Almost everyone is into do it yourself projects today, with DIY stores springing up by the dozen everywhere you look. And making DIY jewellery seems to be quite the trend among this lot. But in a melee of 'cutesy' products all around, what makes DIY jewellery brand Alokik Goa stand out is that it isn’t just the stacking up of beads and other knick knacks in a visually appealing manner- the major chunk of their work is created right from scratch with the help of clay and resin. From zesty rainbow colours to night sky shades, Alokik Goa carefully moulds their designs to cater to your every mood.
College-going Malaika Kamat and Sara Kirlapalkar started Alokik Goa with the intention of doing something different. “I have always loved making handmade works like jewellery using beads, agarbati stands, rakhis etc. So when we heard about the exhibition in Margao we decided to participate too and secured a stall. However while we had a stall we didn’t have an idea of what to do yet because we didn’t want to do the usual kind of DIY jewellery,” reveals Kamat, who got the idea of moulding clay and resin into interesting patterns while browsing through the net.
“I started experimenting a bit with clay and putting it up on Instagram and got quite a few likes for it. So we decided to go ahead with the idea,” she states. The name for their brand, was chosen by Kamat’s father. “We were first thinking of English names but since we are a Goan company we settled on Alokik, which in Konkani means extraordinary. Extraordinary is exactly what our jewellery is all about,” she adds.
Through Alokik Goa, the duo make a variety of items ranging from pendants, bracelets, earrings, keychains, chokers, buttons and badge and receive about 25- 30 orders per week with the majority of their orders coming in through their Instagram page.
And while you would expect a lot of youngsters around their age to be their chief customers, Kamat and Kirlapalkar have noticed something quite surprising. “We have had a lot more demand from middle-aged customers rather than teenagers. In fact at the Pop-it-Up bazaar at Taleigao a few months ago, one lady was so happy with her purchase the first time around that she came back to buy more of our products,” reveals Kirlapalkar.
Along the way, the duo have also learned a lot. “The feeling of earning your own money is a nice feeling. I especially used to be pretty horrible with money and never bother about it before. I have now learned how to manage it better,” says Kamat. Understanding how to deal with customers has also been an interesting experience for the girls. “Since we don’t have a home delivery option as yet, we interact with all our customers in person. Sometimes we’ve had to deal with a few hard ones too. Like for example we once had this guy who wanted to get something for his girlfriend but he just didn’t know what he wanted!” says Kamat.
However their chief challenge has been managing their raw supplies which they usually import from out of Goa. “It takes us a month for the supplies to reach us and because of this we sometimes have to say no to people’s orders. Also, it would be nice if we could have decent delivery services around,” admits Kamat, who is now excitedly looking forward to we showcasing their works at the Pop it Up Winter Flea.
