Part-IV
Fellow FPManiacs, I am back with fourth writeup/interview/insight into the FP industry in India as part of promoting and creating awareness about Made In India initiatives by entrepreneurs. In this case its a Woman-preneur, Narishakti, thats leading the charge. An interesting journey indeed.
Nisha aur sitarey, How a Passion transformed into a Brand : Constellations88
Story of Nisha ..is the story of a young Entrepreneur who dreamt big, planned well, approached logically and took risk. Balanced her role as Mother, housewife, daughter and a family person. Had unflinching support of her husband, understanding of her family. And Constellations88 emerged as Quasar on the horizon of Fountain Pen India.
"Nisha" (or Night ) is considered to be both calming and full of mystery. Dark yet serene; full of hope and despair. A classical example of oxymoron.
Constellations ..well.. we all know what it is!!! Ha HaToday we are going to read about the journey of a Woman-preneur into the cosmic world of fountain pens with her Faithful Vazir and companion , source of inspiration, none other than Vishal Singhi.
For you all here I present... Nisha Singhi.
How and when did you really think about a brand or even this setup?
Nisha Singhi (NS): My husband Vishal Singhi is crazy about fountain pens and his passion over the years made me realize what an FP means to a crazy person like him. Way back in 2013, we saw very beautiful hand painted fountain pen, which was way above our budget. But seeing his interest in it, I decided to gift him a hand painted fountain pen with Goddess Saraswati on it. Now main issue was how and where to get the pen painted, that too not a normal mural but Goddess Saraswati? So, I picked up fistful of plain black fountain pens from his collection which he wasn't using much anyways and started to look for the artists who could paint on FP. Honestly, I didn't know at that time that how difficult it is? There were so many factors to consider to hand paint an FP. It had been a great learning. The correct base coat, the paint medium, time it takes to dry each coat of paint, with multiple layers, protective lacquer coating etc etc.. and foremost The Artist, who can do it. It took 7 pens ( guinea-pigs basically 😋) and 14 months later, I had first hand painted pen ready which I gifted to Vishal. This journey was pretty educating as well as it gave me courage to develop an idea of our own brand of fountain pens, duly hand painted, at a pricing which will not burn a hole in pocket. There was a gap in this segment at that point of time.
When did you launch Constellations88?
NS. Our website www.constellations88.com was launched on 19 December 2015.
That was really a Blind Leap of faith, to get into pen making without having any prior knowledge or experience in pen making?
NS. We didn't have any previous experience or idea about how to go into manufacturing Pens. Only thing we had was, Vishal’s Passion for fountain pens (He is crazy about his pens😊), a decade plus as FP collector combined with our research for couple of years about understanding the market, various price segments, the existing gaps and requirements of FP Lovers. Passion was our biggest strength and motivation too.
You have to dive deep to explore the ocean.
What is so special about your hand-painted pens?
NS. We offer a variety of hand-painted fountain pens, some of our pens are painted using acrylic paints, some arepeinted with oil paints, some colour lacquered and some were painted using gold foils and gold dust too. All these pens undergo a proprietary base coating that makes the pen come up in a really nice getup. Once the pen is completely hand painted, each pen is coated with a protective glossy crystal lacquer to ensure the longevity of painted figures besides ensuring the lustrous shine.
That sounds interesting. How much time does it take to make a pen?
NS. End to end, the entire process takes about 10 to 15 weeks depending upon the design, we have had some custom painting take about 20 weeks too.
So you make custom paintings on the pens ?
NS. Yes. We have painted pens on bespoke designs that include Hindu dieties like Shree Ganesha, Devi Saraswati, Hanumanji, Bhagwan Shiva. We have made portraits of Balasaheb Thackrey, Mohammed Ali, Twin babies, Hema Malini ji. We also undertook theme based painted FPs like science themes, nature as theme, animals etc.
Hand Painted Pens
So is Constellations88 just about only hand-painted FPs or there's more to offer?
NS : We started our journey in December 2015 with hand painted fountain pens (we were the first company in India to offer quality hand-painted pens). Our pens have been painted by multiple artists. Besides these, we have expanded our pen base to include material like resin, acrylic, celluloid, and even in-house blanks to make FP We offer pocket sized pens as well as large sized FPs. Currently, we are offering pens as CC and piston mechanisms to fill the inks, but we do have plans to include other filling mechanism also.
