#16: Meet the 3 Mad Chicks

3 Mad Chicks

Whoever said that women can not work together clearly does not own a 3 Mad Chicks’ bag. 

The brand 3 Mad Chicks is a trend setter when it comes to bags. It offers a range of colourful, young, stylish, and funky bags for the bold, fun, and cheerful youth of today. Meet Ankita Negi, Oshima Jain and Smriti Chadha, alumni of NIFT, New Delhi, who have been the best of friends since the second year of college. They used to and still hang out together. “We have been inseparable since we met. Our design ideas, thinking direction and the way we work were pretty much the same. So that is how we actually thought of working together,” they share.

“The first time that we thought of starting a company was in our 3rd year. By the starting of our 4th year we were sure about what we wanted to do and how to do it. In the beginning of our 8th semester we started designing and went ahead with our plan. Not all faculties were supportive of our idea, but we needed some negative motivation too. Managing college and work was a bit hard initially but in the end it was all worth it,” they elaborate.

Ankita comes from a military background. Her dad served in the Air Force, which is where all her discipline and punctuality comes from. Oshima and Smriti come from a typical business background. Their parents have been very supportive of their idea from the very start. “They have helped us in every possible way, from encouraging us to even giving us a loan,” they share.

“We have had amazing times together, learnt how to deal with problems, how to make up for each other's mistakes, and celebrate the good times. Although, the best part of this journey has been the freedom to do whatever we wanted to. And also design without any restrictions or instructions. We've tried to maintain a very friendly, light and a happy work environment for all our employees too,” they add.

When three mad chicks work hard to please the crazy chicks all over the country, they have exciting stories to share. “We have a list of funny incidents actually. We used to be so caught up in our work that we have made the silliest of mistakes. One time Smriti ended up for a photo shoot in Hauz Khas Village without her camera! Another time Ankita traveled a long distance and actually forgot to get the packaging material on the day we had to pack and send out the stock. And Oshima's car has been our makeshift store room with all the material and bags loaded in the boot and the back seat. Sometimes even the front passenger seat, leaving enough space for her to sit and drive,” they exclaim!

These 3 mad chicks claim that the freedom to take their own decisions, work the way they want, and maintain the sort of work culture where they can work without stress- is what they enjoy the most. “We have also learnt a lot through our mistakes and experiences, and we try to improve with every incident and decision,” they add.

In the next couple of years, these goal oriented women see their company in the international market. “We also plan on expanding in terms of products. Currently we're also in the process of launching our own website with our own payment portal, which would definitely increase our profit margin, help in expansion and also marketing,” they share.

(Meanwhile you can shop their collections on Jabong.com, Myntra.com, Flipkart.com, Yebhi.com, Koovs.com)

#7: Meet The Crafting Queen

I have always bought greeting cards for my family, friends and husband, but never did it occur to me to make a card or personalize an already bought card. 

After talking to Karuna Chauhan, founder of Lulupu, I cannot wait to share her story with you. Hailing from a simple family, with an ex-army officer as her dad, she received abundant encouragement and support from her parents in order to prove herself. “Though I was always inclined towards the creative line, there were not enough options to discover the right course or education. Distressed through B.com, I decided to give NIFT a shot. But fashion was not my thing and I realized it later of course, when I didn't make it. I went ahead and completed my MBA in Marketing from Symbiosis, Pune, in 2007 and joined a job at a leading IT firm. Four years into the corporate job, I realized I wasn't cut for the hardcore politics. Plus IT stopped interesting me. I think it was around the same time things changed and for the good,” shares Karuna.

Passionate about craft ever since she was a kid, she would go to pick up cards from Archies’ for special occasions. But it did not allow her to customize it beyond a certain point. And always keen on creating a hand-made card with customized messaging, she believed it added an additional human element to the entire gifting process. “While I love everything to do with paper craft, people tend to mix it up with a more widely known form of paper art, which is Origami. However, the fundamental difference between the two, is that the traditional concept of Origami uses only one piece of paper, to create shapes, without the use of any scissors or glue. However, paper craft lets you deploy various techniques on paper or card as the primary artistic medium, for creating 3D objects as well,” says Chauhan.

As a paper craft artist, she uses various kinds of craft supplies and tools to create more professional looking handmade cards, scrapbooks, altered items, home decor which gives her work a fun and free-spirited feel. She makes all kinds of handmade invites, favour boxes, 2D/3D greeting cards, quilled paper art, scrapbooks for all occasions, altered arts like book ends, wall hangings and home decor products out of paper and related products.

On relocating to Bangalore for work in 2009, Karuna decided to use her free time to try her hand at hand-made greeting cards. Since her mother’s birthday was approaching, she decided to source the raw material. That’s when she spotted the colourful quilling strips. She navigated through a few DIY videos on YouTube to understand the technique better.

“As time progressed, I became extremely addicted to this form of paper craft and simultaneously started exploring other forms as well. I began a blog called Crafting Queen and kept updating it with my latest work and this gave me an opportunity to interact with other paper crafters not just in India, but also abroad. While the basic material was available in India, for the next level most of the material had to be sourced from abroad. I saw a lot of crafters relying on their friends and relatives to get them these products while returning from a trip to United States. It took me a lot of patience to source products through this channel. This is when I decided to create an online store, which will give crafters across India, an opportunity to purchase these products locally. Initially I used a blog called Crafting Queen Store to sell the products. Looking at the traffic and the demand I decided to go the e-commerce way and Lulupu.com was born on March 1st, 2012,” elaborates Karuna.

This special design team of Lulupu comprises of talented crafters across the country, which focus on providing a platform to build a community of like-minded crafters. To be a part of this team, a crafter has to qualify the set of filters or parameters decided by them. Lulupu.com provides them material from the store to create innovative projects which not just serve as an inspiration to other crafters, but also act as tutorials for amateurs.

Talk about the future of crafts and she quips, “Paper craft industry is at a very nascent stage in India. As a result, when I began pursuing my childhood hobby seriously, it was extremely difficult to source high quality raw material in India. The absence of retailers and suppliers prompted me to take the decision to open an online craft store which will cater to this growing need. It was a tough decision to embark on an unconventional journey, as the investment would come from my personal savings. It will be unfair to evaluate the success of such an initiative within a few months, as the task at hand is not only to help crafter source high quality global brands, but at the same time grow this segment by generating enough interest amongst prospective crafters.”

After quitting her job in March 2013, without doubt Karuna is her own boss and appraises herself. She gets to stay home, help take care of her 2 month old Labrador puppy, and also explore her creativity. Her husband, Siddhant, built her blog and ensured she kept it updated all the time. “He is an excellent photographer and he makes my work shine on my Facebook Page too. I love challenging myself to try new, quirky and crazy craft ideas. While the online store is one portion of what I do, I am an avid crafter and that’s the reason I began this journey.” she says. “We are constantly working towards optimizing our supply chain to source the best quality products of internationally renowned brands at the lowest possible cost. Along with this we wish to increase our team size and make it efficient and scalable,” she ends.