NEXT UP....ZARAN VACHHA

As Co-founder of the events and talent agency Collective Minds and Managing Director of the Mandala Masters, Zaran Vachha is definitely not new to the culture scene, but he's certainly shaping what comes next.

- Indran Paramasivam

You can’t miss it: that voluminous beard is a bona-fide door-kicker. Just like the man it’s attached to. Zaran Vachha is, unquestionably and indubitably, a man of action. His moves— bold and deft in the events and live entertainment space, have enriched Singapore in ways we are still feeling. At his new base of operations, the Mandala Club, Vachha sets his sights on more: more change, more conversations, more culture. More.

What in your early days, led you to putting on public-facing events? The idea of a shared experience really called out to me. People enjoying themselves and enjoying culture, first and foremost, was very important to me. I was doing a neuroscience and statistics degree in university—what was I thinking? But in the wider sense, I’ve always been driven to better myself. When I was younger, I thought it meant being good in specific fields like sports and studies, until I saw another side of the world, which was culture. It came as a revelation that I could better myself culturally by going to the theatre, to concerts, exhibitions and stuff like that. I really wanted to be part of that world.

So when I was in university, I started doing parties. My first booking was Justice. I had fun doing it and over time, I became involved in bigger parties, ran events at Egg London, and activations for brands such as Adidas and Converse. My company then, was called The Little Black Book. It was a new world. There were setbacks along the way though: I booked MF Doom and he didn’t show up. When I moved to Hong Kong after, that purpose changed into me wanting to bring that music and that sense of discovery to Asia.