Home improvement

MY BIG IDEA

Maithili Ahluwalia, an economics and sociology graduate from Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, USA and London School of Economics, gave up a cushy job with a strategic consulting boutique in New York to start a design store in Mumbai.

The store "" Bungalow Eight, a converted servant's quarter "" has turned two and now Ahluwalia is looking at opening a new store in Bandra as well.

ABOUT TURN

I had all these plans of pursuing a career in management consultancy. I guess that influence comes from my father "" Titu Ahluwalia's "" side. So after studying at the United World College in Singapore I went over to the States to pursue a degree in Economics and Sociology.

I was fortunate to start work in New York with a small boutique consultancy firm called Easton and we worked with a range of companies in varied sectors. The work essentially related to marketing and business development strategy.

Living in New York, I found myself heading to the museums and art shows very often. And I soon realised that I wanted to do something that also appealed to my creative sensibilities. That's why I decided to pursue something related to design.

NO SURPRISES

In some ways it wasn't really surprising that I chose this area to venture into. My mother and grandmother are in the jewellery designing business and I've grown up in an environment where people from the industry, gemstone suppliers and the like walked in and out of the house.

Also, I've grown up surrounded by beautiful artifacts and a very aesthetically done up home, so the idea to look at that area really came from that.

FINDING ROOTS

It had been 10 years since I had been out of India, so I really needed to re-acquaint myself with the societal changes taking place in the country.

I started taking note of lifestyle changes each time I would come down for a vacation to India and started doing my homework on the niches that I could look at.

Since my father was in the market research industry, he helped by doing a small survey on the home decor market and the kind of audience we would appeal to.

GETTING STARTED

After the groundwork, it became apparent that this was a space "" contemporary home accessories "" that didn't have too many players. I was also fortunate because there was some space in the house that I could utilise (an empty, unused servant's quarter at the back of the house).

Then came the process of figuring out merchandise, travelling to remote corners, meeting people "" friends, contacts and so on "" to build a merchandise base.

The initial investment was pretty high because, though the space was available, it had to be done up and the inventory had to be built. So I borrowed some money (about Rs 15 lakh) from my savings, friends and family to open Bungalow Eight two years back.

ROADBLOCKS

In a lot of ways, competition has been the biggest road block. People copying design and using it as their own has been a big problem. There are no laws in this country on design patents and so one has to constantly innovate to stay ahead of all this.

Then, though it would seem that my parent's connections would have helped, it's actually been detrimental in ways. People don't tend to take you seriously and acquaintances come to the store expecting discounts.

THE ROAD AHEAD

Today we have a steady client base and about 70 per cent of our customers would be institutions and interior designers. We are a team of seven people and work closely with freelance designers as well to modify or contemporise ethnic design.

What I like about the collections is the accent on textures. I want people to feel the materials we use and sense the textures. I'm now looking at slowly expanding to Bandra and even have a godown and showroom in central Mumbai.