Everyone loves the tinkling sound of glass bangles but who knew that even a myriad of colours and shards of glass can evoke as much joy.
Karishma Benjamin has managed to prove that even broken, bent and twisted pieces of glass bangles can bring out much happiness — through her online venture, Bangle Doodle. The venture, which was started as a hobby to keep her occupied in 2013, has now become a full-fledged online set-up and the budding entrepreneur’s ultimate goal is to involve lesser privileged women into her work.
Karishma makes home-decor items like tea light holders, wind chimes, lampshades, wall hangings, wall lamps, wall decor and curtains from broken bangles. “I was working for an NGO and quit my job when I was going to have a baby. Staying idle at home was not an option and I decided to utilise my skills in the free time,” she says. She started out by giving tea light holders to her family members as gifts and then realised that she could actually turn this into a viable business model.
“Tea light holders are extremely pretty and charming as they are semi-transparent and allow a lot of light to pass through. My other products like dream catchers and sun catchers are a hit as they have a funky concept. Dream catchers basically look like a web and are meant to chase bad dreams away while good dreams stick on. Sun catchers are items that shine under the sun.”
It is entirely a one woman show as Karishma takes care of the entire venture from designing and marketing to sales. Bangle Doodle also takes in custom orders. She adds that the option of selling the items online seemed the best option as looking after her baby is her top priority.
Per day, she makes about ten tea light holders.
However challenging the process is, it doesn’t deter her passion. “Bangles have to be broken, twisted or bent for the right shape. I sketch out the design and figure out what materials I need for which product. I have to be really careful while sticking them as they are quite tricky and can get chipped. Initially, it was quite difficult to get perfect circles. As they are glass bangles, I bend them carefully. They shouldn’t break and have to be placed properly.”
Karishma always had a penchant for art and craft ever since childhood. “I was against buying and would always make presents for my family and friends, even birthday cards,” she says. “It’s hard to manage now and balance a professional and personal life but I would like to tell all the entrepreneurs that if they have a dream, they should go after it. Name and fame will come in time.”
Her first big step was when her uncle gave her a set of 10,000 bangles as an investment for Bangle Doodle. Though Bangle Doodle took quite some time to pick up, now, people are aware of it now and have realised that the best tinkles can sometimes come from broken shards of bangles.