Kambal Ghar: A Century, Rebranded

The rebrand had to hold two things that pull in opposite directions: a hundred-plus years of heritage, and the modern, sharp aesthetic the shop wants to carry forward. The design problem was iconographic — the store stands for Banaras’s ancient history, so Hindi iconography mattered, but a traditional symbol had to be modernised without becoming a museum piece or a generic contemporary mark.

The final logo holds both sides of the shop’s identity. The first sound of Kambal Ghar’s name — an unusual Hindi sound for a shop — is set in Devanagari and surrounded with a seal: traditional, mindful of the store’s cultural history, relatable to Banaras. The English name sits underneath: modern, fresh and youthful.

The rebrand has been very well received — billboards carrying the new identity line the main roads of Varanasi. The brand is now in line with the shop’s own story: it hasn’t forgotten its history, as many rebrands do. It has embraced it and brought it into the modern day.