Astha Khare
Revamping the Architectural and Interior Designing arena with a robust mindset
“A woman who works in purpose doesn’t have to chase people or opportunities. Her light causes people and opportunities to pursue her.”
Here again, the team of Innovative Zone welcomes our global readership with the tale of a rousing and ambitious entrepreneur – Astha Khare. The editorial panel of our team had an interacting session with the leading figure, and she shared some unknown facts of her entrepreneurial journey with us that made us feature her inspiring tale in our exclusive edition. We truly hope and desire that this specific read will act as value addition in the lives of our readers and will influence the budding female entrepreneurs as well.
Astha – an enthusiast and the super-influencing person is the Co-Founder of The Design Charrette, which is a well-established venture revamping the arena of architecture and interior designing. While having a conversation with our team, Astha shared that she had been aspiring for making her career in the field of architecture since high school.
Although her parents and other members of the family wanted her to be an engineer and a wide range of people also suggested her to not aim for architecture – as it is considered a ‘strugglemore & earn less’ profession. But, her passion for designing, creating, and transforming gave support to her dream and guided her on the pathway of success.
With her determination and robust willpower, she convinced her family and stepped forward to complete her graduation from MANIT, Bhopal in the year 2014. She revealed that she had a keen interest in heritage, and hence, she decided to pursue her master’s in Architectural Conservation from the School of Planning and Architecture in Bhopal itself.
She further added, “After my graduation, I joined the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai for a year in 2017. After gaining a significant amount of experience in the realm, I decided to incept my venture by collaborating with three of my friends in Indore city.”
In the year 2018, Astha got shifted to Mumbai after her marriage and in the same year, she joined Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Architecture to fulfill the responsibilities of an Assistant Professor and was pursuing her practice simultaneously. In a time-lapse of two years, she realized that she is more passionate and zealous towards practicing Architecture full-time so, she resigned from the post. Since 2020, when the COVID-19 hit the world, she dedicatedly continued practicing her designing skills throughout the world.
To explain her not-so-ordinary journey, she further asserted, “Starting a firm with all-female Co-founders was not an easy task for us. It took us some time to first convince our own families. Owing to the service class background, it was difficult for them to wrap their heads around the idea of starting a business from scratch. Our determination and perseverance got them on board.
But the struggle did not end there. During the initial days of the business, there was a lot of apprehension in clients about entrusting largescale projects to a young female team. They were assuming that we would somehow lack the desired experience and effort. Even the contractors used to be gender-biased. With our persistence, skills, and the right knowledge, we have been able to convince everyone to have faith in us and our abilities.”
THE DESIGN CHARRETTE: ONE-STOP FOR INTERIOR DESIGNING SERVICES
TDC is an Architectural firm that takes up projects under the umbrella of Architecture and Interior design with a wide range of services, including workplace design, clinic design, landscaping, heritage conservation, and set design. The team at TDC strives to design spaces with a timeless experience and provides design consultancy, project management consultancy, and design-build services as well.
Astha explained, “In the construction industry, we often see that there is a contrast between the design and the final product. Our idea was to bridge this gap with an experienced team with profound knowledge of the design process, site execution works, and intricate design details that are required for a satisfactory final product.
So, we found our firm on 3rd June 2017, but the idea had been there much before that. The four of us (Founders) are from Bhopal and Indore so initially, we started in and around these cities only. Over time, we have developed a wider variety of clientele and are expanding to more cities across India as well, including Mumbai, Jodhpur, Lucknow, Rewa, Bangalore to name a few.”
THE CLIENTELE BASE
The firm is dedicatedly working for a variety of clients since its inception. It completed its breakthrough project of designing a workplace of 12,000 sq. in a record time of 70 days. They bagged this project and completed that before they even completed their first year of inception as TDC. The team has structured a prestigious clientele base by working with various giant players of the business arena such as Mindruby Technologies, Bridgestone India Pvt. Ltd., Imagery Pictures Pvt. Ltd. etc
Throwing some lights on the vast service panel of the firm, Astha stated, “Apart from residential and workplace designing, we have also designed wedding resorts, clinics, industrial settings, farmhouses, and many more. At present, we are relentlessly working on various challenging projects such as designing a set of an old palace for well-known names of the film industry. We are well aware of the fact that each project comes with its hurdles and obstacles.
Therefore, each project has been a milestone for us in itself and has acted as a stepping-stone for us. Moreover, we keep learning new technologies and do a lot of market research and survey with each project. This helps us a lot to evolve with the changing trends, and also gives us creative freedom while designing. We have a perception that social media is a very strong platform where you can always know what’s in trend. Being socially active is an essential way to grow.”
PERCEPTION ON WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Our editorial panel asked Astha to throw some light on her perception of female entrepreneurship, and she replied, “I personally believe that working women have more responsibilities. Creating a work-life balance gets very tedious. Especially the pandemic made it even more difficult for a lot of women around the world.
But, families nowadays, are trying to be more supportive. Partners have started sharing responsibilities and colleagues have started appreciating and respecting women more. But, of course, this transformation will take a few more years to spread its roots across the country.”
Astha has a robust perception that women are undoubtedly more hardworking and sincere. She truly believes that when a woman entirely focuses on her strengths and instincts, she creates amazing and unbelievable things. History itself has proven that women are great entrepreneurs and indeed will remain to be.
Before signing off, Astha shared some exemplary words of wisdom with all the upcoming entrepreneurs by saying, “Respect the past, analyze the present, consider the future, and design wisely! Because your creations direct people’s lives. And remember to believe in yourself, equip yourself with the right knowledge & skills, and build creative wonders.”
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