Curiosity sits at the core of how I work ― when something captures my interest, I instinctively want to understand the what, why and how behind it.

Mahika Gupta, the founder of Qiasmus, with dark hair and a nose ring sitting on a couch, looking to her left, next to a potted plant and colorful pillows.

Mahika Gupta is a Creative Director and the founder of Qiasmus, working with global brands and cultural organisations to build thoughtful, enduring identities and experiences.

Over the past decade, she has led creative direction across identity, campaigns, and experiential platforms — translating strategy into brand systems that drive clarity and resonance. Her work spans fintech, hospitality, and culture, collaborating with clients such as Bullish (Fintech), AIA, St. Regis, and Chow Tai Fook.

Approach

Mahika builds visual and narrative systems that scale across digital, physical, and cultural touchpoints, balancing intuition with structure to make complex ideas feel clear and human.

Background

Born in New Delhi and raised in Shenzhen, she developed an early sensitivity to cultural nuance, movement, and visual language — a third‑culture perspective that continues to inform her storytelling and collaborations across diverse audiences and disciplines.

Practice

Alongside her commercial work, Mahika leads Qiasmus, exploring the intersections of brand, culture, and narrative, and Keepsake, a platform focused on curated cultural experiences and emerging design voices.
Beyond her core practice, she works with tactile and performative media — DJing, ceramics, illustration, and photography — disciplines that inform her sensitivity to rhythm, form, and atmosphere across brand and spatial design.

Now based in Hong Kong, Mahika partners with founders, teams, and organisations to shape brands that are not only visually compelling, but culturally relevant and built to endure.

Close-up of choppy ocean waves with white foam and greenish water.

Capabilities

Creative Direction

  • Brand identity systems

  • Visual and narrative development

  • Campaign & art direction

  • Experiential / event design direction

  • Cross‑disciplinary concept ideation

Strategy & Brand Building

  • Brand positioning & messaging

  • Concept development & storytelling

  • Audience & cultural insight translation

  • Creative strategy documentation & presentation

Experience & Event Production

  • Spatial layout & flow design

  • Vendor and talent curation

  • Programming & production management

  • Set styling & atmosphere design

  • Sponsorship & partner integrations

Leadership & Collaboration

  • Managing creative and production teams

  • Cross‑agency coordination

  • Mentorship and creative reviews

  • Client and stakeholder communication

Digital & Communication Design

  • Website direction & UX flow

  • Creative briefing & art direction for motion

  • Editorial and social narrative creation

  • Cultural research synthesis

  • Mood sequencing & experience scoring

  • Creative briefing & art direction decks

  • Vendor & brand partnership strategy

  • Set & environment styling

  • Integrated brand storytelling

Approach

Tools & Technical Fluency

Design & Layout
Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator) + Figma

Event & Creative Ecosystem
Trello + Google Suite/ Slack / Zoom +Music & Sound Tools (Rekordbox & CDJs)

Production & Prototyping
Squarespace/Webflow + Notion/Miro

What People Are Saying

“I had the pleasure of working with Mahika at Bullish and highly recommend her. I was her manager as part of the brand creative team at Bullish for much of the year where we created many assets for internal and external audiences. Mahika was the lead designer for all social and paid advertising where she consistently pushed concepts and the brand to create compelling new imagery and ads each and every time. She is a talented conceptual illustrator and designer. I loved how every project that came her way she would do a deep dive into researching competitors and inspirational references, elevating the design thinking she applied to her projects. Our team operated across time zones, I was in the U.S. and Mahika in HK, yet we were able to work productively and well together, a testament to Mahika’s organizational skills as well as her design talent.

— direct manager: efrat leush - creative director, bullish & coindesk

“Branches of Hope had the pleasure of working with Mahika after signing GAJA Ltd. to assist the 2025 Ma Wan Easter Egg Hunt. Mahika was instrumental in securing sponsors and media exposure, and offered valuable strategic advice throughout the planning for the event, in which over 2,500 people were involved. We are also grateful to her hands-on work during the event itself by managing the volunteers handling the prize redemption. She is both pleasant to work with and competent in her field.”

— past client: alexander pforte - regional cva coordinator, APAC

“Mahika is one of the most surprising people I’ve worked with. She has a maturity of mind and understanding, a rich personality, and a knowing perspective. I enjoyed working with her, as she always thought deeply about things and painted a clear and enriching picture of her process. She frequently walked me through her thinking adroitly.

She also enjoys self-development, astutely caring for the other team members, and creating haiku games with colleagues.”

— former colleague: ric dunn - storyhacker