Sarita Handa, the leading home furnishing and lifestyle brand, has a new address at M.G. Road in Delhi: Sarita Handa Now. Spread over an area of 11,000 square feet, this beautifully designed and aesthetically curated spacious store is the new, evolved and more nuanced avatar of its older self. It reflects the 30-year-long journey of Sarita Handa — one of the most prominent homegrown brands deeply rooted in Indian heritage — that began in 1992. 

As you enter, ascending your way to the first floor, a gentle whiff of luxury and leisure wafting through the store’s concept-driven living room area welcomes you. The living room area opens seamlessly to the terrace on one side, where a clutch of pretty, all-weather outdoor furniture pieces — chairs, recliners, tables and settees — which combine comfort and durability, sit pretty. On the other side, there is a library-cum-living room area, an expansive dining space, and large shelves on both sides for books, cushions and artefacts. There is a huge centrally located hall that has a non-functional fireplace, sofas, centre tables, chairs etc. The rooms are designed to serve as samplers of private spaces, which help customers visualise themselves in the settings and choose stuff, almost instinctively, that spark their interest, and appeal to their aesthetics and style. 

Each piece of furniture, artefacts, artworks, objet d’art — spread across the length and breadth of the store — are exquisite in design and colour. Based on Wabi-Sabi’s artistic sensitivity and design principle, it strikes you with its bare aesthetics, soaked in simplicity. Sarita Handa started as a textile and linen range and has, over the years, done Done private label bedding for American upscale home furnishing store chains like Ethan Allen, Bloomingdale’s, Pottery Barn and Macy’s. Sarita Handa, its founder, started the home furnishing brand on a small scale from Tughlaqabad in 1992 — after much deliberation and research. In the 1980s, she had worked with Shyam Ahuja (named after the man behind the brand, who singlehandly made dhurrie a thing of luxury in India). Ten years later, it got into retail, opening its first store at Khan Market in January 2012, followed by another outlet at Defence Colony the following year. With two more opening in quick succession, the indigenous luxe furniture, furnishings and décor brand had put its feet firmly on the soil. In May 2020, it flagged off its online retail space (saritahanda.com). 

Talking about the difference in the core strategy and brand positioning of Sarita Handa (SH) and Sarita Handa Now (SHN), founder and creative director Sarita Handa, says that the differentiation is obvious to see and conceptualise. Sarita Handa, the person who conceived the store, was a younger person — well-travelled, eclectic, and global. Sarita Handa Now, on the other hand, has arrived: she has reached where she had to reach, and that’s where she is today. During the pandemic, she wanted to move to a different space as her apartment was being done. It was then that Suparna, her daughter and the company’s Managing Director, proposed that they should be opening a more contemporary store. Suparna, who worked with Ralph Lauren and ABC Carpets early in her career, had joined her mother’s business at the age of 24, soon after she completed her degree in Fashion Business Management from Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. Rahul Puri, Suparna’s husband and Executive Director at SH, had seen the SHN store coming up and he loved the space. He brought along Amith Chhabra, who runs an interior design studio, Livin’ Colours Design (LCD). 

“We collaborated to create this space and Amith is now part of the team. Suparna’s vision, Rahul’s selection of this beautiful space and Amith’s collaboration has helped bring together each and every piece. Everything has been curated and produced by the Sarita Handa brand. Even if we sourced something, it has our own designs and efforts involved. So, I can easily say that while Sarita Handa is who I was, SH Now is who I am today; it reflects my personality and my own lifestyle. Therefore, even in my new space, you’ll see a reflection of my own home — its Japandi (an amalgamation of Japanese and Scandinavian) design is minimalistic, yet comforting and warm. Modern can be sometimes very cold, but this has warmth and that’s what Sarita Handa stands for, besides its understated, quiet luxury.” SH Now, Chhabra says, was designed as an immersive space where one can walk in, immediately feel at home and meander at leisure, soaking in what’s on offer. “We wanted people to not just spend time at the store but also engage with every item on display — from the curated furniture pieces to the objets d’art and other collectables,” he adds.

Apart from its usual offerings of bed and bath linen, cushion covers, quilts and fabric, SH Now will also offer aesthetically designed home furniture, ethnic artefacts, contemporary artworks, modern pottery and ceramics and beauty products. “Even though the space is minimalistic, the play of textures through handwoven fabrics, natural materials and sculptural design create a beautiful vision — one that’s rooted in harmony,” said Suparna Handa. The brand has also collaborated with Anu Bajaj, founder of Gallery Art Positive, to display some artworks at the new store. Some prominent works of artists like Ankon Mitra, Siddharth Kelkar, Anni Kumari, Harish Ojha etc are beautifully put on display.  The store has also showcased ethnic artefacts in metal, brass, marble and wood, along with exclusive pottery and ceramics. This segment has been curated by Rahul Puri, who is also an art lover and collector. 

