both came from backgrounds where fashion designing as a career option was not looked kindly upon. They were in the same batch at NIFT but it was only a couple of years after graduating that they decided to pool their interests and form a design label together.
Geisha Designs came into being in 2001 and a mere three years later has a turnover of Rs 80 lakh, with more expansion planned.
Shalini: My family is originally from Himachal Pradesh. My dad was in the Army so we travelled around a lot. Though I nurtured an interest in designing from an early age, my family was quite conservative. So I took up a more conventional route, by doing my MBBS in Mumbai.
However, the passion for fashion won out eventually and I joined the National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFT) in Delhi in 1995.
Paras was my colleague at NIFT, though we weren't really close during our time there "" my chief memory of him at the time is that he beat me by five marks!
Paras: My route to this profession was quite tough as well. I'm from a business family based in Darbhanga, Bihar, and was expected to follow the beaten track. But after doing my schooling up to class 10 in Asansol, I came to Delhi, where I got my first exposure to other avenues.
I did a lot of sketching in my school days, and even won a calligraphy competition. However, my parents didn't want me to pursue designing "" 'you'll be like a darzee,' they said! They wanted me to do an IIT course. But on the sly I applied at NIFT as well, and told them about it only after I had been selected!
Shalini: After NIFT I went to New York, where I got an associate diploma from the Fashion Institute of Technology and also did an internship with Armani Exchange. I returned to Delhi in 2000 and touched base with Paras again, and we decided to work on something together.
We started by researching the trousseau market and launched Geisha Designs in January 2001 with an investment of Rs 3 lakh, each of us contributing 50 per cent.
Paras: Today we have a staff of 40 people working for us in-house, apart from 100 embroiderers and 10 tailors outside. We have done the pattern making and silhouette development for Anokhi, a Jaipur-based company, and have also worked with Ghulam Sakina, a London-based label.
A big breakthrough was when Mayur Suitings approached us for proposals and ended up using our designs for their recent ad featuring Virender Sehwag and Mahima Chaudhary. In fact, Virender liked our designs so much that he asked us to design the clothes for his wedding as well.
Shalini: For the upcoming Lakme Fashion Week, our motif is nostalgia. The theme for our collection, titled "Once a Grand Duchess", is the Victorian era "" we are looking at a day in the life of a duchess, through various changes of clothes. For this, we've done extensive research on museum pieces and on elements like pockets and tonal embroideries.
Paras: Our designs are now available in 21 stores in India as well as in Dubai, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Birmingham. Within the next year or so, we hope to retail through our own stores "" eventually perhaps have a chain of stores. We also hope to enter Europe soon, and take part in an exhibition in London.
Shalini: Increasing growth might mean losing touch with the hands-on aspects of our work, which we are both passionate about. We don't want that to happen, so we will consider bringing in a partner to help us. But partnerships can make or mar a company, so it's important to tread carefully.
Our marketing is still weak, so we might need some help in that department. Fashion designing is a dynamic business, with looks and trends changing with each season and so we have to be on the ball all the time.
