s son is now into Pachakuth,” they would say. Despite his efforts at correcting them, the term stuck. Third, Eric wanted to reclaim the word Pachakuth, which had long been associated with something cheap or substandard. He aimed to elevate it, giving it the respect, honour, and artistry it deserved. Finally, he drew inspiration from how businesses abroad proudly use regional names and expand globally. For Eric, Pachakuth is a clear statement of his roots, journey, and cultural identity.

Pursuing Art: Navigating Family Reactions
Family’s reactions play a major role in shaping the path to becoming a full-time artist, and for these artists, their journeys were met with a mix of understanding, support, and hesitation. Eric’s passion for art was clear and unwavering. “If I lose my hands, I’ll draw with my feet. If I lose those, I’ll use my mouth. If I lose that too, consider me dead,” he declared to his parents. This conversation led them to understand how deep his dedication was. On the other hand, Sunflower, whose father was a photographer, had a relatively easier time. Growing up with someone who valued creativity, she received unwavering support for her artistic pursuits.

In contrast, Deepak and Keerthi had more complex experiences. Deepak’s father, a former artist (painter and violinist) who gave up his creative career for a stable government job, never openly discouraged Deepak’s artistic ambitions. Despite concerns that he should choose a conventional career and settle down quickly, Deepak’s family eventually accepted that art was his true calling. Keerthi’s experience was different. Her parents were anxious as she explored various “odd jobs” in art after completing her engineering degree. But over time, Keerthi found her place in the world of art, embracing the unpredictable nature of the creative journey.

What Is Art?

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Pachakuth at Kappa CULTR
In Eric’s view, art is neither a profession nor a job. It’s a way of life that brings joy and fulfillment. He notes that throughout history, people would return home from work to engage in creative activities like drawing or painting as a means of living their true passion. “This is why many artists emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic, because people sought purpose through creative outlets like music and painting.” Sunflower describes art as arbitrariness—a space to do whatever one wants to do—while Keerthi believes that everyone is an artist. Society may impose standards, but true artists express their unique personalities through their work. Like any skill, art requires practice and growth. Keerthi encourages embracing the messiness of creation, being present and doing what you love with your whole heart.

What Does the Future Look Like?
As constant learners, every member of Pachakuth has things that they want to try out, experience, and learn in the future. Deepak is eager to experiment with new mediums, particularly metal, a material he has yet to explore. Sunflower is interested in trying her hand at tufting, an art form involving threads and fabric. Eric is captivated by the intersection of lights, sounds, and movement, and hopes to incorporate these elements into installations and other art forms. Keerthi, in contrast, doesn’t have this sort of a goal for the future. She prefers to live in the moment, taking each day as it comes, learning from whatever experiences present themselves.

Pachakuth's belief is simple: everyone is an artist. That's how we all were as children. As we grew up, societal pressures, criticism, and comparisons dulled that natural creativity. The idea that art must follow certain rules took root, suppressing the uninhibited expression we once had. Pachakuth aims to change that by encouraging individuals to rediscover childlike curiosity and the joy of creating with nothing to hold us back.