After having co-founded a popular handmade hair accessories brand in the city, Nikita Dawar, whose first love is fabric, decided to start Fabric Story in July 2014.
An online brand of edgy, high end fabric and fabric material accessories, the business was created to simplify the process of researching and sourcing fabrics in India, to encourage budding crafters, designers and artists to focus and make best use of their time and skills.
Nikita says: “Being a designer and a crafter, I always faced an issue with sourcing fabric which was different, matched international standards or trends and there was always a tiring process connected to it. Also, having a special fondness for this material created a stronger need in me to work with it. Thus, Fabric Story was created to solve the humble issues of sourcing conveniently and having fun with material.”
The fabrics on Fabric Story include cotton, chiffon, jute, canvas, crepe, and denim in interesting prints such as chevron, houndstooth, digital prints, block prints, floral, kiddie, ikat, etc. Nikita explains: “They are commonly-used fabric and are easy to handle. They are great for DIYs at home, and to create fashion apparel and accessories, home decor and upholstery. More interesting ways to use it would be to frame small pieces and create a fabric wall at home, or nail it onto the headboard of your bed or cover boring stationery at home or office for a fun look! I put up DIYs almost everyday on my tumblr blog and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/fabricstory.in) to help my customers with ideas.”
Her products are priced very reasonably. The minimum quantity is half a meter and ranges between Rs.90 to Rs.400. While her target audience is very obviously crafters and designers, she is right now “focusing more on people who love creating products with their hands and because they might not have studied in a design or art school, they would not know where to find the correct material or designs or how to make colour and design decisions.”
In the three months that Fabric Story has been around, Nikita has found that creating a strong presence online can be a bit of a challenge. “Interactions with customers, constant innovation, future plans, and fulfilling orders, are my day-to-day activities which keep me happy in the job.”
In the future, Nikita plans to “perpetuate the DIY culture in India. Starting with ideas on blogs and Facebook, I will be selling DIY kits, which will have tools and ideas, workshops, newsletters and e-books. I also want to source more prints and materials.” Creating her own prints based on the fusion of Indian and international trends, is also in the pipeline.
This column features those who choose to veer off the beaten track
