The expertise in handcrafting and designing the intricate pieces has been handed on from one generation to another. Artisans today are working in much the same way as their predecessors two centuries before but with limited funding and resources, they are becoming a part of the vanishing handicraft industry.
To save the traditional wooden art culture of India and empower skilled artisans, Archana Ganapathy—a creative Design graduate from Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore, has taken an initiative in the form of PinkApple E-commerce. She aims to unite the modern design twist for spaces with our local century-old dying crafts and workmanship. As the Founder and Managing Director of PinkApple, Archana is instilling a thought of “Crafting a Livelihood” through handcrafted products created by skilled artisans of PinkApple.
Utilizing the Skills of Artisans while Assisting them to Earn a Living
Due to tremendous competition and automation in the interior products market, the traditional artisans had no choice but shut their rural businesses and move to urban areas in search of other unskilled employment. To help such unemployed and skilled artisans, Archana and team find them and encourage them to work with PinkApple where they could utilize their valuable art skills and earn a living. Archana says, “We have evolved numerous models to support artisans in earning better livelihoods. Our designers work on products, custom interior product lines for clients on bulk orders to keep the passion, a smile on their faces, and money into their account end of the week going.”
Mission to Reach 1 Million Customers
Since her childhood, Archana has been a creative person and her desire to give back to society was an addition to that creativity. Today, with a vision to conserve ancient arts and keep the handicraft skills alive, the creative leader is on the mission to provide artisans the value they deserve and impact around 1 million customers with handcrafted products in the next 2 years. Similarly, PinkApple currently works with artisans spread across 22 clusters located in different villages in the region and aims to connect with 2000 such clusters by 2020 and most importantly, Archana and team have been achieving these goals being bootstrapped!!
Today, PinkApple has become a brand in the interior market space of India. It is offering creative interior products to a vast range of spaces including residential, corporate, hospitality, retail. These include lighting, furniture, wall art, window blinds, custom rugs and other textile accessories. In the booming interior market of India, PinkApple is expanding its product portfolio while searching for funding from investors who believe in its vision of providing high quality and affordable solutions with timely delivery. Furthermore, Archana and the team at PinkApple are currently focussing on building the five cornerstones of artisan sustainability:
- Brand building corners
- Nurturing Artisan Talent
- Developing New Business lines
- Building Demand for Crafts through interesting in trend product lines
- Encouraging Institutional Participations through bulk orders for newer offices.
Offering One Stop Solution for All Interior Products
There are people who want an artistic touch in their homes, offices, start-ups, institutions, coffee shops, and other spaces. PinkApple is one of the best solutions for such customers. Its 360-degree design services are accessible to tier 2 and tier 3 cities also. The company is successfully addressing the online market place as a one-stop solution for all interior products, Design as a Service, Bulk Orders, and Budgeted turnkey solutions online on www.pinkapple.co.in.
Through PinkApple, Archana is fulfilling the unmet needs and demands in the market while providing employment to skilled craft persons in need. Economics refer leaders like Archana as “Opportunity Entrepreneurs” who establish their own business to cater to the market demands and bridge the gap of unemployment and further contribute to the economic growth in the region. Archana shares, “We have launched PinkApple (online) 6 months ago due to the pure reason of giving sustainable livelihood offering to our workforce and timely service online to our customers. Both can and do contribute to economic growth.” PinkApple’s online e-commerce portal gives its customers easy access to handcrafted products that are custom designed and even cater to bulk orders.
Supporting Make in India and Cashless Economy Initiatives
Today, the B2B clients want to support initiatives like “Make in India” and “Cashless Economy” by asking PMC teams & architects to follow the online process of orders only. Such customers can do a hassle-free cashless payment on the PinkApple’s website itself and there are no issues related to balance pay-outs due to its powerful backend support team. Archana’s continual efforts in empowering PinkApple and its employees made the company succeed and gain reputable customers. In 2015, the company made a lighting solution for automotive giant Mercedes. Additionally, leading companies like Google, HCL also approach PinkApple for their in-house design needs.
The expanding popularity of PinkApple further led Archana to be featured on the cover page of India Today. Similarly, for her unique initiatives towards women empowerment, Radio One interviewed her on its “Radio One Super Women Show”.
A Sheer Will of Transforming the Lives of Women Workforce
Being a mother of two children and a visionary leader of PinkApple, Archana strives to balance the work, home, and her kids. According to her, it is one of the biggest challenges for women entrepreneurs because family and business are important responsibilities for them and both need adequate time and dedication. Many leaders talk about creating a change and women empowerment in interviews and debates, but few of them really work towards making it as a reality. She aims to establish cluster or home working groups for her fellow women workforce where they can earn their daily wages while taking care of their children. Similarly, Archana has set a goal of working with more than 2000 clusters and supporting them with good livelihood programs.
The contribution towards the Make in India initiative, Livelihood Programmes, Skilling Craft Sectors, and Green initiatives for recycling and reuse are the live examples of Archana’s initiatives for the society. They have shown a positive impact. With great persistence, multi-tasking, and quick decision-making power—the Founder of PinkApple started her creative journey and never looked back.
