Aparajita

Clitoria ternatea — Aparajita, অপরাজিতা, "the unconquered" — grows in nearly every Bangladeshi courtyard we've visited. Five petals: a deep indigo banner, two cobalt wings, two pale keels. It's used in food coloring, in textile dye, in offerings, in afternoon tea. Everyone has a relationship with it that predates being asked about it.

We took the name and the colour palette honestly. Akivuki — Aki for "art," vuki from a long-running family nickname — needed an emblem that didn't feel imported. The flower is local, abundant, modest, and unmistakably blue. It also doesn't try to be the most photogenic thing in any room it shows up in, which is a quality we've grown to admire in works of art too.

Several of the artists we represent have used the flower in their work for years before we existed. We didn't want to claim it as a brand mark. We wanted to choose something that already belonged to the soil and let it remind us, daily, where the work comes from.