Home Decor @ Studio Pepperfry - Experience it before you buy it!

When I started this blog, I'd never thought that I would be sharing posts on home decor with my readers in a few years to come. But as I moved ahead in life, came marriage and a home which was all mine, and there surfaced my interest in home decor from where there was no looking back. I am constantly on the lookout for unique pieces to do up my place. It means going to stores, visiting flea markets and buying online. The pleasure and satisfaction that it gives me when people walk into my house and appreciate the effort Prateek and me put in, is worth all the effort.

Innovation is the key to survive in this competitive world. Especially in a country like India, where similar ideas are turned into businesses by a million people and only a few survive the rut, why because they dared to be different! It means investment of innovative ideas, time and money to a whole new level, even though less effort and money can give you results. The effort is put in because one is looking at long run survival rather than making a quick buck.When I look at the various online businesses that have sprung up in India in the last few years, most of them look the same to me. Sometimes due to the similarity, I even tend to mix names up. But those few that stand out are always on top of mind.

One such online business that has stolen my heart recently is Pepperfry.com. Till a few months ago, it was one of the few good furniture and home decor marketplaces online, but come December 2014 it became my go-to site as it introduced a concept that no one else had in this country. It launched "Studio Pepperfry” - a one of its kind concept store which is basically an experience studio for you to check out a curated range of furniture from the online portfolio of Pepperfry as well as get design consultancy done for your house. This concept totally stole my heart as it introduces Indian consumers to a whole new dimension of online buying. What impressed me about the studio is that you will find no sales counter there, as the store is just to experience the cutting edge design, various types of furniture with different wood finishes and get an idea of the overall quality of the furniture from Pepperfry. Having a no-sales-point shows that despite bearing overheads, the brand is not looking at immediate offline sales but sticking to its model of online sales which is its main business. I visited the studio at Kanjurmarg, Mumbai and loved how tastefully it had been set-up. 

Here are some of my favourite pieces that I never really noticed online!

The lounge chair and and the book shelf are on my to 'Sure to buy list'! And while I am telling you about what I'm going to buy, let me tell you how the order placing process works once you are at the Pepperfry Studio. On reaching the studio, there are numerous interior design consultants who assist you in browsing through the entire range of 11,000 Pepperfry furniture items online and then run you through the type of wood and finishes with reference to the pieces at the store. Once you have finalised your piece, they help you in ordering via iPads at the studio and you don't need to wait till you head back home to place the order. You can also come to the store with your budget and aspirations, and these experts will offer you free in-store design consultancy on furniture products to furnish your home, reflecting the latest and best in contemporary home design while working around your budgets. All in all simple and fuss free :-)

There is more good news for you guys from Pepperfry. They have recently launched a contest called Design Democracy, which is based on the prinicple of 'Furniture from the people, by the people for the people'. It is again a first-of-its-kind initiative and all interested to participate can visit this page on the website - www.pepperfry.com/designdemocracy.html and submit their prototype designs. Check-out Pepperfry’s official Facebook and twitter page & www.pepperfry.com for more details. The winning designs will be brought to life by Pepperfry’s which will then go up for sale on the website. The competition ends on 28th February 2015 so hurry!

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