Handcrafted items are not just pieces of décor but a tell-tale sign of emotions, beliefs, the story of its origin and more. We might be dependent on machines for almost everything, however, it is hard for us to say no to the rustic, earthy and old-world charm that handcrafted items add to our lives.
Aditi Gupta, Co-Founder, allmycraft.com brings these tokens of emotions from artisans to customers. Here’s how:
Take our reader through your professional journey?
After achieving a professional degree of qualified Chartered Accountant, it was indeed very exciting for me to step into the corporate world through campus placement in the banking industry and particularly in the Risk Division.
The role was challenging though exciting. I was growing at above-normal speed and was enjoying the recognition during the course. During the stint of around 13 years in the banking sector, I realized that people around me were busy climbing up the professional ladder but deep inside had a void and were not connected to their own people. This void was making them lose the sense of joy in life and they were searching happiness in pseudo things. Seeing all this was quite disturbing for me (as I personally am a very grounded fellow and an ardent believer of the fact that deeper the roots, stronger are the fruits),
With the feeling of contributing to society, allmyCraft.com was born. However, I continue to CA practice as well.
What were the roadblocks or challenges you faced throughout your career? And how did you overcome them?
Before starting allmyCraft
- Coming from a traditional Indian family, where girls have to be back home before sunset and the whole idea of girls moving outside house for a corporate job was something not very usual.
- But my parents being very supportive allowed for the job once I completed CA with the condition not to slog. So, this was quite challenging for me. Given the pressure, politics and erratic timing of the corporate world, managing both personal and professional world was a challenge for me.
- Since I loved both my family and my profession, so can proudly say was able to do justice to both.
After allmyCraft
- Have always worked with professionals who work with the mind and understand rules and procedures. Working with artisans who work with heart and passion was challenging in the beginning.
- Doing anything offbeat has inevitable challenges of rejections and lack of support at people and failure of executions at product end. The mantra of conviction and perseverance worked with me.
What is your philosophy of efficient leadership?
Walk the talk and one who empowers the employees and create future leaders out of them.
Do you think organizations must have a balanced gender ratio in leadership positions? Why?
This question should not come to anybody’s mind. Men and women are different in biological creation. While deciding or choosing upon the leadership position, it is merely the individual skill that has to be considered rather than gender.
Otherwise, on a lighter note, they say women are a better leader than men because of the holistic approach towards mind and heart.
What is your company/profession all about?
Apart from a practising CA, my venture allmyCraft.com is a social enterprise, transforming traditional craft, into contemporary functional/useful products.
We approach the rural artisans who are expert in their handicraft but lack the modern sensibilities. Here we handhold them and convert their craft into utilities which suites the modern-day function and aesthetics.
We are all about tradition; our makers are traditional (artisans), our designs are based on traditional values & wisdom. We explore and well document the messages and stories behind those designs which people can know, relate and connect with.
Acting as a bridge; where…
- Rural Artisans meet Urban Shoppers.
- Ancient Wisdom meets Contemporary Ideas
- Product meets Stories
What is your vision for your company/yourself and your core values (for the company)?
We are on the mission on creating an ecosystem where traditional artisans and contemporary designers can create functional utilities which have traditional/cultural values. Simultaneously we are building a robust technology platform to give market access to artisans’ products.
We treat employees as partners/stakeholders in the business rather than mere salary takers. We believe in friend, philosopher, guide principles where our stakeholders, as well as employees (the team), is our friend. We are creating products that have the best experiential value in terms of aesthetics, functionality and connects.
What are your future endeavours/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future?
Be the pioneer in ethnic products that has extreme utility value and experience. Bring smile and sense of achievement to n number of passionate rural artisans. We would love to connect the maximum number of people to their roots and see them have that bliss in life!
