Urvi Agrawal is one of the newest members of Design Style Guide. She has an Etsy shop which houses a beautiful collection of Soft Home Furnishings. Urvi took the time to answer a few questions and I figured, what the heck, why not publish them?
1. What is your shop name and what do you sell?
The name of my shop is The Home Centric. I sell a wide range of handmade home decor mainly soft furnishings. This includes Decorative Pillow Covers, Throw pillows, Napkin Rings, Table linen & runners, Placemats, Bed Spreads, Quilts and Towels. My collection includes experimentation with different fabrics (silk, linen, satin, velvet, cotton, leather) and decorated with beautifully worked embellishments, Embroidery, hand knits, hand paints, metallic colors in combination with earth tones which all add to an eclectic appeal to my creations.
2. What long series of events led to you doing this?
Designing has been my passion right from the time I was eighteen. My interest led me to go up and select it as a career. I am a qualified fashion designer with a degree in fashion and textile designing from the leading fashion institute in India. Prior to taking up full time designing for soft home furnishings, I was designer to some of Europe's finest fashion houses including Etam, Zara, Esprit, Bershka and Debenhams.
While I was designing my new home, looking around shops, experimenting with fabric & texture, I got an instant interest in home furnishings. That’s when I thought of starting with my own line of soft home furnishings and hence TheHomeCentric happened.
3. Who taught you the particular skills you use in your work?
Most of my skills are self learned or picked while exploring arts and crafts from different regions and diverse cultures of India. Professional course in designing and my experience with fashion houses certainly helped to develop my designing ability.
4. When did you start selling on Etsy?
I started my store at Etsy in September 2008, almost 4 months back.
5. What is your favorite thing about Etsy?
I think the entire concept of providing a common platform to varied creators, to come up & showcase their creativity and outreach to the world at large is amazing. My favourite section is ‘See Who Hearts This Shop’. Every time when someone adds up a heart to my store, I get a thrill to see people appreciating my art which motivates me to create better. Also there is young & energetic feel on Etsy.
6. What is your favorite thing about what you sell?
The fact that my work involves visualization of designing ideas, developing them and seeing them come to reality is fascinating. Each design which I create is a thought process & I like all of them. I like the fact that I play with a lot of fabrics & in the process I learn different characteristics of each fabric which I then mix n match with embroideries, appliqué & embellishments to develop a new design all together.
7. What is your favorite item in your own shop and why?
I like all my creations but my all time favourites would be “That’s Ribbon” and “Elegance”. The intricacy, patience & the workmanship which I was required to put in these designs was worth the effort after the final creation. My imagination for “That’s Ribbon” was different than what it actually turned out and looked even better. It looks elegant, feminine with clean sophistication. What I like about “Elegance” is the blend of linen fabric, with mother of pearls & cord embroidery. The combination of different media forms together in one design makes it look just wonderful yet so simple.
8. What teams do you belong to and what do you like most about them?
I’m part of the Design Style Team, & what I like most about it is the interaction between different streams of people, getting to know the different forms of art which I was so ignorant about. Design Style Team really has some amazing & interesting creative people & I’m so proud to be a part of the team. I’m sure I will be able to contribute to the team in future.
9. What is the most fun thing you do to promote your shop?
Well, I showcase my designs in exhibitions all around India and participate in trade fairs. This helps me to explore the arts and crafts from different regions within India which I try and include in my creations. I am also trying to catch up with few internet marketing methods to help me promote better.
10. What are some of your favorite finds by other sellers on Etsy?
Most things on Etsy are usually fabulous but few that are worth mentioning includes turntables from Turnadaisy, candles from Worthy Soy Candles and home decor from Bacon Square Farm.
11. What do you do in your spare time?
I love to paint which is my favourite pastime. I do etchings which are mostly landscapes. I am a complete foodie & like trying new places & restaurants in the city. I like listening Indian music so when I’m working on new creations or painting, I always have my iPod plugged in. Also I like catching late night shows for a movie or driving down to the beach over weekends with my husband.
12. Do you have anything else you would like to share?
I really appreciate all the people who have viewed my creations & have dropped in their comments. I would sincerely like to thank them. I expect their continued support to motivate me and give better.
Thank you, Urvi!
