Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Chumbak

It is common knowledge now about how I love featuring entrepreneurs on SHP. Today, I bring to you two such awesome women- Alicia Souza and Shubhra Chadda and of course, lurking in the background- the anonymous benefactor Darth Vader.


Chumbak started four years ago (and died to be re-ignited earlier this year) as an idea in Shubhra's mind to create India inspired fridge magnets. And then she met illustrator extraordinare, Alicia Souza and...... do you think I'm going to use the clichéd "The rest is history!"? Think again! Well, Shubhra and Alicia went their separate ways, rather separate countries- Alicia moved to Australia. They re-connected a few years later and finally Chumbaki was born.

I'm going to start the peek into Chumbak's fun products with Alicia and Shubhra's first love: Chumbak fridge magnets. And unlike most other 'India inspired' products, Chumbak's stuff is priced very reasonably.

Fridge magnets too banal for you? How about a tin of Indian flavoured chocolates then? Supari, Coconut, Garam Masala and Ginger! I would buy those just for that colourful fun tin!

Here is a peek into some of Chumbak's loot. Look at how far A & S have come from fridge magnets! So, the loot includes- Boxer Shorts, Posters, Keychains, Tees, Bookmarks, Luggage tags, Notebooks, Postcards, Charms, Coasters, Mousepads, Mugs, Piggy Banks, Playing cards and even Hadmade soap! Phew!

My first glance at Chumbak's webstore and 'Travel pens' caught my eye. Whazzat? City guides in a pen. These travel pens have banners inside them, giving you a quick "Lonely Planet Lite" information on each city- What to eat, where to go, what to buy.  Quite unique isn't it? Way to go girls!

Visit Chumbak's online store to buy their fun products. Or you can find them on Facebook here.

Suggested reading:

Story of Shubhra and Alicia's struggles as an entrepreneur on their blog: The joys and sorrows of a startup.

How it all began- I think this inspires aspiring entrepreneurs to keep trying at it, even if it is a 4 year journey like Chumbak's was.

Alicia's wonderful illustrations on her blog.

Sound Horn Please for these inspiring women!


18 comments:

Sudha said...

very inspiring and a very daring attempt at something never done before :)

A said...

Interesting...love the sweet tin and hilarious magnets....'i had a MEAN CURRY in india' lol!

Unknown said...

awesome post! loved reading their learnings & going through their range

Bhargavi said...

bought some chumbak bookmarks from Crosswords .. really cool stuff they have.

Rekha said...

What a coincidence, I was just drooling over those magnets a while ago. Gr8 post as always.

Designwali said...

so cute!

GB said...

I.want.those.magnets.

NOW!


I have a thing for fridge magnets....must have the chai wallah and the autowallah!

Anonymous said...

I just bought some stuff from their online store today! Loved it all! Very fun and engaging website and very cool design too I must say!
Way to go, Chumbak!

Geeta said...

Inspiring story ...love the tin. I would definitely buy it for the tin.

Sans! said...

I have just spent 1/2 hr window shopping at Chumbak! I am going to go broke reading your blog ..lol!

Sound Horn Please said...

@ Geeta- I bought the tins too!
@Susan- Not sure if you noticed but Chumbak has free shipping on for December. Not sure if that applies to S'pore though...
@Gagan- Why am I not surprised- I knew you would pick those!

Sanghamitra Bhattacherjee(Mukherjee) said...

Very very inspiring post Divya ! Those Chaiwalla and Autowalla...OMG!!
Thanks for your sweet comment on my blog:)
Leaving for India on this weekend...!

A said...

@ND, do they do internationall shipping to any country? i was thinking of getting my stuff delivered to india.

Sound Horn Please said...

@ A- Yes, I think they do ship internationally. But not sure about the free shipping offer...

Anonymous said...

oh they've got super cute stuff. I'm off to check their online store..

Pallavi Arunika said...

Oh my God..everything is just adorable.
Do they ship to USA?

JM said...

Chumbak is now available at www.redpatang.com in the US.

Chandra Mehendrou said...

Loved the auto chumbak :) cute