Insta-art for sale

City artists are using Instagram to not only display their craft but also to sell their wares.

Online shopping has become a mainstay for metropolitan shoppers, with a plethora of options to choose from on e-commerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart. From groceries to clothes, to electronics and home decor, it has become a matter of convenience to purchase online. However, smaller entreprenuers are making a mark in the realm of online shopping, and are using social networking websites as their mode of business, and Instagram their main weapon of choice. Using the image-centric website to display their craft, artists in Mumbai, armed with just a mobile phone are ringing in the sales for their unique and quirky products.

@thatyellowgift: A quirky store next Twenty-two-year-old Jamila Bootwala and Shifa Fadra, 23, are childhood friends who decided to start a business together and are based out of the Crawford Market area. The two started their online store in June 2015, and offer customised gifts. For optimal results, the duo talks to the customer about their likes, dislikes and personality quirks of the person the gift is for going on to design something unique. The gifts are couriered or even hand-delivered and payments are made using online transfers. The two friends hope to expand the business to cater to corporates as well as individuals. They eventually want to open a quirky store similar to Chumbak and Happily Unmarried.

@gocrafting: All things DIY Roshni Gandhi who is studying to be a fashion designer and is based out of Goregaon opened her account in November 2014 and offers unique craft items with which the buyer can make DIY craft. Having noticed that not a lot of people sell stationery items online, the 21-year-old offers bright and colourful crafts material, which you will be hard-pressed to find at the corner store. Although Roshni also uses an online transfer system, she hopes to eventually offer cash on delivery. Her target group of buyers are the 16 to 40 year old social media savvy buyers, and therefore she finds Instagram to be a great way to get followers and buyers. Roshni dreams of eventually setting up a store, which is full of colourful and unique craft items, quite similar to ones found on her page.

@whatartever: Insta-boost for the brand Varsha Nair is a fine arts graduate based out of Malad, Mumbai, who has turned to social media to sell personalised items she creates using her artistic flair. The 25-year-old has been selling her quirky and interesting artwork, including customised items like paintings, portraits and shoes with artwork, on Facebook for six years and on Instagram for two years. She says she’s been getting a lot more enthusiastic response on Instagram and has received international orders from countries like Dubai, the US and Canada. Although some people were hesitant to pay in advance through online transactions when Varsha first started out, her reputation now gets her enough clients.

While selling on the Internet and showing her wares on Instagram have helped Varsha reach a large amount of people, she eventually wants to start an offline enterprise with other young artists in her employ.

@Cardcrafts: Instagramming for inspiration Geeta Gajelli is a marketing expert at a healthcare centre who finds her Instagram store a nice way to channel her creative talents. After Facebook, Instagram is the most visited site , says the 23-year-old and the photo-based options have made it the platform of choice for this arty entrepreneur, who sells different kinds of craft items. Having started the page October 2014, Geeta has had quite a positive response from her buyers both in terms of numbers and feedback. Since collaborating with a courier company, she has also started a cash-on-delivery option for payment. Instagram has been a creative and inexpensive way of channelling her hobby, she says