Material girls

DESIGN DUO

Like the palette of contrasting colours and fabrics used to remarkable effect in their work, Bharti and Aparna are two contrasting personalities whose opposite traits have resulted in a successful business partnership in interiors and design.

The two women were initially neighbours who became friends, kept in touch through distant worlds and some years later turned into business partners.

Marriage brought Bharti Girdhar to Bangalore. With time on her hands and entrepreneurship in her blood, she began freelance design work from home. This line of work was not new to her. Fresh out of a Delhi college some 20 years ago, with an MSc in Home Science and Textile Design as a subject, Bharti had begun her own home-based venture in the relatively new area of children’s room furnishings. A PG diploma in Entrepreneurship and a shot of encouragement from her businessman father went a long way in strengthening the entrepreneurial streak in her.

Her husband’s work assignments took her away to foreign shores for a while. During her sojourn in the UK, among other places, Bharti used her time well to acquire formal training from the Regent Academy of Fine Arts, London. Back in Bangalore in year 2000, she reconnected with her friend Aparna Singh, who too had relocated after years spent in the US and Singapore.

Not one to remain inactive for long, Bharti re-launched her freelance work. Over a period of time, through word of mouth and recommendations from friends, work began to increase. At this point, Bharti who sees herself more as a dreamer, felt the need for someone to help with the nitty-gritty of business so that she could focus single-mindedly on her core strength, design.

Her mind zeroed in on her trustworthy friend Aparna. But it was during a holiday together that things really fell into place. “I’m sure there was some cosmic force at work,” says Bharti, who strongly believes that people come into one’s life for a reason. If Bharti got into business by design, for Aparna it happened purely by accident. Her qualifications and experience lay in the field of mass communications, media and early childhood development.

Being more of a designer, Bharti used to concentrate only on the design aspect of a project, providing her clients with detailed 3D computerised drawings, but leaving the painful process of implementation largely to her clients. Teaming up with Aparna was the best thing she could have done to add multi-dimensional value to her services. It was now possible to offer hassle-free turnkey solutions to clients, an area in which Aparna makes up for Bharti’s lack. “She keeps track of the deadlines, incoming and outgoing payments and with her exceptional people skills strikes the right professional balance with clients and our contractors,” says Bharti.

Extolling her virtues further, Bharti says, “She brings out the best in people and her organisational, co-ordination skills are excellent.”

As friends and business partners, both love the companionship and togetherness that makes work “enjoyable” and look forward to every single day of work together. But didn’t they ever have any apprehensions of their friendship turning sour or breaking up because of business considerations? “People, especially well meaning relatives and friends, did express concern and advised us to think carefully, but we were clear about this from the start,” says Aparna.

Both set a high premium on their friendship, which includes strong family bonding and support, and have fully agreed that business is only secondary and their friendship will never be compromised over money.

“We have blind faith in each other and are hardcore loyalists,” asserts Aparna, adding that there’s undoubtedly a lot of give and take besides absolute understanding between the two. That doesn’t mean they are spared of their share of arguments and disagreements. “We do have our fights, even yell at each other, but at the end of the day it is for our own good,” laughs Aparna, who her friend describes as “a cool, level-headed person”.

Design Frolic, their interior design venture, is a tidy success story. Now through their new soft furnishings outfit called Windflower, they feel it is payback time and are working towards eventually turning it into a co-operative for under-privileged women and girls. “We have something in mind based on the Lijjat model and will simply let things fall into place,” says Aparna.

Keeping in sight their steadfast goal, the pair has taken the first step. Though the roadmap is as yet uncharted, with the synergy that they exude, they seem certain to find their way there one step at a time.