What about your regular line models ?
NS. We started regular line products with limited edition Bromine and Sulfur fountain pens (all sold out). These were made using high quality resin fitted with bock nibs and threaded convertors. They were limited to 88 pieces each and had a silver medallion on the finial. These FPs were priced at around USD 100. The pens were not regular shapes but designed inhouse in not so commonly found shapes, you may refer elements series, plasma, lyra, crux or magnum. All of our models don’t reflect imitation to any popular models
I am sure you have ventured into accessorizing the FPs too.
NS: We do have some pen cases and accessories like pen sleeves and cases for 1,2,3 pens, some soft cloth pouches for 5 and 7 pens, pen boxes for 10 pens and folders for 24 and 48 pens. We strictly follow the policy of NOT using real leather and hence all our products use materials that don't come from animals.
Pouches and Boxes
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| Pouches |
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| Quatrras |
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| Maharaj Box |
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| 12/24/48 Pen Folder |
What is your USP ?
NS: High quality and prompt after sales service is our USP for our regular line products. All Constellations88 products come with 2 year warranty against any manufacturing defects and all issues other than that which may arise over time comes under service warranty.
The gold plating on our products comes with 3 year warranty as we use top quality PVD to ensure the plating doesn’t wear off even after daily use for three years.
The techniques and sharpness in our paintings are world class and can give competitions to major players in this segment.
Constellations88 is rather an unusual and interesting name for a brand that makes writing instruments ?
NS: This venture started with a gift for my husband. I had to think of something that I could dedicate to my husband. His life moves around two things, besides his family of-course, fountain pens and astronomy . Thus came the idea of the name Constellations; and since we have 88 known constellations till date, we named our brand as Constellations88. The names of our collections are derived for various cosmic terms, related to astronomy like Elements, Plasma, Lyra, Crux, Orion, Quarks and our latest offering Galaxy and Star-ship. Constellations88 Galaxy model are made of Edelharz resin and come in 2 colours blue, and green with clear and coloured demonstrator barrels in blue and green. These can be used as eye dropper too but comes with convertor.
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| Galaxy Green |
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| Galaxy Blue |
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| Plasma |
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| Plasma |
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| Lyra |
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| Lyra |
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| Elements |
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| Elements |
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| Crux |
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| Crux |
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| Quarks |
What is your customer base ?
NS: Our customer base is spread across the globe, US, UK, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and EU to name few. For hand painted pens, our customers are primarily Indians, staying abroad, however they are equally sought after by others too. The bespoke hand painted fountain pens are our USP as now we have array of artist who cater for variety of art work requirements. For regular line up of pens, we are glad to have evenly spread customer base with high positive feedback.
What are your future Plans?
NS: Will like to keep quiet on this for now, but yes we have something interesting lined up for 2021.
Any interesting incident or stories you want to share?
NS: Well it happened at the most appropriate moment. pretty interesting and also gave us a lesson for life. We were going to a family function and worst nightmare of a FPlover came true, the FP cap came off, leaving a big spot on Vishal's shirt. It was too late to go, change and comeback. He messaged a few of his friends asking for a quick fix idea to cover ink stain; upon which pet came a reply “Wear it with pride, you are a fountain pen user”. That is the true passion of a fountain pen lover and FPL community, they are crazy.
Your message to FP community?
NS: We understand your love for fountain pens, we respect your passion and we strive to assist you all in the journey. We believe ours is a community where writing is passion and inked fingers AND POCKETS are a matter of pride. We are so glad to be well received by this community and will strive to work towards creating quality fine writing instruments. We would be glad to hear from you with suggestions and recommendations if you may have, please feel free to write to us at support@constellations88.com
#2020, #aatmnirbhar, #BeVocalForLocal, #FPCommunity, #FPManiac , #HANDPAINTED, #MadeInIndia, #FPClubIndia,swadeshi, #IndianFP, #Constellations88, #Constellations, #Galaxy, #Quarks, #Crux, #Elements, #Plasma, #Lyra,
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