Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon Indians to be ‘vocal for local’ and the entire nation applauded this step that proved to be a boost for Indian entrepreneurs. It has promoted local businesses during COVID-19 and given customers the ability and motivation to shop locally with ease. This rebranded version of ‘Made In India’ has our support, and every month, TC46 will spotlight small businesses and ventures you can champion and back easily through online and offline purchases.
Artists, entrepreneurs, visionaries and experts, Indian women are shattering glass ceilings and breaking out of boxes. Success, tied with skills and hard work, is what makes those featured in our list today an inspiration for many. And the journey, for these women of incredible talent, are stories that must be told.
This week, here are some brands we’re cheering on; check them out!
Gifting Options By Hues Of MEmories
Swati Gupta is an ex-I.T employee who got into card making by ‘accident’, literally. She started making cards as a hobby when she was on bed rest for 9 months after a near-fatal accident. She began sending cards to her boyfriend (now husband), and soon after, she was making cards for friends on special request. She started Hues Of MEmories as a part-time business while working for an I.T company, but pursued it as a full-time job after her clientele grew. She now lives in Hyderabad with her husband and a fur baby golden retriever doggy.
The idea for the brand came about when they started feeling the lack of warmth in the gift-giving process. The sudden rush of electronic options has taken out the effort, personalised touch, and hence the warmth that was all part of the gift-giving and receiving tradition earlier. The brand wanted to come up with a way to personalise gifts in a manner that makes it evident that the gift was made BY someone specifically, FOR someone specifically.
Greeting cards, fridge magnets, bookmarks, tags, watercolour paintings, frames, polaroids are the most sought after products by Hues Of MEmories. They also conduct online and offline workshops for cardmaking and watercolour workshops for beginners and advanced enthusiasts. The target audience of the brand is anyone who is looking for a gift and wants something unique and personalised. They create craft for any occasion, however generic or personal.
Since each product that they sell is unique, there isn’t a fixed price range. You can place custom orders over DMs on their social media pages or buy finished products online at Instamojo.
Apparel & Accessories By Ek Taara
Priyanka Chugh, the founder, hopes to bring traditional craftsmanship from the different Indian States to the forefront with her clothing and accessories brand, Ek Taara. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in fashion design from NIFT, an MBA in Marketing and a Masters in Fashion Brand Management from Polimoda, Italy.
The idea for Ek Taara came to reality about six years ago. Priyanka wanted to celebrate the varied cultures and crafts of the different States of India, and that’s why she came up with the name Ek Taara. To her, it symbolises the unity of this magnanimous and diverse country—’A star’. The love for design and craft is evident throughout the country. She wanted to explore villages to uncover these creative clusters and produce unique products for the brand.
After coming back from Italy, she shifted to Jaipur as she always felt the city was the perfect blend of textile, heritage, skills and values. Setting up her base in 6 months, she explored villages around Jaipur. She took some time to understand and narrow down on the kind of craft and techniques the brand would like to pursue. She was finding a thread, an identity that would hold the brand Ek Taara together.
The brand currently highlights the work of artists from Rajasthan. Ek Taara plans to showcase the craftsmanship of every state through their product range. The brand makes products like dupattas, sarees and apparel, clutches, handbags, stoles, and even cushion covers. Their collection symbolises a mix and match of different forms of tie-dye, block-printing, screen printing and more.
They’ve also begun work on a small-scale handmade toy store. The brand specialises in crochet handmade products: Perfect for home and gifting your loved ones during this pandemic.
You can get a gorgeous block printed saree at Rs 3,500; connect with the brand via social media.
Natural Beauty Products By Quintessential Naturals
A mompreneur and the mother of a high-spirited 6-year-old, Vaishali Chacko is the founder of Quintessential Naturals. This brand covers a range of skin and hair care products for kids and adults. She regards her son Aarav as her muse for the desire to treat his eczema without topical steroids; it’s how she ventured into this line of work. Her parents’ respective terminal illnesses further drove her to find solutions to make their lives easier. She read mountains of books and articles on natural plant oils also known as carrier oils, essential oils and Botanicals used in Ayurveda and their effectiveness. Nature helped where science could not, and thus began Vaishali’s journey into the world of Aromatherapy.
Her corporate career spanned 15 years in Finance & Consulting with brands such as SwissAir, HSBC, Prudential and Capgemini Consulting. It was a difficult decision to take a career break and lose her financial independence while starting a family, though in hindsight, an extremely rewarding one! Her vision is to harness the incredible bounty that nature gives us to create products that are as effective as they are affordable.
The brand also customises products wherever possible to meet customer needs. Majority of the products are plant-derived and organic. They have a Vegan version of all products as well. Their customers majorly consist of women between the ages of 23 and 55 years, especially those looking for natural, unadulterated and customisable skin and hair care solutions for themselves as well as their kids.
But, they do have a fair amount of men using our products, mainly ones that want to tackle specific problems and want someone to talk to rather than picking stuff off a shelf. The range starts as low as Rs 110 and goes up to Rs 1,400.
Currently, the products are on sale on their social media accounts, mainly Facebook & Instagram pages.
Want us to be VocalForLocal for your brand or know someone whose work you’d like to cheer on? Drop us an email to be featured on The Channel 46 at contact@anvilmedia.in.
