Sarthak and Reema Shah are moving attention away from food to cutlery at dinner tables everywhere with their designer home accessories. Sarthak, a MBA graduate, and his wife Reema, a child psychologist-cum-dancer-turned-accessories designer, launched Filigree (home accessories brand) and Stone.wire.love (jewellery brand).
In Chennai to showcase their new collection, Sarthak talks about the business of design and how being a youngster in the business is definitely an advantage.
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Filigree emerged from a thought. I had attended a party where everything on the table matched the table setting as well as the décor; the only thing missing was matching cutlery. Having already started my fashion jewellery business a couple of years before, I immediately thought of embellishing cutlery as well. Besides, I wanted to add matching accessories like napkin rings and candle wreaths to add charm to the table.
What about the pricing?
I have priced my products in such a way that it is affordable to every class. What I have done is set prices as per the raw material used. So, people can choose designs in different price brackets. So this is not restricted to only a handful of people.
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Tell us about your jewellery brand Stone.wire.love…
Stone.wire.love is high-fashion jewellery brand that manufactures jewellery, fashion scarves and other products like tic tacs, finger rings and spectacle charms. The name is self-explanatory; it means that you will fall in love with the stones and wires that we have used. We use beads from different parts of the world and also attend to a lot of clients who attend theme parties and want matching jewellery.
Being youngsters in the business…
As youngsters, we hardly face challenges since we have age, creativity and passion on our side. The only challenges we come across are credit and expansion since we are beginners. However, having the backing of our parent company KENIL, that has been in business for about 40 years, helps. We also get to meet a lot of people our age and that helps us understand their requirements. I have five years hands-on experience and I have also picked up the nuances of the design business from my father who is a fashion expert. Experience is the key.
On working as a couple...
We enjoy working in the same company. However, we have different brands to run and so we interfere in each other’s business only when required. We hardly talk about work and don’t bring work back home. We don’t want it to interfere with our personal life.
Future plans.
For Filigree, I would love to export my products. Also I am planning to start a retail chain across the country.
As far as Stone.Wire.Love is concerned, it is at a nascent stage and we are focusing on after sales service. Building confidence in clients’ minds about the products is priority. However, we’d love to start a retail chain soon and export these products as well.
Have your realised the potential of the e-market and social media yet?
Yes! We have used these platforms for marketing our brand and promoting the products. We are currently working on e-commerce since we want to make sure the system is foolproof before we initiate it. E-market is the upcoming platform to sell products and we are considering this soon. Filigree and Stone.wire.love are extremely active on Facebook and twitter, talking about the products and various interactive updates.
Website: >www.filigreehomeaccessories.com
Check out their work at Vimonisha Mega Style Souk at Hotel My Fortune (formerly Chola Sheraton) from 11.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. on 19 and 20 Dec.