How This Woman Entrepreneur Is Designing Customised Homes
The home decor and designing industry has taken momentum in the past few years when the people felt the need to revamp and redesign their homes to connect to their roots. In the famous one-liner, “ Every home speaks its own story, so Space Décor created a niche in the home designing segment by providing bespoke home designs. It also includes guidance on how to design and spruce up the living space perfect for the kids and elders. Space Décor adds stylish, creative and personalised touch to your home.
In this context, I have got an opportunity to connect with Aparna Chaddha - Founder Space Décor to unfold her experience and how she incepted her journey.
1. Briefly share your profile and your experience as a founder of Space Décor
Though I am an engineer by education, I choose to work as a salesperson in the Real Estate Industry. During my work tenure, I was selling premium and luxury apartments and worked with some of the renowned real estate developers in Bangalore.
The idea to create a home decor company occurred to me when I faced many issues while trying to get the interiors done for my own home. I inclined home interiors and had some great designs in mind, which I wanted to get done in a reasonable budget. During my search for Interior decorator, I did a complete survey of the market. I realised that though there were big brands or contractors, very few people had the knowledge, experience and skillset to execute bespoke designs. Therefore, I solely worked on my house interiors and post-completion many of my friends saw it, and they applauded my work.
I felt just like me many homeowners were struggling to find a suitable interior decorator in their budget. This thought triggered me to set up Space Décor to help all those who aspire to have a designer home at an affordable budget.
My first few projects started on word of mouth reference through a friend circle, as they had seen my house interior work. Due to our design excellence and timely delivery, we kept on getting more and more projects. We have been fortunate enough to form a good team that knows how to understand the client’s vision for their homes, and we turn them into reality.
2. What is the motto, vision and mission of
Space Décor ?
Our motto is to provide customised homes by using the latest designs and best quality standards, a home that makes the owner proud and happy.
My vision for Space Décor is to be the leader in providing bespoke homes with global standards of design and trends.
Our mission is to engage various artists and artisans with unique skill sets, use modern machinery to bring together designs from across the globe and functionality that any home requires.
3. Did Covid19 impact the business of the home decor industry and in particular your company?
COVID 19 had a significant impact on the real estate industry, and invariably, it has affected our business as well. As we are primarily dependent on our helper staff, our projects got postponed. Our core team consists of carpenters, electricians, POP artists, painters and various supplies who were affected just like us. Post the relaxations by the government in the local movement, we have got back to work and are in the process of completing and handing over some homes as per our commitment.
4. What is the uniqueness about Space Décor? And how do you turn the apartment into a bespoke home?
Our uniqueness is to design each home to the client's satisfaction and within their budget. Our primary focus is to understand the client's vision for their home; we do not get into execution until we get consent on the design from the client. We have our 3 step process that we follow for each project, whether big or small.
Step 1 - Discovery & Design
Step 2 - Procurement & Fabrication
Step 3 - Decoration, Dressing and Timely Handover
This process allows us to create, execute and deliver the design as per the client’s requirement.
6. Nowadays people have flats and small spaces, so how do you decorate a small space?
Small spaces require more functionality because you need to try and fit the space of a full home into a small apartment. For smaller areas, we look for aesthetics and functionality to work together. We have to get creative with the available spaces. Some of the elements we have used include drawers in skirting boards, seating areas with storage, foldaway tables, storage in beds, Sliding door cupboards, sofa-cum-beds, etc. There are also many other smart space-saving solutions, which include the latest innovations that we bring across to clients if they are interested in. Besides these, we use a lot of floating design elements and the use of lighter colours to give an illusion of space.
7. What is the theme of Space Décor - is it more Indian tradition centric or more Western Designer themes?
We design homes to suit the needs of our client’s personality and preferences. Having said that we had noticed a trend towards western designer homes. This is likely because most people in Bangalore have spent a reasonable amount of time in the West, and they seek similar design elements in their homes once they come back. We have also seen a client’s preference towards the use of more neutral colours compared to what you would associate with a traditional Indian home, which use to be quite colourful and bright.
8. Who are your competitors and why Space Décor is better than them?
Our competitors in the market are brands like Livspace, Homelane and also Architects. We give each client personal attention and constant update on the developments, we believe in getting existing client references. With every home, we challenge ourselves to create something new and different. This kind of personal attention differentiates us from our competitors.
9. You are an entrepreneur; what challenges do you face?
Since we customise home decor and create new designs for every home, we sometimes struggle with the supply chain issues. Trying to execute something new each time also poses a challenge with clients, as we have to demonstrate the aesthetics and functionality of these designs before getting into execution.
10. How is buying behaviour impacted during Covid19 and how Space Décor is planning to reframe the strategy?
Buyers have indeed become more risk-averse due to uncertainties in the market. We are seeing more contracts from clients who are looking at moving into their home either due to the start of the school year or due to relocation. We have also noticed a general reduction in the overall spend. We are working with our clients to ensure that the immediate needs are met with scope for future upgrades without the need to dismantle anything. The tricky part is in making things look complete without them being so.
11. How hard is it to have a work-life balance as a startup founder, and how do you manage it?
Early on, I worked hard on defining the work processes, and this has helped us immensely. Along with a systematic process in place, my team is also extremely talented and good at communicating. This has made it relatively easy for me to manage the work as well as my family.
12. Where do you see Space Décor in five years from now?
I wish to touch as many homes as possible across India and become a recognised name in the Interior Design and furnishing space. In the medium term of 5 years, I plan to work with at least 500 clients to design their homes. This would, of course, require a bigger team than I currently have, so I would be expanding my team size as well to support me.
Though home decor has become the most sought after and affordable segment in today’s world, it is utmost necessary to choose the home designer who fits into your taste. Space Décor not only provides the aesthetic sense to your home but also connects it to the roots.
Wishing good luck to Aparna and Space Décor, it is time to conclude the article.
