Deepika Jindal had started her pet project, Arttd’inox, offering luxurious home décor products made from steel, as a place to satisfy her creative instincts, and being married to the vice-chairman and managing director of Jindal Steel Limited, Ratan Jindal, steel was her obvious choice for the entrepreneurial venture. Here she talks about her passion, to our writer, Nancy Katyal.

Please tell us about your journey, as to how you started Arttd’inox?

The concept of Arttd’inox started 10 years ago. My husband is in stainless steel business, so the raw material was available to me. I saw that there was a big gap with what people were really designing and making out of stainless steel. It was used mostly for storage or cooking purposes but not for serving purpose in the kitchen.

We really felt that somebody needs to take this forward and try and invest in designs and create an awareness as to how stainless steel can become part of your life and that’s how the thought came and  Arttd’inox started.

We started more as a design company initially, trying as to how we can design better products out of stainless steel, taking the core benefits of the product as the material, as it’s easy to maintain and is hygienic too. So the whole concept started as a design company.

What were some of the challenges that you faced while setting up Arttd’inox and how did you overcame those challenges?

There were lot of challenges, as I started business quite late in my life; I was in my late 30’s. I was not really involved in any business or any business dealings. But I had the passion and definitely had the creative instinct which I think every woman has in her.

So living in a home environment, I had the sense of what market requirement was and what people need and like, so I started with just that information, as there were not really many trained designers in our country who knew how to use stainless steel, and who designed stainless steel, as it is a very engineered product and molding stainless steel required special dyes.

In terms of the production and manufacture, we could create the quality, but there was a big struggle to get the right material and even to understand the retail market, because even if we were dealing with the specific material, the competition was immense. So we needed to get our placing right in the retail also.

I was learning, understanding the material and the retail market. So trying to create a better product was a big challenge.

You are also heading other business ventures like JSL Architecture Limited , Brand ‘U’, Art gallery ‘The Stainless’, Jindal Stainless Foundation, etc , please tell us how do you manage your time so beautifully in all the business ventures?

Yes, I do head several business ventures but I have created a good team. I share my vision with my team and they execute it. It’s about creating a platform, creating a team and discussing with them and seeing that it happens according to your vision.

I always keep myself aware of what is happening, but not doing everything literally or down to the core. I believe in decentralizing, I have very efficient people who manage the day to day working of the institutions. I am very accessible by phone, and on email, so the work is never delayed.

It does take time to create the right infrastructure and team you want but when you have like minded people, then at the end of the day it’s about working as a team.