The brainchild of the Caprihan sisters - Payal and Amrita, Frangipani was borne from their zest for travel and passion for eclectic home decor.
Frangipani is an Asian treasure trove of exclusive handpicked antiques, furniture and artefacts from exotic offbeat locales!
The sisters talk to SHEROES about their new venture -
Tell us more about yourself.
Payal Chopra, graduated in Economics from Delhi University and then started her corporate career at Kelvinator. She specialized in advertising and marketing in the rapidly evolving white goods industry with stints in Whirlpool, Electrolux and Eureka Forbes over a period of 8 years. Supporting her husband's career, she moved to Singapore and Indonesia gaining rich exposure to South East Asian arts and culture. She got to know the artisans and craftsmen personally and made long lasting ties with antique warehouses and local markets. Payal began sending goods back to India for friends and family nearly ten years ago. A few small exhibitions in Singapore and a timely move back to India, sowed the seeds of a business venture after her heart ! Frangipani was borne.
Amrita Caprihan Kalra, post graduate in Mass Communications Media, has spent almost ten years writing, directing and producing television shows and documentaries. Today, she writes travel articles for leading publications and is also a keen photographer. Work paved the way for travel and a zest for discovery. With an inherent passion for design and home decor, Amrita began collecting unique handcrafted accessories and furniture pieces from her travels. She soon realized that distinct statement pieces are hard to find, some markets are difficult to access, there are language and cultural barriers and the effort to import single items was tremendous. This challenge ignited a spark and the dream of creating a home decor label turned into a reality when Payal moved to India
What was the inspiration behind starting Frangipani?
Our classic collections hope to revive the love for old traditional furniture, classic pieces that lend character in even modern homes. Also to promote local artisans and craftsmen. The deep belief in the revival of tradition coupled with the dream to curate led to the birth of Frangipani
How do you plan to make it different from other similar e-commerce sites?
This is not a mass market ecommerce site. We are developing a website which will have a detailed product catalog with prices on request only. We are not a mass market brand, we are targeting men and women who aspire to have eclectic homes but do not have access to these exclusive unique pieces. We are hand picking items so we have a huge range - this is not a website that will have large quantities of the same item.
Where do you see Frangi Pani in 3 years from now?
We have many plans but we are at a fledgling stage so do not want to disclose them right now. Our dreams are big and our passion for our work even more. The rest is destiny.
What is work-life balance to you?
We believe strongly in spending time with the family and being around for our children. That's why we gave up full time careers to be full time moms. Now the children are slightly older and we have the backing of our supportive husbands and families so we are taking the plunge. However if you do your own thing - the work life balance can tip one way or the other at times. We have crazy work days and then sometimes we switch off and enjoy family time only. The idea is to balance both everyday - so we try and finish our meetings when the kids are in school, and later work from the house.
A message to all SHEROES out there.
Have a passion, dare to dream and you will have a vision that will pave the way. Do not be afraid, you will not know if you will succeed till you take the plunge. Life is a leap of faith.