Antara Mukherji calls her setup Enthucutlets and the name would resonate with Bangaloreans on so many levels. Established in September 2010, Antara, creates and sells handmade and upcycled products (through her Facebook page- >www.facebook.com/Enthucutlets ) such as organisers, pin boards, magnetic boards, blackboards, handmade boxes and quirky kitchen art prints, among other interesting items.
While Antara was a graphic artist with a packaging and branding firm, Namrata, her founding partner, who has now gone back to day job, had a background in textiles. “It was our love for handmade and all things quirky, that enticed us,” says Antara. “Even before we started off officially, we made some fun accessories for our kitchen and people asked if they could have it too. Soon enough, Enthucutlets was born.”
Antara admits she had her “fair share of trouble organising, sorting, and planning. Not being that tech-savvy didn’t help too much either. I figured there must other people like me who could do with some help and who would in turn would support our project and buy our products. What we make at Enthucutlets are for those who thrive on chaos and would like a way around it if not out of it. And most of the products actually work towards articulating one’s life.”
Eco-friendly principles and practices come naturally to Antara. “I try to recycle everything and that sometimes makes the process of churning out products slow. But I also enjoy personalising orders according to people’s requirements and that’s the specialty of Enthucutlets.
“The journey so far has been an uphill task but I feel the gap between efforts and rewards is slowly being bridged. I am not too worried about numbers right now so the challenges currently include improving the quality of the products and continuing to create something beautiful yet meaningful and useful.”
Looking forward, she says: “Enthucutlets has been an outlet for me to express my creativity and I now see it also drifting into very meaningful territory for young children and women (hopefully the men will follow suit!). In our urban context there is a considerable lack of interest in cooking and eating home cooked meals and our lifestyle troubles have escalated. Food activism interests me. Therefore, using art and craft as useful tools, I would like to make products that can bring the family back together, at home, in the kitchen, and around the dining table.”
This column features those who choose to veer off the beaten track
