There was always an entrepreneur in me that was biding time, waiting for the right opportunity. So, it is no surprise that at 25, I’m the co-founder of GharGhar, a home décor company that creates sustainable artisanal products, along with my partner Kautilya Mewawala. Growing up in Amritsar, I used to think of many ventures in my mind. At one point, I wanted to own a shawls factory with a full-fledged weaving set-up. Later, I wanted to manufacture good quality make-up brushes! I’m a certified make-up artist, and I wanted brushes to be sustainable. So, periodically, I would come up with a product line in my mind to launch.

But, of course, I had to complete my studies before that. So, I did my BA economics from the Delhi University. Then I worked with Bobby Brown for two years. At that time, when I wanted to do up my pad, I just felt that the kind of aesthetic, quality and luxury I was looking at was not within my reach. That’s when the thought of a home décor line that was stylish, young and luxurious, yet affordable came to my mind.

My partner Kautilya Mewawala comes from a family of carpet exporters based in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh. That is how we decided to launch our home décor company with the launch of a carpets line. The Covid lockdown had forced people to stay indoors, and there was a lot of enthusiasm about doing up homes at that time. We started by launching on Instagram, followed by an e-commerce platform, and we became an instant hit among the urban buyers who loved our colourful, textural and fine quality products that brought a chic boho look to their homes.

The name of the brand, GharGhar, was inspired by the childhood game “gharghar” that we all loved playing: decorating our dream homes with the things that we loved. The game allowed us to dream, imagine and embellish our homes without any limit to imagination. We believe that doing up our homes as adults should be as fun and effortless, and that we all should find things that we love and relate to. GharGhar’s focus is to get people enthusiastic about doing up their homes with a profusion of joyful hues, playful patterns and loads of textures. Our products are young and contemporary, yet rooted in culture and ancient craftsmanship.

We want people to find designs that touch their soul, and make them feel closer to nature with the products made of natural and sustainable materials.  As the popularity of our products grew, we did pop-up shows in Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi and Bengaluru. Today, we sell from various e-commerce platforms as well. We then followed up our product offerings with cushions, pillows, and just now, we have launched a line of stoles. Since most of our production happens in Jaipur, we decided to shift to the city to closely monitor the work as we are particular about the quality standards as much as the style and aesthetics. There will be no compromise on either of those.

Since our products are handmade, it is a very labour-intensive process, and we need to get everything right — the quality, finish and the final touches. The home décor industry is vast, and the competition is huge. We want to stay on top of the game as far as design, aesthetics, quality and consistency are concerned. And that is the basis of our growing popularity, which is a matter of great pride for us. It is important to retain that uniqueness to lend an edge to our products.

We started off on the spur, working diligently towards accelerating the production as demand rose. And we have absolutely loved it. The generational craftspeople that we work with use techniques like screen-printing, block printing, weaving, knotting, tufting, etc. Each process takes its own time and passes through many hands.

And every process is so beautiful and satisfying that we simply enjoy each moment of it. We are learning different things constantly, and expanding our knowledge and experience. It is an amazing feeling. I have my hands full taking care of the business, the marketing and digital verticals, but I continue to brush up my knowledge by doing various courses. Kautilya works closely with the design department.

The kind of love people have showered on our products is very encouraging. And that gives us the confidence to go ahead and add more designs. We will definitely expand our repertoire in the future with more offerings. We are also excited to try out more categories within the home décor sector. India is still a patriarchal society, and women achievers inspire me to keep going. At the same time, I’m happy we are able to support many traditional crafts communities, including women.