She makes unique jewellery; strives to uplift less privileged women

SHOPPING for jewellery can be a mesmerising task as the numbers of varieties on offer are umpteen and unique. Priyas Trendz is a jewellery store which developed the unique idea of incorporating British floral prints on Indian jewellery. The founder, CEO and the designer of this company who is the first youngest entrepreneur to get a startup loan from the banker, Priya was fond of bringing these designs when she was pursuing her management studies at London School of Economics.

She was influenced by the natural floral-kind of jewellery which was worn by a British woman. Being an accomplished national-level painter and an artist by birth she learned the art of making handcrafted jewellery out of her interest and passion. "When I joined the school, I was attracted to the roses-type jewellery the British woman was wearing. So I used to learn the art every weekend without fail," says Priya.

After learning the floral art, she had an innovative idea of bringing British art to the Indian market. While returning to India, the founder brought the raw material from London, when she came back she was in a dilemma as to how to incorporate the designs and move them further into the Indian market, so she customised the jewellery according to the Indian taste and mixed all these jhumkis with floral prints. She made a mix and match to suit the mindset of the Indians. She then started making exclusive handmade jewellery and gifted it to her friends in the US. When she got good responses from them, she had an idea to set up a commercial venture and took a small marketing space at Spencers in Rajahmundry in 2016. She took the place for Rs 5,000 and convinced the manager where she started experimenting on the Indian market. Her designs sold like hot cakes. Getting more confidence about the jewellery making, she ventured in an epic way into the world of startups.

Started in the year 2016, this company is a completely women-empowered startup and caters to their needs. She started employing as many as 30 women (especially widows) who are below the poverty line and trained them to make perfect handcrafted jewellery. Winning many laurels for her innovativeness, Priya was also nominated for the Prime Minister award for this good cause.

She encountered many obstacles in her life and came up as a strong entrepreneur who works very hard for the betterment of her staff which has been working very hard to achieve the standards of the jewellery making process. The jewellery is durable, hard, water-resistant, unbreakable and stays for a long period and the prices range from Rs 50 to Rs 3,000, catering to the needs of women.

She worked as a vendor at Reliance Trends, which approached her and gave her a vendor agreement. Since she could not manage both the marketing and the manufacturing aspects together she left Reliance Trends and was searching for a platform to sell her products.

She started exhibiting her products at various exhibitions and became a life member of COWE which gave her a wide area to disseminate the unique jewellery products she made.