Purple Jungle

By Shreyasi Singh

As far as Iris Strill is concerned, kitsch is so cool.

“India has taught me how to stay calm,” says 33-year-old Iris Strill, a freelance designer, as she finishes a dabba lunch of roti, dal, and sabzi in a small sit-out balcony, surrounded by a messy gridlock of electric cable wires which wind through impossibly narrow lanes and angular houses in Hauz Khas village. This is Delhi’s artsy neighbourhood, dotted as much with historical monuments from the Delhi Sultanate era as with crooked buildings that house quaint cafés, art galleries, designer stores and restaurants.

“You learn not to get disappointed here. Like, when the internet is not working, or the electricity goes off, I just get out of the office and run errands then,” she adds with a sigh.

Hard as it is to imagine chaotic India teaching anyone to remain calm, it is even more difficult in the case of Strill, given that she, along with her business partner, Emeline Grasset, has just embarked on the frenetic, and often frustrating, journey of setting up a business in India. The vibrancy of the country, which has attracted these two French ladies, is probably best reflected in their products—a range of kitschy, urban accessories like bags, trays, posters, coaster and stuffed toys. Their three-month-old design studio is appropriately christened Purple Jungle.

For a start-up—the store opened less than two months ago—things seem remarkably calm at the store. The products, carefully priced between Rs 150 and Rs 2,000, are neatly stacked along the two walls of the outlet and dramatically displayed on the floors at the studio. They use imagery emblematic of India—think matchboxes, Bollywood and and steel utensils.

Strill, who has “more or less” lived in India since she first came to work on a textile project 10 years ago, admits that things have moved “shockingly” fast. “We started talking about it only four months ago. Then, one day, Emeline said, let’s go check out Hauz Khas Village. And, the shop space downstairs is the first space we saw,” says the graduate of a design school in France.

Both Strill and Grasset are natives of France. The duo, coincidentally, kept bumping into each other socially, until they decided to work out a business together. They have managed to move rather quickly, courtesy 31-year-old Grasset’s experience in running a business in India. She started ParisDelhi, a buying house that helps European designers to source products from India, in 2006.

At Purple Jungle, the girls have stitched together some smart alliances. They have a barter agreement with an Indian manufacturer, with whom Strill has been working as a freelance designer for the past four years. Purple Jungle designs products, which are then manufactured by this firm on the understanding that Strill and Grasset will sell those products only in India.

In addition to the challenges faced by most expat entrepreneurs while launching in India, the two women have had to struggle with production issues, so much so it has “kept them up at nights”.

“For production, there are two key things you need—respect for time and good quality. It’s very difficult to find people who respect both,” she says. It hasn’t been easy “being a woman in the garments production field” here. “In fact, I have picked up only one Hindi word pat down, and that is mushkil (difficult),” laughs Grasset, who first came to India in 2005.

Ironically, that’s also what is rewarding about working in India. “You feel everything is possible here. You can find a solution at any time, and at any cost. When you are in trouble in the day-to-day life, there is always another possibility,” she adds.

Although they both continue to work on their previous professional commitments along with Purple Jungle, they have ambitious plans ahead. But, “it’s just the beginning, beginning. We are still scoping things out,” cautions Strill.

So far, the duo has pumped in Rs 12 lakh into the business. They already sell out of Zaza, an upmarket store in South Delhi, and hope to find more such places to sell out of. Opening up more stores requires budgets that they do not immediately have. Therefore, the two are keen to ink supply deals with shops in Goa, Pondicherry, Mumbai and other cities.

Not that they are not eyeing the emerging Indian market. “We want to make Purple Jungle big in India. In a year, we want to get into the biggest cities and the nicest shops,” says Grasset. “There is a window for funky things here. There is too much of the standardised, mall culture,” echoes her business partner. For now, they are relying on the magic of word-of-mouth to lure in the customer. The only marketing investment so far has been a Facebook account, but Strill justifies it by saying, “we are still very, very new”.

Which is why more often than not, running Purple Jungle doesn’t seem like work. “I have been working as a freelancer for so long now that I really enjoy having somebody to run a design by. It isn’t so lonely anymore. It’s been a lot of fun,” Strill adds. It’s a joy that has found easy depiction in their busy, colourful products.

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