Anita’s Organic Mill x Sandeep Johal: A Diwali Collaboration Rooted in Tradition and Artistry

To celebrate Diwali and honour the cultural significance of roti-making in South Asian homes, Anita’s Organic Mill partnered with artist Sandeep Johal to create a limited-edition design for Roti Flour packaging. As a longtime admirer and user of Anita’s products, Sandeep brought her unique Indo-folk visual style and deep personal connection to the project. The result is a design that celebrates tradition, family, and the vibrancy of Diwali, while paying tribute to the women who keep culinary heritage alive.

Q&A with Sandeep Johal

Q: What does Diwali mean to you personally, what are your traditions, and does Diwali influence your creative expression?

A: I love the messaging of Diwali—light over dark, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance—because these ideas can be adapted into everyday living, and are something I think many are striving towards, especially in these chaotic times. For me personally, Diwali is a reset, a time to take stock of life, and to set intentions. For Diwali, we often attend events around town or go to a friend's home to celebrate by painting diyas and sharing a meal together.

Q: What is the significance behind the design elements featured on the Anita’s Roti Flour bag?

A: My work always strives to strike a balance between colour and black and white. The base of the packaging is grounded in black, anchored by two geometric wheat patterns on either side. The middle section transitions to a deep golden yellow, representing the colour of wheat, a staple in many cultures. At the heart of the design sits a black-and-white figure of a woman holding a rolling pin—a tribute to the love, care, and labour of the women who nourish us. Above her, the sky bursts with multi-coloured fireworks, a celebration of Diwali, and all that is good and abundant.

Q: Can you share a bit about your creative process for this collaboration—what inspired the final design?

A: It's always important to me that the process feels truly collaborative. I gathered Diwali images together and began with a simple digital mockup in Procreate to get a feel for what direction to move in, in terms of colour, pattern, and composition. Through the revision process, we started refining the imagery until it struck the right balance between the client’s vision and my creative process.

Q: What made Anita’s Roti Flour a meaningful brand to collaborate with for this Diwali project?

A: I always make it a priority to shop local and Canadian, and put my dollars into good quality products. I've been buying Nature's Path products for years, especially Anita's flour, so when the opportunity came up to create packaging for Anita's Roti flour for Diwali, it was a hard yes! The fact that it's roti flour brought back memories of watching my mom make perfectly round rotis with such ease, and me eating that roti—slathered in butter!

Q: How was this project different from other work you’ve done, and what do you hope people feel when they see it?

A: I feel personally connected to the brand, so this project feels very authentically aligned. I hope people feel joy when they look at the packaging, and that it reminds them of the lineage of women in their own lives who have nourished their families for generations—carrying forward their knowledge, care, and recipes with love.

Sandeep Johal is a Canadian visual artist, advocate, and leader whose practice engages drawing, collage, textiles, and large-scale murals. Through her Indo-folk feminine aesthetic, she confronts themes of bleakness, despair and ugliness with their dissonant opposites: brightness, hope and beauty. Johal’s work typically centers around the stories of women and while she highlights female suffering in its many forms, these are ultimately stories of resistance and resilience.