Interview with Jawahar Singh, Founder and CEO Of Avishya Handmade Indian Ethnic Wear
Check Out our recent Founder Spotlight interview with Jawahar Singh, the Founder and CEO of Avishya, a company specializing in handmade Indian Ethnic wear. He shared his valuable insights into the vast opportunities and challenges of Indian handcrafted products worldwide. We invite you to join us and read Avishya’s successful story.
To begin, could you share an overview of Avishya and its mission in bringing beautiful handmade Indian ethnic wear, including sarees, salwars, kurtas, fabrics, and jewelry, to a global audience?
Avishya was launched in 2016 with the vision to build an online platform that would connect India’s 4 million weavers and artisans to hitherto untapped Indian and International markets. Right from the beginning, we started sourcing directly from weavers and cut out as many middlemen as possible. We believe this would be critical in helping us achieve our mission of democratizing Indian Handlooms through lower prices and better accessibility.
What inspired the founding of Avishya, and what specific goals or opportunities in the Indian handcrafted products market were you aiming to address?
Avishya was inspired by the incredible beauty and variety of Indian handloom clothing and apparel. In our extensive market studies and visits to weaving clusters (prior to launching Avishya) we realized that production of Indian handlooms was a highly fragmented activity with over 100 weaving clusters spread across the length and breadth of the country. Also, the variety and diversity of crafts practiced by our 4 million plus weavers made us realize the huge opportunity available if we could professionalize the sourcing and curation of Indian handlooms.
How does Avishya work towards democratizing access to India’s timeless style and beauty through its online platform? Can you elaborate on the experience Avishya aims to offer to consumers looking for top-quality handmade products?
Over the last 8 years, Avishya has built direct working relationships with the finest weavers in almost all of the 100 plus weaving clusters. We have completely cut out multiple layers of middlemen and are therefore able to buy at the best (and fair) prices. Also because of the cordial relationships we enjoy with our weavers, we get access to the finest and rare masterpieces they make from time to time. Thanks to this we are able to offer top quality products at competitive prices.
As a Co-Founder of Avishya since December 2015, how has your passion for handcrafted products shaped the company’s vision and approach in curating products from the finest artisans, brands, and designers across India?
My passion for Indian handlooms goes back a long way. All the way back to my childhood. As an only child for my parents (whose dad was constantly traveling), my working mother’s love for Fine Indian handloom sarees and clothing had an early and lasting impression on me. My eye for good aesthetics and great design evolved and developed through many years of leading teams that handled marketing and product management and passion for collecting great handmade art from my travels across the world.
What sets Avishya apart in the online marketplace for Indian handcrafted products, and What strategies or features differentiate it from other platforms in this domain?
Also we remain the only platform that provides the entire gamut of Indian handlooms under one umbrella. This philosophy we have replicated in our first retail store located in Alwarpet, Chennai, India
Can you share insights into recent developments or initiatives at Avishya that contribute to the company’s growth? Are there specific artisan communities or regions you are particularly focused on supporting?
After 7 years of selling purely online, we have decided to expand our market further by opening retail stores. Initially these stores will be focused in South India (starting from Chennai). Regarding artisan communities, we recently added a few fascinating and rare product categories.Kani Silk sarees from Kashmir, Paithani Lehengas from Maharashtra, Bhujodi sarees from Gujarat, Chaniya Choli skirts and tops from Jaipur.
Congratulations on your recent funding round! How do you plan to utilize this funding to further the goals and vision of Avishya, especially in terms of business strategy and consulting?
Thank you! Our main focus areas using the round of angel funding we obtained recently, are to expand our brick & mortar retail store network, fill in all the gaps in our product line and hire a few key management personnel. With these measures we hope to significantly scale up our consumer reach and sales volumes.
What are your aspirations and goals for Avishya in 2024, and how do you plan to further enhance the platform’s role in promoting Indian handcrafted products globally?
We hope to double our sales volumes in 2024. And with the planned large additions to our non-saree product lines, we hope to target and attract much larger volumes of international customers.
9. As the Company grows, could you mention the importance of the cap table management system in dealing with relationships among founders, investors, shareholders, and others?
As we move into 2024 we foresee the need for a further round of funding over the next 6 to 9 months. Keeping that in mind, cap table management will be very important to manage the interests of existing investors, incoming new investors and of course our interests as founders.
Do you have advice for founders in the e-commerce and handcrafted products space, particularly in building a platform that celebrates cultural ethos and connects consumers with artisans? Any advice for other founders looking for funding?
Handcrafted products spaces require oodles of passion and commitment. We as founders were bootstrapping for a long time and went through many ups and downs before we got our first round of funding. Be sure about the passion and commitment levels of all the founders before jumping in. It can be exciting, but scary – like a rollercoaster!
