Hi! I’m Diya Soni, a textile designer, illustrator, content creator and professional collector of little things, stories, textures and ideas.

I started Ilyustrate with a sketchbook, an Instagram account and a lot of curiosity. It began with commissioned illustrations album covers, brand artwork, personalized portraits and tiny pieces of people’s lives turned into drawings and somewhere along the way, it grew into a much bigger creative world.

I studied Textile Design at NIFT, with a minor in Fashion Communication, which probably explains why I can never look at something as just a pretty thing. I’m always interested in where it came from, how it was made, who made it, what it means and what story it can tell. For me, design has always been somewhere between making, documenting and storytelling.

THE WORK
Most days, it’s me and my iPad against the world. Illustration is at the heart of what I do, but I love moving between mediums, embroidery, printing, weaving, textiles, craft, photography, styling, video and whatever new thing I have decided I absolutely need to learn that week. I’ve worked on everything from rugs and surface designs to brand illustrations, textile collections, visual identities, conceptual stories and content campaigns. Sometimes the process starts with a drawing. Sometimes with a piece of fabric, a photograph, an old craft technique, a conversation, a place I travelled to or something completely ordinary that I couldn’t stop thinking about. Whatever the medium, I like work that feels thoughtful, handmade, a little imperfect and full of character.

My practice blends traditional and digital processes. Me and my Ipad against the world with Hand-drawn illustrations, but I also love the art/practice of embroidery, printing, weaving, craft and more. Whether I'm developing a rug collection, doing surface embellishments, planning a conceptual textile stories, or illustrating, I approach each project with curiosity, detail, and a strong sense of narrative. Beyond my own practice, I've worked with design studios and brands to bring creative concepts to life, combining visual design, craft research, and hands-on material work.

THE COMMUNITY

Somewhere between posting illustrations, NIFT chaos, stitching experiments, travel diaries, outfits, things I find chic and the many little things I obsess over, @ilyustrate became a community of over 1,00,000 people. Which still feels slightly unreal. I think of my page as less of a perfectly curated portfolio and more of a visual diary a place where finished work exists alongside the messy middle. I share the process, the experiments, the things that inspire me, the things that fail, the things I’m learning and the occasional completely unnecessary thought that somehow deserves a reel. Over the years, I’ve also had the chance to collaborate with a lot of brands I love!
 

AND THEN THERE’S MOO CLUB
Moo Club is my little attempt at keeping something slow and tangible alive in a very fast internet world. It comes from my love for letters, paper, collecting, making things by hand and the idea that art doesn’t always have to live framed on a wall or saved inside a phone. Sometimes it can arrive in an envelop. And maybe that is what connects everything I make whether it’s a textile, an illustration, a reel or a tiny piece of mail. I like making things that tell a story, feel like something, and hopefully stay with you for a while.