Owing to the rapid urbanization and rising concern of the present generation towards crafting a healthier and aesthetically pleasing environment, India's online furniture and the home market are gearing up to emerge as a $40 billion industry in the upcoming years. Arresting the attention of modern businesspersons, especially the women entrepreneurs, the design and décor industry has been able to introduce some trailblazing woman leaders who are eager to leverage the existing opportunities offered by this prominent arena. Determined to break the existing industrial barriers, which often cause significant hindrances to women at almost every professional sphere and vertical; the existing women leaders of the décor and designing industry are setting examples for the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs and Chaitali Sharma is one amongst them.

Nurturing her willpower to carve her identity as one of the skilled entrepreneurs of the modern world, Chaitali’s confidence strengthened with time as she led organizations in India as well as in UK (London) during her professional tenure, and played a key role in setting up a modern Clinical Research Trial center in Action Cancer Hospital in New Delhi from scratch which turned to be very successful. After marrying into a family having top-notch Interior business for Five Star Hotels, large corporates and residential projects for more than four decades, she envisaged and clutched the opportunity to lead the family business to the next level. By the virtue of her prolific industry expertise and with the help of contemporary technologies, Chaitali laid the foundation of a new age Technology based interior firm, Laorigin Interior & Architects – an exclusive Interior firm addressing the demands of the Luxury Interior segment. An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Company including UK ASCB, CCL, IAS, and IAF, which endorses its quality of procedure and products, Laorigin has grown exponentially under Chaitali’s guidance and currently ranks #1 on Facebook social media among Interior & Decor companies in India boasting more than 1.7 million followers.

Below is an excerpt of Chaitali’s interview with Women Entrepreneur magazine.

Give us a brief overview of Laorigin. How does it remain distinguished from other décor firms of the country?

Laorigin Luxury Interior & Architects, established in 2015, is a Mumbai-based new age, Technology base Interior, Design, & Architect firm powered by the latest technology and with a vision to transform imagination into life. With an unorthodox understanding of the Interior for more than 40 years, from a family-run business to a modern high-end technology Interior & Architect firm, we believe that each space has a story to tell and is representative of the people who adopted it. Bringing over four decades of experience in Interior, Architectures, Designs, and technical excellence, the team never loses sight of its core focus on quality and professionalism. Laorigin thrives on creating innovative solutions, tempered by experience gained by the long and successful stint in the industry and use of latest technology in Virtual Realty Walkthrough, 3D -Vray Visualization, and Block Chain technology for supply chain, and that is what sets it apart from the competitors.

In Interior, currently we have two series i.e. ‘Luxury’ & ‘Ultra Luxury’. In Luxury, we provide customized Interior solutions suited to every customer’s budget and our products are made of plywood and finished with a Laminated or Teak Veneer with American Walnut Polish. Our ‘Ultra Luxury’ Segment is very unique where base materials are WR/Marine ply and Polymers and finishing is done by PU Coating and Back Painted & Digital Print Glass. Encompassing the Spirit of Mumbai for Top Style & Trends, Laorigin has taken a leadership position in setting new trends in the Interior Industry and become one of the few companies in India to provide Luxury Interior solutions along with top trending materials & Designs in low cost.

Throw some light on various roles and responsibilities that your current role as the Director entails at La Origin, along with some of the most challenging aspects of your journey so far?

As the Director and CEO of the company, I lead the day-to-day functioning of the company related to Operations, HR, Accounts, Sales & Marketing, and most importantly - customer satisfaction by ensuring the quality of work and good after-sales services. Using high-end technology, social media marketing, SEO, and SMO to reach out to the customers, we have been able to make Laorigin Interior & Architect a big brand. Today, the Laorigin brand and our designs are hugely popular on social media. Our advertisements reach out to almost 1.1 Crore people every month, and we get almost 10 Lacs reactions from the customers every month.

Since customers want to see, touch, and feel the products before buying interior products, Experience Centers play a key role, and setting up of such Experience Centres requires a large amount of Capital Expenditure. So far, we have used our savings and internal funds, and set up Experience Centers in Mumbai & Pune.. But due to lack of Experience Centres in other cities, , we have to refuse services to almost 90% of our customers in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and other cities. To seize this opportunity, now we are planning to reach out to investors to avail capital to set up 9-10 Experience Centers in 6-7 cities. Recently, specifically after the COVID lockdowns removed, we are seeing a huge amount of interest from investors in Technology oriented Interior Businesses.

Tell us about your areas of expertise in the home décor and furniture industry. What are some of the key specialties that reflect in your designs?

With ‘The bespoke luxury in affordable price’ being our objective and determination, we only work in customized and Premium Segment with an optimized budget. Over a period , we have learned how to cut down the cost drastically even for Luxury Products, making them affordable for everyone. For example, our Polymer base Digital Print Glass Kitchens now cost 1.5 to 2 Lakh range, while they used to be in Rs 5-6 Lakh range few years ago.

Each of our projects is unique as it reflects the emotions, feeling, and likings of our clients. Initially designing the complete house and then manufacturing everything in the designs as per our standardization, we ensure that the final product is similar to the design. We use high-end technology in 3D V-Ray rendering and Virtual Reality Walkthrough to give a live experience of the complete interior before starting manufacturing. Our in-house designers are experts in creating a wow effect in the interior designing stage while keeping the cost in mind. The initial designing plays an important role, followed by manufacturing the customized products as per the design and standard process, which leads to high-quality work. Almost 99.5% of our customers are satisfied, which is a great achievement for us.

“Laorigin has become one of the few companies in India to provide luxury interior solution along with top trending materials & designs at low cost.”

How do you keep yourself well aligned with the ongoing trends of the décor world?

Innovation and adopting to new technology have been the center stone for our company and very much inculcated in our working style. We have initiated a new way of product manufacturing to optimize the cost. Interior & Designing is traditionally done in unorganized ways, and a huge amount of technological innovation and adoption is still required in this industry. We have been already using 3D, Virtual Reality Technology, and building a smart supply chain through Block Chain technology to ensure quality and trust from the customers. Sales & marketing through Social Media, Google Awards etc is another area of technology adoption, where we are heavily invested in Facebook and other social media platforms from the very early stage and further going forward for new technological methods to acquire and on-boarding the customers. Making a smart supply chain with the use of Block Chain Technology will be a must for ensuring top quality of raw and finished material and hence trust from customers.

As a successful business leader what would you advise be the young women aspiring to become entrepreneurs in the future?

To be a successful entrepreneur, it is important to garner the right kind of skills and a field that you enjoy. Continuous work with passion, dedication and enjoyment is a prerequisite for a successful business. Be updated with the latest trends & technology in whichever industry you are in, and with patience, hard work, and dedication you will surely be able to achieve your goal. In beginning, plan and use your resources very well. Having satisfied customers, with a net promoter score is a must, which will build your brand. Of course, keeping pace with the technology and innovations will give you an extra edge to be a successful entrepreneur.

Chaitali Sharma, CEO & Director, Laorigin Interior & Architects

Chaitali has completed her MBA from Narsee Monjee Business School- Mumbai (in sales & marketing) and MSc from Rajasthan University. She has also done a number of Vocational Studies at Carshalton College -London (UK). Owing to her solid educational foundation and over 15 years of stint in various organizations, Chaitali honed her business skills to become a seasoned industry stalwart leading LaOrigin - a new age technology driven start-up company.