Monday 30 September 2013

#10: Products with a soul

In less than a year, SaiVijaya Naidu’s venture SoulfulSaai has taken off, giving her a much needed boost. From conceptualizing to designing, she does it all. She has sold her products on more than 6 websites, and continues to do so. Boasting a Post Graduate degree in Textiles n Clothing from the Mumbai University, she also happens to be a gold medalist and the university topper. She was inclined towards art, right from school days, so she eventually convinced her parents to let her take up Textiles Designing as opposed to being a typical doctor or engineer. “Loaded with all the knowledge from my degree, I even worked as a lecturer for a year in my own college, but got bored soon, as I was teaching exactly what I had learnt, ie. too much of theoretical knowledge. I discontinued and took up writing. I wrote on fashion and textiles which I thoroughly enjoyed, but fate had a different course for me. The erratic schedules and late nights didn't go well with my family so I quit the job, and did freelancing instead. But that too wasn't motivating. So I ended up spending time online, made new friends Facebook and Twitter, and even blogging a bit,” shares Saai.

Soulfulsaai was actually her Twitter-handle, which eventually gave birth to her brand. Nandita Iyer, a fellow food blogger, suggested Saai that she checks Etsy.com. Well, that was it. Once she took this plunge, she pledged that she would swim the Atlantic. “In the beginning I surfed aimlessly. But then I did realize  that of all the products I surfed, I liked the segment on hair accessories. I immediately went to the nearby malls to check what type of hair accessories was sold and their price range. Later I decided to check the process of opening a shop on Etsy.com, and realized it was much simpler than opening a bank account!” exclaims Naidu.


After a while Saai realized that Etsy catered mainly to international clients, and she wanted to make a mark in her homeland too. That’s where she decided to open up a shop on Craftsvilla.com. Slowly, she spread her wings, and now sells her products on websites like Itshandmade.in, Shopick.com, Unwrapindia.com etc.




But the path she decided to take had its own pros and cons. “Frankly, every moment in the process of building Soulfulsaai has been eventful. As it was a relatively unthreaded path, any decision I made, I had to be ready for success or failure. I had my own share of disappointments. The first exhibition I had was a disaster. The reasons were numerous, but I sure learnt a lot from it,” shares Saai. On the brighter side, she is happy to be her own boss!

“I don’t only want people to benefit from Soulfulsaai, but I also want to create awareness about my brand, unlike the mass-produced products that lack personal touch. Today I am confident that there is a demand for my products because I use techniques like crochet, beading, macrame, soutache, and fabric flowers. While on the other hand, there are women who are struggling to earn a decent living. If I could bring these two things together, I would be happy,” says Saai.

8 comments:

  1. Your blog is full of beautiful women with their beautiful creations displayed for the whole world to see and take notice and get inspired. The best thing I like about these is the Thoughtful Heading you give to each Blog.

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  2. Kriti im soo touched.. uve captured the essence of my products so well in ur words
    wish you luck
    ....... lots of love saai

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  3. Hi Kriti,

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading every article on your blog especially this one about my dear friend and schoolmate, Vijaya, whom I was honored to meet last month, after 25 long years.

    Meeting her in person and learning about her journey was truly inspiring. What touched my heart was not only the fact that she wanted her customers to own handmade products of utmost quality but also the need to help the craftsmen earn a living. My daughter, Nikhita, is her biggest fan, who keeps flaunting vijaya's products and tells everyone that its made by 'Soulfulsaai Aunty'.

    Please continue to inspire us through your articles, I'm looking forward to reading more of them..Good luck and God Bless!

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  4. Thanks a ton smitha uve always been my biggest admirer n support... n finally we met... that ws the icing on d cake...:)

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  5. @Saai: your work deserves all the accolades :)
    @Smitha: Thank u so much for reading :) pls keep visiting the blog!

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  6. Beautiful words for equaly beautiful person Saai is so much soulfull realy . her every creation is so much thought full so much heart felt . she is turning many dreams in to reality .. my daughter too is her big fan .:)

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