Belonging to a Marwari business family, the idea of creating our own business had always excited us. And being inclined towards the social sector, we wanted to build a business which created social value. While I was doing my internship with Milaap, an online micro lending startup my elder sister and I often discussed about the struggle of small SHGs and rural artisans to sell their products because of lack of the exposure to the new technologies and trends.
So, one day the idea of starting something which amalgamates the skills of SHGs, NGOs and artisans with the aesthetic sense of the new generation designers cropped up. Anyone aware of the e-commerce scenario would say that it wasn’t the most novel of the ideas. So the question which now faced us was, “ what makes you different? “
At KalaGhar, we believe in the idea of “arteutil” i.e useful arts. We don’t want to push handicrafts into homes but want to create products which add values to the homes of our customers. Products with utility and culture.
We are located in the culturally rich state of Odisha. The state boasts of the oldest art forms in the country. Our effort is to revive the centuries old art forms like Pattachitra which is almost dying due to lack of artists. This art form is created from organic products starting from the patta (board) to the chittra(painting). Each painting takes almost 3 months to complete and requires absolute dedication.
Being born and brought up here we get the benefit of having a better understanding of the state’s culture and nuances. It also puts us in a stronger position to maintain a transparent feedback within our supply chain. With the course of time we have become very close to the artists and NGO’s we work with. We help them with developing the products at the basic level with our understanding of trends, new product ideas and the feasible process of bringing the products to life.
We have started making in-house designs for some products namely wall clocks, cushion covers, dhokra jewellery and studio pottery products. We are also curating beautiful products from artisans, SHGs and NGOs. Our designers work with the crafts and tweak it to make them more interesting.
Our special collection of premium Dhokra Rakhis will be launched in the coming month. These rakhisare made of brass also known as Pital in hindi, used for making religious articles and the technique is age old rich skill of Dhokra from the prehistoric civilisation of Harappa. Our designers have worked on it to give it a touch of heritage and luxury.
The most pressing challenge:
Most of the artisans and SHG’s were more than glad with the idea of working on new product ideas, but some of them were skeptical. As our core team members were all women, some NGOs thought we are not serious about the plan and will drop it with the first sign of problem. That reminds me of an incident; an NGO supervisor constantly missed our meetings thinking we will drop the idea. We made sure to visit his workshop whenever we were nearby. One fine day we caught hold of him and he said “ Madamaap log to sach mein serious hai”. It was funny; we celebrated his reaction over a cup of coffee. After so many stories of how tough it is to startup, we have made ourselves prepared that the ride is going to be difficult and we have to enjoy everything, even the problems.
We are planning to get into the international market in the near future. We are also exploring the options of working with architects and interior designers to create spaces inspired by Indian art . Our vision is to make the business sustainable enough to build an ecosystem that provides amenities like quality primary education and basic health services for the involved artisans and their families.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
I’m confused – why are you creating yet another new destination? Why not SOURCE GREAT ART and sell them on existing stores like Craftsvillla, etc?
I mean, how can you fight a battle of making a great site, marketing it AND sourcing great stuff for it?
When E-Com stores exist, why not focus on selling?
Its like the Salman Khan Academy – he focussed on content – NOT on creating another YouTube platform to show his videos?
Megha Agarwal
Thanks for such an interesting question, Alok.
There are some points which we would like to highlight on this matter.
1.Our margins get a hit when we are selling on others marketplaces, as we are not selling at extremely high prices.
2. We have a hybrid model of growth in mind, in which we will be selling both on our platform and other platforms to get a better understanding of the market. We want to establish ourselves as a brand.
3. Due to our market presence as a standalone website, we have received some bulk enquiries within one month of operation. This includes two from overseas.
4. As we have plans to sell internationally, we think our online presence as a website will create a positive difference.
5. Apart from this we also take supply orders for interior projects. Thus, the website acts like a showcase of the art forms and products we endorse.
We would love to get further queries and suggestions from you on this matter .
asha chaudhry
hey megha,
i finally got a chance to go through your website in detail. i love the concept of useful arts and have lots of handicrafts from all states!
i really think you should reach out to as many interior designers/decorators you can. that would be an interesting market for you!
and also be on some select mktplaces as well.
eg. i saw some similar door handles on limeroad on the weekend (they had some mega sale). we’re looking for an different kind of front door handle and are unable to find one we like in goa 🙁 we might end up ordering one from tatva.
if you have a team, i would also suggest you make your presence felt at dastkar/dilli haat/goa’s saturday nite mkt (only in season)
ps: where are you based?
Megha Agarwal
Hi Asha,
Thank you appreciating our idea and products. We are based out of Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Yes, we will be participating in different exhibition/haats. We have started reaching out to designers and will be adding different themes to create value for the designers/decorators.
What kind of door handles are you looking for? If you want Dhokra door handles, we can send you some interesting choices. 🙂
asha chaudhry
hey megha,
we’re looking for something more contemporary for the main door. (which needs to be large/long as well). in case you have something i missed from the site for the main door pls email the link to me at asha@rodinhood.com and i will order it if my hubby & kid like it (the main door is a joint decision :)))))
we love tribal art enormously and i would’ve ordered some of the handles for the wardrobes etc a month ago had i known 🙂
but i’ve started spreading the word around already for you! all the best. you will rock at the haats for sure!
Megha Agarwal
Thank you so much. Means a lot to us ! 😀
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