Driven by an innate sense of aesthetics, I dabbled in many creative activities when I was young. I loved cleaning spaces and styling. And, as a creative person, I worked in advertising as well as graphic design. Then, I realised that my design sense could be applied to any area. I even loved plating up my everyday food beautifully. Design and aesthetics are a way of life for me. That led me to evolve into an interior designer and a stylist.

Now, I build spaces that the clients enjoy and appreciate. It feels great to be able to imagine and desire something and then deliver it in tangible terms. Working with my husband, Hardesh Chawla, and taking Essentia Environments to new heights has been an exciting journey. As the Creative Head, I’m able to dream, conceive and execute designs that constantly add value to the lives of our clients. I’m happy to be supported by an able team that handles the rest of the responsibilities efficiently, leaving me to concentrate on mine. Building a team that shares our vision and goals has encouraged us to expand and strengthen our portfolio consistently. 

When you embrace a unique vision, it is not easy to find vendors/suppliers who share the same vision, or the ethos and eye for detail. We realised that we can only get our own team to resonate with our ethos and live up to our expectations, and not any outsiders. That was the turning point towards building our own manufacturing capability. When we design and fabricate our own furniture is when we can give perfect shape to our imagination. Today, we are more or less self-sufficient in terms of creating everything we need for our projects — furniture, wardrobes, kitchen, doors, metal and glass, furnishings and décor. Our services now span on-site build services including both civil and interiors, as well as a complete bouquet of offsite offerings.This was a challenging feat, which we achieved through sheer hard work and grit.

What worked for us was understanding our capabilities and pushing the envelope to realise the full potential. Investing in a team that supported us fully was also important. Also, even with 20 years experience in the field and over 1,000 projects to our credit, we take up each project with the enthusiasm of a newcomer and give our 100 per cent to it. Each time we wrack our brains to offer the best possible services. We don’t believe in churning out projects. We think of each project as a chance to showcase something unique and different that will truly elevate the client’s experience. 

As a creative person, my role is cut out within the organization. I’m supported by my husband and a good team, so I have not faced any major hurdles like some women do at their workplace. But I believe that if you are talented and are committed to reach your goal through hard work, then whatever the obstacles, you will be able to overcome them. So, set your goals high, be ambitious and give your all to your work. Most of what you do at work is about your attitude. So, embrace the right attitude. It is important to have women in the workforce; they bring their own unique creativity and perspective to a job. 

For me at Essentia, it has been a gradual journey of growth, each time setting a new benchmark for ourselves so that the journey stays exciting and full of creative endeavours. We lived overseas and were doing well, here, too, we are doing well. All thanks to the consistent hard work we put up. I have learnt that by setting our goals higher early on in our career; we could have achieved them easily. So, I would recommend to all women that thinking bigger and sooner in your career is important. And don’t set a mediocre benchmark. It helps to understand your capabilities, as well as your weak areas, so that you can take help from your colleagues. Also, take a holistic view of things for better solutions to your problems.

 

What has kept me motivated through this journey is the rewards that come my way in the form of client appreciations. It is nice to see them find so much joy in their homes. This is what inspires us to do better. In the past few years, Essentia has grown manifold. Apart from being a service-driven organisation, we branched out into designing and manufacturing furniture and products, as well as retailing them. Our diverse range of products is available for customization by architects and interior designers. And we are also set to export our furniture to Europe, which is unheard of, considering we have always imported from them. These kinds of milestones keep us on our toes.