The table is set...

It’s not everyday that someone leaves a corporate job to follow her or his passion. Nishita Thakurdas, who worked with a global design agency, left the job to design tableware. This young entrepreneur says that she was surprised how the tableware industry hadn’t progressed when compared to other fields like wine packaging.

“I left my job as a design director with an agency to follow this passion of mine. My first stint with tableware was in college. I had to do a project where I had to create designs in ceramic on dinner plates for a boutique home-store. I found it very interesting and also realised that the designs on tableware had not progressed with time.

Thus I decided to pursue this interest,” says Nishita. After she quit her job, a lot of research went into getting the best manufacturers and she started working on the designs.

She says that when she decided to go ahead with the idea, things fell in place. At the moment, there are five designs in her collection — ‘The Mughal Garden’, ‘Banaras’, ‘The Lotus At Fatehpur’, ‘Jodhpur Evenings’ and ‘Indira’. “I used to collect a lot of stuff including postcards from my travel adventures. I learn from my trips and have used my doodling and sketching on the designs too.

The designs are also inspired by the cultural heritage of the country,” she says. Nishita says that she worked on many designs before she shortlisted on these and went ahead to make them.

Handcrafted with pure 24k gold or platinum, each piece in the dinnerware collection tries to represent a fine balance of tradition and modernity. “These pieces are for special occasions, symbolising values of hope and happiness. The collections are crafted as heirloom pieces and can be passed on to the future generations,” she says.

She points out that there are certain things to keep in mind while taking care of the collection, but they can be used for long and are often chosen as wedding gifts.

Of the five designs, Nishita says that ‘Indira’ with its blue and white peacock designs can be used more casually. “This collection is more like a watercolour painting and can be used daily,” she says.

Each collection is a 27-piece-set which comprises of dinner plates, side plates, small bowls, napkin rings, serving bowls and a platter. “I get these pieces manufactured abroad and each item is of the highest quality. I look out for the most minute flaws and have an eye for detail,” she sums up.