KARAN BAFNA
Known for being a dynamic, serial entrepreneur, and having founded a couple of offbeat ventures, Karan has always defined creation and expression as his key pillars.
Growing up, Karan’s choices were always looked at as ‘unconventional’—from the way he dressed to the career he chose—but he never felt the need to ‘fit in’. He was unbothered and continued to chase everything he wanted to while making bold and ‘different’ choices like no big deal! A reflection of this is where Tokiké takes ground.
The foundation for Tokiké was nurtured by these experiences and by Karan’s own creator spirit. He never let his creativity confine him to a particular stream, and post Commerce and Design, he wanted to explore the potential of integrating and creating with music. He learned the art of being a professional DJ and continued his passion as a Music Producer.
Throughout his career, he engaged with some stellar artists and fellow creators where his explorations of subcultures dived deeper. It was in these moments when Karan started conceptualising and envisioning a creator-first brand that brought together equal parts design, art and culture, and sustainability, giving Tokiké the space it is today (and only growing)!
RIYAZ MERCHANT
An entrepreneur and a passionate artist, Riyaz’s journey with Tokiké is an accurate representation of the Tokiké creator spirit. While working on Tokiké’s debut collection ‘Jack In The Block’, Karan and Riyaz, somewhere between art and design, found the perfect space for collaboration and creation. That’s how from being one of the first creators on board to design a collection, Riyaz joined the team as a Creative Director.
Coming from a multicultural background, Riyaz is highly drawn towards the understanding and learning of different cultures. Here’s where a lot of inspiration for his work comes from. He plays out the stories surrounding those worlds into his everyday work fused with his curious inferences from some of his other hobbies and interests.
Unlike most artists, Riyaz doesn’t believe in the idea of a single muse, rather as a creator, he is highly motivated to do more by other creative forces from various streams of art like Bryan Adams, Masashi Kishimoto, Todd McFarlane, J. R. R. Tolkien, Casey Neistat, Richard Hawley, Takashi Murakami, Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett, George Lucas, Samwise to name a few.
