Our son is getting married in a few weeks to a wonderful young woman in D.C., and we spent this past weekend working on wedding gifts and favors for the guests that incorporate both their Irish and Hindu heritage. Our daughter thought of the idea of screenprinting an Irish and Hindu blessing on a piece of Irish linen. I thought it would be cool to create their own custom image of interlocking Irish love knots and the Ohm, the sacred Hindu symbol. Here’s what I came up with:
NOTE: THIS IMAGE IS COPYRIGHTED. MAY NOT BE USED WITHOUT PERMISSION!
It was a fun exercise after so many weeks of intense corporate design work to do something creative and personal. I liked the idea of incorporating a heart into the mix too. I may tweak my line weights a little more to equalize the white space, and perhaps try to get the Ohm in the center to appear to be part of the continuous interlocking rope. What’s stopped me from messing too much with the Ohm is that I don’t know how far you can stylize it while still retaining its meaning. I don’t want to end up making it read “Bite the wax tadpole.”
Here were some of my preliminary sketches. I ended up deciding on encasing it in a circular shape instead of a triangle because a circle is a more eternal shape, and more peaceful to me than a triangle or something with too many points:
There is one spot that is driving me a bit crazy because I had to break the continuous knot in order to form the outer line of the heart:
But I decided to let it just disappear into the fold of the loop and forget about it. More important is the appearance of the continuous knot, the evenness of the space, and the feeling of balance.
Okay, back to my regularly scheduled work now…
October 28th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I would love to have my own personal logo representing my marriage. What a great idea! I love it.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Ok, this is beautiful! Incredible work!
November 24th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Hi,
I am an Irish gal marrying and Indian man in May 2009. When I showed him this design–he fell in love with it! How do I find out about using it?
Great work.
December 20th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Excellent logo. Ohm surrounded by the heart. I wish I had known you when I got married 8 years ago to come up with creative logo for my wedding.
April 26th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Hi
I came across your logo. Its amazing and I really like it! I’m Hindu and my partner is Irish, and were getting married in London in July. Could we use this logo as one of our images for our wedding invitation card?
We would acknowledge your work of course! Please advise.
Many Thanks
April 27th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Hello Ranjita,
Thanks for your nice comment about the logo. I sent you back an email. I’m happy to let you use this logo as long as you credit Stewart Design on the invitation. Thanks!
July 17th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Hi! I found your logo while I was searching an image of the Ohm symbol which I plan to tattoo and I’m also into the celtic/irish culture very much, so I found a lot interesting you logo and the way you mixed both cultures… so what I’m trying to ask is, in what way would it be possible that you let me use your desing as a tattoo? I would really appreciate a reply
August 11th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Hi, I too am an Indian girl marrying an Irish guy and think your work is perfect for our wedding invitation as well. Please let me know if that is okay. Thanks!
August 12th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Haydee and Sapna, I have just sent each of you an email response with permission to use this logo. Thanks!
August 15th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Dear Amy,
I came across this beautiful wedding symbol while looking for an image to place on my wedding program. I would love to be able to use it as I appreciate its appearance as well as its meaning. Please let me know if I’d have your permisson. Thank you–
August 16th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Hi Premal,
I have sent you an email with permission to use the logo. Thanks!
August 21st, 2009 at 1:46 am
Hi Amy,
I came across this image of your wedding symbol when searching the internet for an Aum picture. A picture to be used as point of origin for a tattoo artist to incorporate into a tattoo design.
I must say I totally love your design. I’m not Irish or a Hindu, but I have strong feelings towards both parts of our design. With that I mean that I truly believe, if we all lived our life’s more in line with the Advaita (Hindu) Aum philosophy and with more love towards each other, the world would be a much better place to live in.
With your permission I would love your design as a tattoo on my arm.
Regards,
Henri
August 21st, 2009 at 9:43 am
Henri,
I agree with your sentiments. And somebody who loves my design enough to want to permanently tattoo it on his body must REALLY be committed… I’m glad you like the design, and please feel free to use it on your tattoo. Can you send me a picture of the final tattoo?
September 26th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Dear Amy, I think your logo is beautiful and would like to incorporate it into my upcoming wedding program. Please let me know if this is ok. Thank you and great work! Shobi
September 28th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Hello Shobi,
Thank you for your comments. Yes, I’d be happy to give you permission to use the logo on your upcoming program. Please credit Stewart Design on the program and our website (www.stewartdesign.com). And can you please send me a copy of the printed invitation? Best of luck and congratulations in your upcoming wedding!
October 7th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
i was wondering if it might be ok for my best friend to use the hindu marriage symbol you made for her small buisness?
November 30th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Hi Amy
I am having a surfboard (Longboard)designed and built by a renowned shaper, I have a celtic background and have embraced the Ohm symbol as a representation of peace and tranquility in an often hectic world. It would if allowed be the only symbol on the board,
December 9th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Hi Carl,
That is fine if you’d like to use the symbol on your surfboard. Would you mind sending me a photo of the finished product? I’d like to post it on this site.
March 28th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Dear Amy,
We (Kira & Ram) are an Irish & Indian couple. We came across this beautiful wedding symbol while looking for an image to place on our wedding program. We would love to be able to use it as we appreciate its appearance as well as its meaning. Please let me know if we’d have your permisson. Thank you– Ram & Kira
March 31st, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Hi Ram,
I emailed you back. Please be sure to credit Stewart Design on the program and include our URL (www.stewartdesign.com). Also, please send a printed version of the final piece.
Thanks, and good luck in your upcoming wedding!
May 8th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
This is absolutely beautiful – I’m marrying an Irish fabulous man this summer – can we use this logo and credit Stewart Design?
It’s stunning!
Sheetal x
May 10th, 2010 at 8:36 am
Hi Sheetal,
Thank you for your kind workds. I will send you an email response. We’ve had an unfortunate incident of people using this logo without permission, so we’ve had to implement some new procedures to protect it. Thanks!
June 6th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
Hi Amy – What a fantastic design! I have been looking for an ohm to use as my first-ever tattoo. This is even better- with the incorporation of the celtic knot and the heart too! Could I have your permission to use the design? I would be glad to send a picture of the final result…
June 17th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Fantastic! I would love to use this design as a tattoo with your permission.
June 24th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Fantastic merge of cultural identities, and needless to say, an awesome aesthetic represented by the Celtic continuum and Sanskrit representation of consciousness.
Like Darren I find this an incredibly appealing design for a tattoo. I think, however, that the shame of cannibalizing a pre-existing design would overwhelm any desire to find a place to smear it on my body.
That being said great food for inspiration. Many thanks!
June 25th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Thanks Sam, Darren, and Doug for your compliments on the design. I’m really torn about how to deal with this issue, because we’ve found out about some unauthorized uses of this logo. I suppose that doing a tattoo for yourselves is fine, and I appreciate your asking if you can. If you choose to use it, please do send me a pic because I’d like to see how it comes out.
We’re still trying to work up a solution for how to handle requests to use this logo in other non-commercial scenarios (like wedding invitations and on personal projects). I appreciate that everyone who has requested permission to use it here respects its significance, and respects my ownership of it.