The story of Sowaii Home Decor is that of a dream that was nurtured throughout and eventually one fine day transformed into reality. Deepika Rachwani grew up in a time when handcrafted wooden toys, grandmother’s sewing machine, mother’s cooked meals were the true lifestyle; a time where creativity did not walk with the crutches of tech-media. With a colourful childhood, her passion towards art fuelled with every occurrence of handmade art and the quest for more opened her eyes to the soulful arts and crafts of South East Asia.

Deepika had the good fortune to meet some wonderful artisans, and experience these places through them. It was through these encounters, she learnt that an artist is not a special kind of person; rather each person is a special kind of artist. One leap off that safety net, and there’s no stopping them. Encouraged by this thought, she decided to play her part in rekindling Handicrafts and thus came Sowaii Home Decor into existence in 2017. “I firmly believes

that there was a need to give these artisans a face, a platform and a unifying course, which was getting lost somewhere in the decadence of an over-achieving generation. We act as a junction maker between art and aesthete with equal affinity,”speaks Deepika.

" As a secret formulation of penchant for Travel, Creativity, Diverse cultural understanding and decor, Sowaii simply translates to beautiful"

Identifying the opportunity inherent in each challenge, Sowaii has already touched some hearts with its handmade goods, crafted with the highest quality materials and has received ingenuous applaud for its Launch at the Design ID 2018event.“It was a humbling experience when various dignitaries of the industry connected with our collection and the story it conveyed,” Deepika says. As a start-up, Sowaii team directs their energy to source some of the extra ordinary art pieces in some lesser navigated corners of world. As an eco-conscious company majority of it design products that are either from naturally available material or up cycled waste.

Driven by the philosophy to stand out as a breath of fresh creative air and bring in the exceptional handcrafted home decor and accents, the company’s current collection comprises of four genres, namely - lighting, storage, sculptures and artefacts. Some of its products that have gained attention are Earth Lamps - a

defining statement in living space, Guki-sculpted from coconut shells and mango wood. “Along with these, our bells are Fine Art certified and our steam punk collection is up cycled industrial waste. The Bamboo boxes are hand-woven and hand painted at eye level without any sketch. So each product has its own peculiarity. Our audiences are people who appreciate humanizing products, who like modern yet a personal touch to their living space or someone who has an appetite for global craft,” she explains.

As a secret formulation of penchant for Travel, Creativity, Diverse cultural understanding and decor, Sowaii simply translates to beautiful. All of its products are handcrafted with minimum use of modern technology.“If purpose of all art is to evoke an emotion that is what we are offering in our collection. The quality of that emotion is unique to the observer” she avers.

The team is currently working for a few architects for their upcoming project and also some retail outlets in Mumbai and Bangalore for expansive visibility.“In addition to our current genres of products from Thailand,Laos,Cambodia and Myanmar, we are expanding into Vietnam, Indonesia and Africa for a more comprehensive representation of crafts from around the globe. We are also looking for investment to set up our own retail outlet in Mumbai,”she concludes.