March has been declared Women's History Awareness Month. And to keep in theme I have planned on highlighting a couple of artists who are the best in their respective fields. They are women, they are entrepreneurs and they are unique thinkers. Without further ado let me introduce to you our 1st artist- accessory designer, Shivani Patel who is about to launch an entire collection of wallets and handbags for both men and women that are made out of CORK fabrics!
1. Tell us a little about yourself. What inspired you to become a designer?
~ I was born and brought up in Chennai. Ever since I was a kid, I loved arts and crafts. Also, my father was in the export industry. He was the CEO of a company that dealt with leather goods. In my summer vacations, I used to go with him to the factory and make small bags and pouches for myself out of waste scraps of leather. I even used to make clothes for my Barbies. That’s when my interest began.
2. Why did you go into accessory designing?
~ I have always been crazy about footwear and accessories. Right from the time I was a kid dancing around in my mom’s heels, waiting for the day I would get a pair of my own. And as I mentioned earlier, I used to go to the factory a lot. I became very passionate about footwear, handbags and wallets. That’s how my interest developed and I ended up choosing the Accessory Design course when I was accepted into NIFT.
3. As a woman entrepreneur how has your experience been running your own company so far?
~ It’s been great. I’ve had no difference in my experience due to being a woman. I think it’s important to be confident in yourself. My parents have never treated me any different just because I’m a girl. They always made me believe that I can be anything I want to be, and that’s the attitude I carry with me. It’s easy for people to push you around if you doubt yourself. I do not see myself as inferior, and that gives me the confidence to deal with the world.
4. Why Arture? Why go into eco-friendly designing now?
~ Arture – the name means art+nature. I wanted to create products that are natural and inspired by nature. I also believe that every product is a piece of art. I want Arture to be the canvas of nature. Contemporary, yet taking you back to your roots.
I always felt the lack of products that are eco-friendly yet fashionable and luxurious. A lot of brands do use non-leather materials but these products are usually made of synthetics which are bad for the environment. That isn’t a viable solution. It was these thoughts that led to the formation of Arture, and when I stumbled upon cork and learned about all it’s properties I knew that was the perfect way for Arture to come to life.
5. Tell us about your crowd funding campaign. (Why you are crowd funding rather than say get a loan or investors the traditional way. And tell us how we can help.)
~ My crowdfunding campaign goes live on the 10th of March. The purpose of the campaign is to help me launch Arture in the market. The funds I get will help me purchase all the materials I require, produce my first batch of products and ship them out to all my backers. All the products from my collection are available as perks. People who back me are sure to get whatever products they like from the collections.
I love the transparency of crowdfunding and I love how involved backers get with the project. From a brand’s perspective, we get market validation and we get the direct feedback from the people who are going to be using our products. We get the ability to form a community around our brand. From the consumer’s perspective, they get the chance to back something they truly love and believe in, and they get to be a part of it.
The link is now live - *
click to contribute*. You can follow Arture on
Facebook or
Twitter and we can’t wait to join hands with you on this journey that we are so incredibly excited about!
