Working from home is increasingly becoming popular these days. Whether it is writing, medical transcription, translation services or data entry, we see more and more women joining the bandwagon and grabbing every opportunity that comes their way.
But what if they were to pause for a moment and think about doing something unique, something inimitable that makes them different from the rest? Let us ask ourselves the same question. How many of us actually think of doing something out of the box?
It is definitely far from easy to bid farewell to a high paying job and start a niche business right from the scratch. But it is not impossible. What is more important is to keep the creativity flowing and you will soon realize that your endeavour is remarkable and a class apart from the rest.
Today, we have with us Manali Mitra, owner of Keeva Studio, in Pune, in conversation with Piya Jayarajan. Keeva Studio specialises in creative lifestyle products inspired by the 60’s and 70’s. The product range includes coasters, lamps, fruit bowls and other home accessories which are mainly made out of compact discs! Yes, you heard it right.
Read on, as this entrepreneur talks about how she enjoys doing something which is atypical and offbeat.
You moved away from a full time advertising job to work from home and do something completely out-of-the-box. What motivated you to take this step?
As a so-called creative director in an ad agency one was always forced to ‘create’ images and work that will be acceptable to the client. The challenge was to understand the client’s brief and produce art work according to their taste. Naturally, I was feeling hemmed in, doing things I personally detested, even while they were being acclaimed commercially. While many liked my eccentric, off beat approach to life and art, they were, I guess, scared to move off the beaten track and were content with giving the clients the mainstream trash that was acceptable to the masses. It was out of this rebellion against the ordinary that Keeva Studio was born.
How did the idea of a studio happen? How did you go about setting Keeva Studio up?
I am very much a flower child, very 60’s &70’s and I love vintage and the colors of that era. There is a niche circle of people (call it fringe, if you may), who want to possess vintage artwork, as reminiscence of their formative years, as parts of their history. It were due to requests from such people that the idea of such a studio was born. One thing led to another and bingo, I had Keeva Studio.
