It is often said, when you don’t find what you are looking for, that is when you decide to make it yourself. This is the story behind most startups, one goes looking for a solution but doesn’t find it, so they decide to launch the solution themselves.
Such is the story for Aishwarya Reddy, the founder of Khenshu who has been working day and night to not only improve the lifestyle of Indians but also support our homegrown karigars, bringing the talent India holds to light.
Khenshu – What? Why?
Khenshu is a furniture and interior design startup, launched by Aishwarya reddy, where only age-old techniques used in the art of India furniture making are valued, to make quality products.
Aishwarya started the brand in 2019 when she failed to find any home-grown India classic designs that would fit her ideas of a luxury furniture making design. As a 24-year-old entrepreneur, her brand Khenshu is also pushing forward the ‘Make in India’ movement.
The back story
When Aishwarya came back to India, post her Master’s in International Business from San Francisco, and also an internship in New York, she chose to follow her passion for interior design. However, her decisions came to a standstill when she couldn’t find what she was looking for, the décor that could bring her imagination to life, bring forward the architectural wonders of Indian heritage.
The kick start
Khenshu emerged then, with an investment of 1 crore from Reddy’s savings and a 1 crore loan, the journey to revive India’s dying art form began. The concept has been to have collections that are intricate, evolving, and can bring India at par with global competitions in the industry.
Khenshu, with its first store in Bengaluru, has kept modern yet old-school products with various house décor and furniture items, ranging from Rs 5000 to Rs 20 lakh.
The Journey to the final sale
With the highly differentiated price range, the Khenshu brand is all about variety and commitment, while ensuring premium work via uniting Indian Karigars.
Since most of the expert Karigars have struggled in the industry and suffered due to the ills of mass production, Khenshu has set up a manufacturing facility in Rajasthan, to bring Karigars together and use their roots to make unique products.
What’s the USP?
The process lined up by Aishwarya Reddy is highly detailed and customized, where each product is hand-sketched and prototyped by designers at their Bengaluru hub, after which adequate time is given for production at the Rajasthan facility, where the Indian art form comes alive with a modern infusion of culture.
With sales in home interior designing lines, for now, the product development team sees an expansion to restaurant and hotel designing as well, where the demand for ethnic and raw décor is rising with time.
The competition
While being a recent brand, the fact that Khenshu targets Indian and global luxury markets, people with a refined taste palate and offers products at competitive prices, Aishwarya Reddy believes that their competition lies strongly with high end European and Chinese manufacturers.
This competition is one of the reasons why business is fun and Khenshu sees long-term growth potential, with expansion plans to locations like Hyderabad, Los Angeles, and New York.
What an inspiration!
With a long road ahead, Aishwarya Reddy’s mind-blowing journey, ideology, and planning can be seen as an inspiration for many budding entrepreneurs, especially those looking to tap into some unique market segments.
With hopes to expand its team, launch new stores, and build on sales efficiency, Khenshu seems to be a start-up to watch out for!
