Girls swing Desi Lantern over party spaces

From left: Priti Agarwalla and Sunaina Agarwal

Meet the desi girls from Kolkata who design dreams - yours and mine! Seven years ago Priti Agarwalla and Sunaina Agarwal took a small step towards empowerment and named it ‘Little Do’s.’ The passion for creativity worked wonders for the duo and events, parties arranged by then became the talk of the town. Three years ago they rebranded their venture as Desi Lanterns – illuminating and designing spaces with panache!

In an exclusive chat with Baishali Mukherjee, the awesome two of a kind share their story - Desi Lantern’s journey of becoming the a-la-mode among the party animals of Kolkata and organising events like T2 10^th anniversary -award party and Quest Mall-Christmas decor2015.

Turning interest into enterprise

When one has the capability and inclination to do something fruitful and utilise their time wisely-entrepreneurs are born. And that’s how Priti and I chose to start working. Desi Lantern started in the premises of our homes and we worked our way up to where we are today - designing decor for all occasions, big or small. We believe in clean, uncluttered designs that are bold and ‘stand out.’ Structural work along with floral detailing is our forte.

This particular field did not have as many people as it does today. However, that wasn’t the primary reason for choosing this industry. It was purely our field of interest and indentifying a gap in the area, back then. The parties we organised for our kids at our homes were so well appreciated that we decided to take it up professionally. The idea was shared in the family and received immediate support - both moral and financial. The journey began!

Modus operandi

At Desi Lantern we believe - “why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary?” Coming up with new designs for every event is a challenge we have set for ourselves and we achieve it by paying great attention to detailing. Our personal presence at the events ensures a complete accomplishment of the client’s needs and expectations. We have an entire range of in-house furniture such as chairs, sofas, lights, bars to be used at events and also a ‘state of the art’ dance floor.

We work according to the clients’ budget and based on their brief while keeping our aesthetics in place. We keep things uncluttered and always try to create a sense of connect. Our six resource persons, trained individually by us, execute the ideas into delightful realities.

Over the years it has been a mixed bag of experience. On certain days we gained respect and recognition while at times being women have worked as a deterrent. Our work hardly abides by any timing, and as women we find it difficult to stay out late at night or till the wee hours of the morning, which is when most of our event set-up takes place. We owe a great deal to our families - husbands, kids, parents and in laws - who support us in every possible way to make endeavours successful.

Earning brownie points

It was our first time handling an event of such grandeur where not a single corner of the client’s garden was left untouched. It took us two days to decorate the entire place with a lot of detailing. Each food counter was set up as per the cuisine, using elements typical to them. For the Mumbai thela-wala we had Bollywood posters placed while an entire cafe was made for the guests to enjoy their coffee and desserts. A three-months long planning process, countless hours of efforts a help of a number of resource persons helped us successfully execute an event which earned us some grand accolades.

Success is a story which speaks for itself

We have grown from a small company to where we are today purely on the basis of word of mouth. When people come back to you for the second and third and fourth time, it is the biggest indicator of your success. Our clients build our success stories.

When people come to us they’re looking to have their dreams fulfilled. An engagement, a wedding, a special occasion- all hold a special place in the hearts of the client. For some they have envisaged the look and for some they leave it on us to give them an over-the-top surreal set up for their once in a lifetime affair.

May thousand ideas bloom!

The path of entrepreneurship is an interesting trail. It gives you a direction in life, a sense of achievement and adventure, while endowing with the satisfaction of independence. The situation is changing everyday as more and more women are joining the business world. Young girls are coming up with unique business ideas and it is inspiring to see the great passion and professionalism they exhibit.

Do you have any new idea or novel concept around partying or event management space? Please put in your comments.