As we settle with our cups of coffee, Dhanya Rajagopal fills the room with her effervescent chatter and Varadha Balaji compliments her well with his impish charm. The 20-year-old duo, friends since school days, began their business venture called Scaramouche in November 2011, and it has grown exponentially to become a very popular and profitable one.
The merchandise they offer varies from junk art jewellery, e-waste jewellery and badges to customised printed t-shirts, art decor, feature walls, and customised gifts. They make the artistic jewellery and decor items themselves, while printing of badges and shirts is outsourced.
“I am a student of architecture, and found this as a good way to put my creative impulses to use and earn some profit as well,” says Dhanya. The duo has an exceptionally creative mind frame and ensures that they provide excellent finish to their products. Some of the quirky ones include quelled paper necklaces, Hogwarts acceptance letters, graphic t-shirts designed after the Marauder’s map and lampshades made out of cassette tapes.
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The two co-founders met at school. Balaji pursues a degree in biotechnology and steals moments out of a busy college schedule to create sim-card houses and feature walls customised to the individual’s preference. He says, “Working together has been easy for us, and we divide the work based on who does what better. Dhanya works on the handicrafts, while I work with the 3D arts. We started out with gifting our friends some simple origami objects, and when they expressed interest, we eventually turned it into a registered brand, where they could order and purchase custom-made objects to their liking.” Dhanya adds that finding time from hectic college courses was difficult and their family was sceptic of the venture initially, but with time, tenacity and good returns they made the initiative a success. They had the quirk to name the venture after a word in the song Bohemian rhapsody — Scaramouche refers to a mad man of folk tales, who would jest even with kings.
The two youngsters have met with increasing demand with time, and word-of-mouth and publicity on facebook brought them the wide youth clientele that they enjoy. Their spirit to create extraordinarily crafted and finished objects, even overcoming the dearth of time, is indeed a shout out to talented youngsters across the city to take initiative in similar manner.
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For details log on to their FB page: > https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scaramouche/303829036321800?ref=ts&fref=ts