It’s Mother’s Day, but don’t just buy another gift

Every year around Mother’s Day, the internet fills up with the same suggestions. Flowers, spa vouchers, jewellery and a coffee mug that declares your mother is, in fact, the “world’s best mum”. It’s all perfectly lovely and all perfectly forgettable. What we’ve been thinking about instead is commissioned art—pieces made specifically around someone’s life, their favourite people and their favourite memories.

There’s a remarkable community of artists working in exactly this space right now. Illustrators, embroiderers, sculptors and designers taking the raw material of family life—like an old photograph or a funny story that’s repeated at every family gathering—and turning it into something you can hang onto physically. Some recreate entire childhood memories in watercolour while others embroider family photographs by hand or sculpt tiny clay versions of people with all their quirks.

A small warning before you fall in love with any of these artists is that most of these commissions take time. Which means if you’re reading this close to Mother's Day, you may need to get in touch now for an art print or present a beautiful printed screenshot as a placeholder. But this is also a list worth saving—for birthdays, anniversaries, new babies or any time you want to gift someone in your life something that will genuinely last forever.

1. Aayna Vinaya

Painterly digital illustrations that turn family lore and everyday moments into warm, cinematic scenes.

NID graduate Aayna says her commissions sit somewhere between portraiture and storytelling, which makes sense once you see her work. They are imagined scenes from someone’s life, painted in soft digital brushstrokes that resemble oil pastels and storybook illustrations.

One of her loveliest works was commissioned for fashion designer Vibhuti Behl when she was expecting her first child. The painting places the couple inside a dreamy room wrapped floor-to-ceiling in fabric panels detailing different chapters of their relationship, all glowing under warm Edison bulbs. Nestled between them is a small ball of yarn representing their daughter Lila, who hadn’t yet been born when the painting was made.

2. Sumedha Sah

Watercolour portraits filled with pastel colours, and entire families embraced in one big hug.

Alongside illustrating for children’s books and publications, architect and self-taught artist Sumedha Sah has built a practice around intimate family portraits. Her paintings are instantly recognisable for their folk-art-inspired rounded figures, earthy watercolour palettes and bodies that seem to fold into one another in protective little clusters. Parents, children, pets and siblings are often wrapped around each other in a giant hug, almost like they are physically carrying the weight of one another’s love.

3. Riya Hayaran

Bright digital portraits where everybody has rosy cheeks, thriving house plants and other very cute domestic details.

Mumbai-based illustrator Riya Hayaran studied at NIFT before going on to NID Ahmedabad and now works across packaging design, website design, animation and brand illustration through her studio Salted Badam Collective. Her illustrations have a playful, character-design-driven style that feels very different from traditional portraiture. She turns people into expressive illustrated versions of themselves without tipping into full cartoon territory, often placing them inside cosy domestic scenes filled with plants, pets, babies and tiny everyday details. The result feels especially lovely for nurseries and family corners.

4. Shreya Roy Chowdhury

Dream-like illustrations inspired by mothers, grandmothers and childhood nostalgia you never really outgrow.

Trained as an architect, Shreya Roy Chowdhury worked in advertising and design before slowly building a parallel illustration practice rooted in nostalgia and the small things people often overlook. Her illustrations are instantly recognisable for their soft textures, lush greenery and large expressive eyes inspired by Jamini Roy paintings.

6. Merujana

Family photographs recreated as hand-embroidered textile artworks.

Founded by NIFT graduates and husband-wife duo Prashant Chauhan and Tanuja Rawat, Merujana turns family photographs into embroidered keepsakes. Prashant made his debut as a Gen Next designer at Lakmé Fashion Week years before the couple moved into embroidery production for couture and fashion brands. The idea for Merujana began when they created the first embroidered portrait to celebrate the birth of their son Meru five years ago.

7. Poorvaroid

Graphic clay sculptures with bold colours, playful details and the hand-drawn charm of a really good doodle brought to life.

Graphic designer and multidisciplinary visual artist Poorva Shingre works across branding, packaging, illustration and printmaking but her personalised clay portraits have developed a cult following of their own. Moulded by hand and painted in her signature graphic style, the sculptures turn people into stylised little versions of themselves complete with pets, ramen bowls, teacups, K-drama references and other details pulled from their actual lives.