Interview with Akshaya Borkar, founder of The Art and Craft Gallery (TACG).
TACG is unconventional online gallery supporting artists, artisans, crafters and
designers to connect with art buyers directly.
TACG's services help artist / makers extend their brand
exposure and reduce their ‘Screen Time’ + Learning Curve with ever changing
technologies.
Tell us about yourself Akshaya.
I am typical Indian women from middle
class family, who grew up living in Defense Factory Area with population of no
more than 6000 houses 20kms away from small district town called Bhusawal. I
did my junior college education in Pune and then went on to study Bachelor’s of
business management in Adelaide, Australia. It has been 13 years now that I
call Australia my home and currently living in Pune, India now to grow my
business in India.
How this idea of Art and craft
gallery came to your mind?
I have always been a very creative
person from a very young age and took great interest in learning various types
of handicrafts from anyone and everyone in our neighborhood. Two of my
paintings also won awards at National Interschool competition. These paintings showcased
in London Galleries. Yet my father dissuaded me from choosing art as career as
he has this fixed belief that artist struggle financially. Therefore, I kept pursuing
my hobbies on the sideline always. It was during my first maternity break, that
I started writing hobby blog about my art and craft project. This blog soon
turned in to a side business of selling my handmade creations.
Tell us more about The Art and Craft Gallery. (TACG)
The Art and Craft Gallery, is a hub
that provides several services to our lifetime artist members, so they do not
have to be one-man army for growing their creative business.
--- Online webpage managed for lifetime
including all the technology back-end support from editing the photos to sorting
out the payments from the buyers.
--- Increase online exposure for the
artist and their creations without increasing their workload or selling costs.
--- Provide discounts on Art and
Craft Supplies, Framing services, Art Printing, Copyright Services and Physical
Gallery Spaces in Australia, India and USA
--- Help members about
upcoming Art Awards and community exhibitions so they can make most of these
opportunities.
--- Help to take corporate gifting orders
for our artists without any extra fees from them.
--- We do not charge any selling
commission to our members.
--- Organize, group shows, solo
shows and business education programs for creative people that is priced
separately than our lifetime memberships.
Currently the gallery has 300 members
from 10 different countries, displaying more than 500 unique handmade creations
starting from Rs. 25 to Rs. 7 lacs.
What is the working model of TACG?
TACG offers Lifetime Memberships to
creative people in Arts and Crafts Industry worldwide for one time registration
of Rs5000 (for Indians) $100USD for rest of the world. Apart from this, we
organize solo shows and group exhibitions for artists for customized service
price. We also conduct Education program in
India where our lifetime members get discounts
What are the challenges artists have?
How artist in India will get benefit?
Artists worldwide always work alone
in creating and promoting of their creations. They do not get any education
related to setting up and growing their art business nor are the business
education programs out there ever relevant for the creative minds. Currently
internet has certainly made the world flat and more connected, however all the
marketplaces expect the seller to take all the efforts right from setting up
the store to shipping their products , not forgetting the tedious job of
replying to online buyers instantly resulting in being tied to computer 24/7
instead of the studios. All this result in art and crafts being away from the
professional mainstream industry and being reliant on intermediary supply chain
which doesn’t celebrate the real creative people behind the creations!
In India, second / third generations artisans are leaving their traditional crafts business in search of MNC jobs, as they witness how the current supply chain exploited their talented parents. In addition, the language barrier of Indian artists make it difficult for them to connect globally.
TACG helps artist overcome all these
problems by taking care of their online web presence and promotion. We only
take direct artists / artisans on our website with unique products/ artworks. Therefore,
the resellers, merchants and gallerist are not on our platform who can discount
their creations resulting in price war and wearing off the original artists.
Indian artists benefit a little more, as we speak their language and have
office in India where we can physically meet the members and guide them.
How do you manage home and business?
Managing home and business has
thought me to ask for Help from others where I am not competent or have less
time. In addition, reducing socializing commitments and taking one day complete
off from work helps me give time for the family. Being in online business means,
I am location free and flexible with my timings making me easier to make time
for my kids and home responsibilities. Learning and mastering my time
management skills, is always work in progress, which keeps me aligned and
focused.
What are challenges of online
business? How different it is to do online business than traditional?
Online business gives me location flexibility,
however my job is 24 by 7 and all 365 days! Online business is different from offline,
as we constantly have to put up the best presentation in the virtual world, as
we do not know who is looking at us from which part of the world. So being
prompt, always accessible to our followers / customers / well-wishers online is
mandatory. Unlike traditional business, there’s no set and forget rule for us,
as online technology and tools are constantly evolving so which means we are
constantly making and breaking our own rules!
Online business is not about how big you are, but how fast you are in adapting, accepting changes and growing! Unlike traditional business, we have to keep on evolving our services and offerings to surprise and delight our buyers.
Online business is not about how big you are, but how fast you are in adapting, accepting changes and growing! Unlike traditional business, we have to keep on evolving our services and offerings to surprise and delight our buyers.
Tell us about Awards and Appreciations you received.
We are humble to have won following
appreciations and awards worldwide
1. Brilliant biz Mum Awards 2015-
Winner for “Best Web Presence” category
2. Brilliant Biz Mum Awards 2015 –
Runner-up for “Best Marketing on Shoestring budget”
3. 30Under30 by Anthill Magazine 2015 (
30 entrepreneurs from Australia under 30 years of age with a good business
startup)
4. Ausmumprenuer Awards 2015 –
Nomination for Startup of the Year
5. Bronze Stevie Awards for Women in
Business, New York , USA 2015 – Young Entrepreneur of the Year
6. Bronze Stevie Awards for Women in
Business, New York , USA 2015 – Start-up of the Year
7. National Award for Social
Entrepreneur by Bharat Darshan Organization, Pune, India 2017
My interviews were published in these books
“Snehabandh” by Suhas Joshi:
Interviews of 40 Indian Australians who are successful in their offbeat
journeys
“Entrepreneurial Heart “ by Anthony
Turner who interviewed entrepreneurs working on a social cause
How do you shuttle between India and
Australia?
I travel once a year to Melbourne,
but I managed to work online. In addition, my husband works in Melbourne, so he
helps me after his office hours.
Being a global company online, helps to keep finding opportunities and
connecting them with right members through computer without hampering our
process of setting-up India operations.
Stay connected with the gallery and
me on following online channels
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