Talking about the collaboration with Art Positive, Sarita Handa says: “Collaborations are always with like-minded people.  And Anu Bajaj has been able to understand what our core brand values are. It’s a platform where we want to bring in young people and give them the opportunity to show their product and this art sits very well with our decor. It’s very quiet and that’s who we are. It’s a great marriage and and whatever we are putting on display is also getting sold. We are working very closely with the artists and it’s all a collaborative effort.” 

For Sarita Handa, challenges are everywhere and good and bad things happen to everyone but she says that it is one’s clear conscience, hard work, commitment and family support that keep one motivated to move ahead. Discussing the trajectory of the industry in the last three decades, she says: “The industry has changed a lot. I think we have come a long, long way. When I started, our core strength was — and it still is — exports. The reason why I went there was that I found it easier to get the doors opened for me overseas than in India because during those days exports were easy to penetrate into and I was able to do it. Today, there are more platforms. Younger generations have more opportunities. They are more exposed, and digital media teaches them different things. We didn’t have this luxury of technology, but at the same time we did have other advantages like less competition in this segment compared to the present day scenario. It is more of a competitive world today. Life is more complex for young entrepreneurs than it was for me. Every day, a new home brand is coming up. And yet, as India is evolving, there is space for everybody.”

 

Her focus has always been on ‘acquiring’ customers. She says: “When you make a sale and get repeat customers, you have acquired a customer. Our motto is ‘give more’ so that the customers come back. Sarita Handa is an aspirational brand and people find that they are getting value for their money. Every product is tested and dos and don’ts are clearly spelt out: for instance, you don’t have to give it for dry cleaning. It can be only hand or machine-washed. Besides, we also ensure that our service is consistently good: bad news travels faster than good news and, therefore, we even care for the pesky customers.” 

Sarita Handa says there has been a change in her signature style from who she was to who she is today and she is also a part of that change. Her personality has not changed, but she has grown. She has learnt a lot in life and enjoyed her life. And she wouldn’t like to change — she's happy the way she is. She believes that she has got more than what she expected from life. When she was starting out, she was into reviving the tradition of textile. “I still love to do it. Like quilting, the way we do it takes a lot of hard work since it requires the colour balance, etc. Not everyone can do it. We train a lot of young designers and it’s all done with hands — it’s a labour of love. So, we do a lot of labour-intensive work. Running a place with ethics and honesty is not easy,” she says. 

Asked about the major takeaways and learnings during her thirty years’ stint in the lifestyle industry, Sarita Handa says, “I never looked outside. I always felt that I needed to compete with myself. The competition is that you set the benchmark for yourself and keep striving harder to gain the height of success. Even as a company, I find that we are very internalised; we are all about ourselves. If there is a message that I would give to young people, especially fledgeling entrepreneurs, it’d be this: Don’t be competitive because once you’re competitive, you lose a certain amount of belief in yourself. So, count on your own hard work, your own vision, your own dreams and that’s going to make you who you are. Hard work, faith, and confidence — all of it ultimately helps you achieve the promises that you made to yourself. Believe in yourself, work hard, be disciplined, and stay fit and healthy.”

SH is all set to tread new territories: expansion plans are on the cards. The export division is one big vertical and the US has been the main market for the brand, but now it is stepping into Europe and expanding in India, too. In the domestic market, it is planning to open more retail outlets and is working towards collaborating in the Indian market. The brand is increasing the number of outlets and, thereby, the market share. While the stores come under a separate entity, its major verticals include Sarita Handa Exports and Sarita Handa Retail. The brand has its own manufacturing factory; all the pieces of furniture that they have displayed at their stores come from their own manufacturing factory. So, there is a different vertical for furniture, too, which takes care of customization, as per the clients’ requirements, of the lines at the stores. As of now, the furniture is not for exports. With an e-commerce site in place, it also does home projects in collaboration with architects and interior designers. 

By the end of 2022, Sarita Handa Retail will have 8-9 stores across India. As of now, it has three stores in Delhi, and two in Mumbai, where it is planning to open one more by the end of this year. It just opened one store in Ahmedabad. By the end of October, its Hyderabad store will open its doors to the SH clientele. A leisurely stroll around Sarita Handa Now store is enough to give you a sense of the brand’s evolution, its journey from ‘Then’ to ‘Now’.