The Home décor industry is growing by leaps and bounds in India and is also bringing changes in the lifestyles of urban Indians. As the middle-classs wells, so is the need of Indianized home decor products. This trend of demand in Indianized products is clearly visible with huge demand in Ayurvedic FMCG products and growth of Indianized décor retailers in India.

Mumbai-based Remek is an effort to bring unique and authentic handcrafted pieces from traditional artists of India to the young and urban Indians. With its unique e-commerce platform and collaborative business model, Remek is expected to open new doors and add huge value to overall Indian Home Décor Market.

Remek– The Idea behind it
Driven by the common goal - to provide employment to the artisans, the founders quit their jobs by the end of 2015 and travelled extensively to many villages of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal and north-eastern states to

meet these artists. They lived among them, listened to their stories and jotted down local tales that the artisans depicted in their paintings. They procured some of the paintings and decided to test the market.

"Within a short span of six months, Remek has clocked INR 50,000 monthly run rate and 300 daily website visitors"

A niche market and lack of suitable knowledge of art and craft caved in the importance of traditional paintings. To provide continuous revenue to the artists, the trio decided to expand beyond paintings to include things that could be understood and bought by more customers. They zeroed in on their venture named Shashvat Crafts to bring unique and authentic handcrafted home décor pieces from traditional India to young and urban India.

After deep market research and the setup of a procurement cycle, the company launched its ecommerce brand Remek in July 2016. “We follow a collaborative business model so that craftsmen are also important stakeholders. Ninety-five percent of our product development results from collaboration where we provide the craftsmen with raw material. Our creative team supplies contemporary design inputs and the artisans then finish and present their final products,” mentions Mandawi Verma, CEO(Mandawi is an IIM Calcutta alumna, avid traveller & a master sales person).

The Journey is the Destination
Within a short span of six months, the company has clocked INR

50,000 monthly run rate and 300 daily website visitors. With more focus on targeted online campaigns going forward, the team is expecting to hit a run rate of Rs 5,00,000+in next few months. “In terms of product categories also, we have expanded significantly. Currently, we are covering Lights & Lamps, Table top decorative, Wall Décor, Dining décor items, Gifting items like Jewellery boxes and photo frames. We have also launched our clothing line this year, which had been great success,” informs Satya Dwivedi, Director Remek.(Satya an IIT Roorkee & IIM Ahmedabad alumnus is a finance & mythology geek).

Madhavi Verma, Head-Marketing (An IMT Ghaziabad alumna, digital marketer & creative craftsman), explains, “For the future, Remek has a three-pronged strategy for scaling up the business in next few months which include targeted marketing campaigns focused on very specific target consumers using technology / AI based tools, increase its reach through larger platforms like Flipkart and Amazon and create new product category development with high demand focused categories like Traditional sarees and Jewelleries.

The team is also planning to expand its reach in international market by tying up with large international platforms and becoming a direct exporter. “We are already a member of EPCH,a government backed body of Handicrafts exporters. We are also looking to expand in the services sector,” Satya concludes.