Surprises out of the box

It all started at the crack of dawn. The turning point happened last year when Sunehra found herself awake till dawn working with a potpourri of odds and ends for her venture called ‘Crack of Dawn Crafts’.

She was always interested in donning the creative hat, so after her first child as born, she quit working in a bank and started maintaining a blog for a crafts store.
She availed supplies from the store and made gifting items such as greeting cards and explosion boxes. She then put up her creations on the blog. “In the beginning, my work was hopeless,” she laughs. She recalls a time when she worked with a only craft table at home. Now, she has her own studio space where she designs her products, manages two verticals and works with a team of five women. “Looking back, it has been an exciting journey,” she says. 

 As she got better through time and effort, people wrote in to her for orders. She actively got into her business when her kids started school in June. Her creations are a wide range — gift boxes, paper bags, decorations, explosion kits, albums, dining labels, scrapbooks and home decor items.

She explains, “An explosion box is a large card of 12 by 12. It can be folded, so when you give it to people, it looks like a 4 by 4 by 4 box but once the lid is lifted, it will explode and there will be a cute message inside.” She also makes items for special occasions like birth announcements and birthdays.

It is from Padmavathi Papers, an old store, that she buys odds and ends such as paper, ribbon and wooden pegs. A self-taught artist, she says, “My items are always different and intriguing. I keep innovating to find new elements which I can add to my creations. For Valentine’s Day too, I have a number of quirky ideas up my sleeve.”

The ride has not been easy. “The most important thing is to keep myself motivated and to persevere. There are bad days when we tend to go back on the conventional path. One also needs to plan one’s time and manage it effectively because we have a lot of family commitments and have to work our way around the orders as well. Family support is equally important,” she says.

She has to her credit many colourful and eye-catching creations, but Sunehra says that she has no favourites. “My favourites keep changing. Products keep getting better through every plan and every design.”

Enjoying her venture and tasting the life of an entrepreneur, Sunehra doesn’t want to go back to working for a bank and says, “I love my job. It doesn’t matter if I am up working till morning. ‘Crack of Dawn Crafts’ will go on.”