Ready with 'paper-azzi'

Craft corner

Mayuri’s prime inspiration is her garden and from the simple ideas that she gets by looking at it, she strings out streaming paper butterflies, striking wall pieces and eye-catching wreaths that speak of Christmas that has come early.

It wouldn’t be a fallacy to say that art runs in the family. She developed an interest in art and craft just by looking at her mother, who does knitting, darning and embroidery. It is not surprising when Mayuri says that her daughter, too, has picked up craft techniques by looking at her while she is busy with her quilling start-up, ‘Maya Arts and Crafts’. 

A former BPO professional, she quit her job because she found it monotonous and boring. With encouragement and support from her husband who pushed her to work on her creative spark, she started her venture in 2011.

It started as a paper quilling start-up as she was inspired by a quilled butterfly which she came across. Soon, she went on to make numerous knick-knacks like earrings, wall pieces, photo frames, embroidery work and home decor. As her work hit social networking sites, people recognised her talent and soon asked for customised products.

“I used to buy all my raw materials from Raja Market on Avenue Road as it’s a one-stop station for craft supplies. Now, I know a lot of home-based entrepreneurs who sell art and craft materials online.

Through these contacts, I look for a number of craft stores online for my materials,” she says. Her items also sell like hot cakes at various events like ‘Soul Santhe’ and exhibitions held in different apartments and organisations.

Mayuri’s focus is on quality and intricacies of the design each product comprises and the amount of time she spends on her items depends solely on these two factors. While earrings can take about a few hours, she says that complex wall pieces can take more than a month to make.

“One has to understand the relation between quality of the material and the kind of products they are making. There are a lot of quilling materials but one has to know what kind of paper should be used for which product,” she says. 

She conducts a lot of art and craft workshops in different schools and is keen on doing more sessions. “I did a recent ‘parent and child’ session on crafts at a school and it was quite exciting,” she says.

Though she does find it quite difficult to balance family and a full-time venture, she says that it’s not a ‘soul-sucking’ job. On a closing note, Mayuri explains how art and craft can be a viable business model. “It’s like any other business venture. The returns depend on the amount of time invested.”