Scouting for that perfect shade of Rosewood for the coffee table in your new apartment just became easier. If you’re planning to revamp your home’s drab-and-dull decor with niche and quirky items that you have spotted on a foreign voyage, but are not exactly sure of how to get your hands on them, then you’re at the right place.
Log onto icustommadeit.com to fulfil all your bespoke furniture, home decor and accessories fantasies. They are your personal genie who help you to connect with people from all over the country possessing various talents, be it artisans, craftspersons, sculptors, furniture designers, product designers and even fashion and jewellery designers, besides other individuals skilled in diverse fields.
In its complete essence, Icustommadeit is a platform that enables you to create your own one-off piece of almost anything under the sun by a one-on-one interaction with the designer or ‘creator’ as they call it. This idea struck Raj Iyer, a corporate bigwig who has over 25 years of experience in leadership, planning, directing and management, when he detected the requirement of custom-made products. Iyer is the founder and CMD of Icustommadeit, while Kundan Dhake is the co-promoter.
Iyer says, “Icustommadeit was founded on the belief that customisation is the core of any merchandise today. We draw our inspiration from a deep understanding of the growing need for custom-made products. Today everyone wants to look good and feel good. People are well travelled and well-heeled and are willing to spend time and energy to get unique, one-of-a-kind products.”
There are several categories on Icustommadeit including furniture, home decor, furnishings, kitchen accessories, paintings and so on, and sections that cater to clothes, shoes, jewellery, bags and other fashion accessories for men and women. You can either buy the product as is, or make iterations to it or just create a completely new product from scratch.
So Icustommadeit is not just restricted to customising the available products on the website, but offers the discerning customer a whole lot more in terms of handmade, one-off products. So if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like mass-produced goods and wants a one-off-a-kind creation made exclusively for you, Icustommadeit will help you make it true.
The process is simple, free and accessible from within the confines of your home. All you have to do is sign up, choose the category that you desire, fill out a form with details of what exactly you are looking for – a reference picture or link will do wonders – save it and voila, you are done! Now, your request is open to the creators and those interested in it will contact you via the portal’s internal messaging system.
You can ask, clarify and solve your doubts before shortlisting the one you want to work with. Alternatively, you may also initiate a ‘special invite’ request whereby you contact a specific creator with a clear idea of your desired project. As a 2-year-old start-up based in Pune, they are off to a promising start with over 3000 creators and 30,000 products.
Iyer states, “We started with a team of 7-8 employees and now we are a skilled team of 60. We have received a very positive response from the market and have been successfully funded by investors.”
With a background of serial entrepreneurship in knowledge process outsourcing, hospitality and e-commerce, Iyer knew the fundamentals of the marketplace. So setting up the business became a tad easy, yet it had its own set of challenges. Iyer clarifies, “Designed on a vertical marketplace model, Icustommadeit is – at its core – a dialogue between the buyer and the creator to co-create certain items made especially for customers to meet their unique needs.”
He continues, “Communication is challenging as well as imperative to the process; there is a lot of back-and-forth between both the parties to not only communicate what the buyer wants, but also to track the entire building process to make sure it’s meeting the buyer’s needs. In many ways, ‘icustommadeit.com’ is emphasising the root of e-commerce, which is an exchange of ideas.”
Icustommadeit is a platform that enables creative people to connect and collaborate on unique creations. It is as much for the design connoisseur who needs to add more value to his/her collection or for the young couple who seek to redo their home, as it is for the talented craftsperson working in his/her studio in another part of the country.
Text By Rehana Hussain
Contact
Icustommadeit
Teerth Technospace
IT Park, A-602, 6th Floor,
Off Mumbai Bangalore Highway,
Adjoining Mercedes Benz Showroom,
Baner, Pune – 411045, Maharashtra.
+91 8055905461
+91 90280 12751
email: support@icustommadeit.com
web: www.icustommadeit.com