Shwetha Narayanan, 33, and her sister-in-law Savita Iyer, 31, envisioned personalising gift articles to make them unique. The idea later gave rise to Urbankala.com, a startup which makes hand-made products like bottle lamps, clocks, coasters, bags, key chains and different varieties of painted and wired jewellery.
Savita has a diploma in texturing and lighting from Takshaa International, as well as a BCom from Mumbai University. Savita was a texturing and lighting artist at Ittina Animations and Pixion studios and has been a visiting faculty at Whistling Woods International Film School for the past five years. Shwetha has a Master’s in Microbiology from Bharathiyar University and has hands-on branding and sales experience, thanks to her stints at Myntra and Hoopos.com. She was also into sales with recruitment and event management firms for more than four years.
UrbanKala was established in May 2012 with paintings created by Savita Iyer. They slowly evolved into painting trays, murals, jewellery, and so on. The two signed a partnership deed in April 2015 with Savita handling the creative side while Shwetha takes care of sales and marketing. “We should thank our family who stood by us and helped the company in every way possible. My brother Shekhar (Savita’s husband), an investment banker helped create a separate line of brass wired jewellery. My husband Krishna Prasad, a senior executive at an MNC, developed Urbankala’s website. Girish Iyer, my brother, is a chartered accountant and takes care of the finance part of the operations,” says Shwetha.
If there is a lot of work to be completed, they hire freelancers whose works are vetted by Savita before they are given projects. UrbanKala’s product line is made up of eco-friendly materials, using pieces of waste wood, coconut shells, old jute pieces, etc. These are then given a complete overhaul to make it fun.
UrbanKala’s main source of revenue is through selling at exhibitions and through their Facebook page. Exhibitions help them interact with customers and attract a following, while Facebook gives them the much needed strength to conquer different geographies. Having sold their wares to more than 2,500 customers, they have also ventured into corporate gifting.
“Our aim is to create a market for personalised gifting in Mumbai and Bangalore before venturing out to any other places. UrbanKala’s business model is split into two 1) We create designs based on the current market scene and trends. 2) Here, products are created based on the customer’s personalised needs,” adds Savita. With the tag line “The art of gifting”, UrbanKala is sure doing a great job in the gifting sector.
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