Shwetambara Sharma
Founder
In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights, Shwetambara shared her prior education and experience, which led to the inception of Shashvat, where they together create for your prosperity and much more:
"If you are consistently doing good work and enjoying the process, then there is no looking back! That’s what I call 'living Life King Size"
Shed some light on your professional back-ground and experiences. What inspired you to venture into the interior design industry?
I completed my schooling at the prestigious Lady Irwin School and then I did my Bachelor of Architecture from Sushant School of Art and Architecture, with the sole intent of practicing wholistic Architecture in the future-making Context relevant buildings. However destiny had better designs and I got married in my final year of college. For the next five years, I took a sabbatical from work as my husband had a transferable job and I was blessed with two lovely kids. When kids started their schooling, I started working in 2006 and joined a retail and commercial interiors specialized organization and worked there for eight impactful years.
Working on different interiors projects helped me in honing my expertise in handling the pressure of retail as well as doing beautiful space design without wasting client’s resources. So that’s how I developed as an architectural interior visualizer and now have an experience of more than 19 years. Designing Spaces is my passion and making 100 percent use of commercial space which generates more money and Prosperity for my clients is the driving force behind each deliverance. With Each Project
we become a better team and look forward to fresher challenges actually oppurtunities.
Define Shashvat Designs as an organization and its position in the industry? What are the company’s greatest strengths and unique propositions that it offers to its clients?
We are a midsized firm of passionately driven architects and designers. There are four segments to our portfolio at Shashvat. The first one is Adaptation and Detail Engineering for retail stores PAN India. The second segment is for Corporate offices interior design both in Government and Private Sector. Coming to the third segment, we also do Residential interior design for Apartments in Gurgaon. If the project so demands, we also take up Project Management and Architectural Consultancy(Vaastu compliant) for our clients.
What are some of the major challenges you have faced in your journey so far? How did you over come them and what did you learn from them?
After my initial break of five years, I joined an organization and worked there for eight years, which had its share of challenges such as fully computer based mode of working. But on a whole, I loved the mountain climb. While the uphill climb was going pretty smooth on work front, kids were growing too. I bid farewell to the wonderful organization and full time working to make space and time flexibility for kids. Amidst this decision making, an individual project came up as if Godsend. To my surprise, Even the project location was next door to my residence. This Global head office of an MNC was appreciated globally and there has been no looking back ever since.
Now The next major challenge was to get more projects consistently. For that, I joined a very good place for networking named BNI (Business Networking Individuals), which gave me more break throughs. And we kept on getting more work. Even I felt stagnated after a point of time and for that, I took the help of this very beautiful program by Goldman Sachs named '10,000 Women' which has helped me look at my business another way. Seeing myself and accepting myself as an entrepreneur was and today also a major challenge.
Entrepreneurship is the process of discovering new ways of combining resources and I love that as an entrepreneur. Me and my team are in constant motivated zone of solution finding.
Define Shashvat Designs as an organization and its position in the industry? What are the company’s greatest strengths and unique propositions that it offers to its clients?
We are a midsized firm of passionately driven architects and designers. There are four segments to our portfolio at Shashvat. The first one is Adaptation and Detail Engineering for retail stores PAN India. The second segment is for Corporate offices interior design both in Government and Private Sector. Coming to the third segment, we also do Residential interior design for Apartments in Gurgaon. If the project so demands, we also take up Project Management and Architectural Consultancy(Vaastu compliant) for our clients.
All the spaces we create are focussed towards clients Prosperity, whether it is commercial, retail, Corporate or residential. Thus 'SHASHVAT eternal
What are some of the major challenges you have faced in your journey so far? How did you over come them and what did you learn from them?
After my initial break of five years, I joined an organization and worked there for eight years, which had its share of challenges such as fully computer based mode of working. But on a whole, I loved the mountain climb. While the uphill climb was going pretty smooth on work front, kids were growing too. I bid farewell to the wonderful organization and full time working to make space and time flexibility for kids. Amidst this decision making, an individual project came up as if Godsend. To my surprise, Even the project location was next door to my residence. This Global head office of an MNC was appreciated globally and there has been no looking back ever since.
Now The next major challenge was to get more projects consistently. For that, I joined a very good place for networking named BNI (Business Networking Individuals), which gave me more break throughs. And we kept on getting more work. Even I felt stagnated after a point of time and for that, I took the help of this very beautiful program by Goldman Sachs named '10,000 Women' which has helped me look at my business another way. Seeing myself and accepting myself as an entrepreneur was and today also a major challenge.
Entrepreneurship is the process of discovering new ways of combining resources and I love that as an entrepreneur. Me and my team are in constant motivated zone of solution finding.
What has been the success mantra that constantly helps you arrive at positive outcomes?
The success mantra lies in the fact that I love what I do. Having successfully handed over more than 200 projects, realization of our esteemed client’s dreams come from our continued motivated positive outlook to solution finding. For me, meeting enthusiastic clients, having a highly motivated team, and having inspiring friends around you is what is called success. A very positive environment around makes me do the work with finesse and dedication. We are a grounded team not so active in social media so far. Work is in progress and our newgen team will take over for reaching out to the social networks.
I love interacting with people as well as my experiences, while respecting the privacy of our client’s. For me, it’s more about positive word of mouth, confidence of our client’s that grows on us. I've been very fortunate with a very hard working team. They don't hesitate to come up to me with suggestions and ideas. In all the projects that we do, it’s the whole team putting in the combined effort which is a really beautiful thing.
What are some of the major milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction both as an individual and as an entrepreneur? Based on your strong professional experience, what advice would you give to the upcoming entrepreneurs in the same industry?
The most memorable milestone as well as a huge stepping stone for me is when we grew to be a team. Getting appreciated for our quality deliverance and innovation globally is the constant turning point for me as well as my entire team.
The advice I would like to give to budding entrepreneurs is to go ahead, practice and enjoy every moment. If you are consistently doing good work and enjoying the process, then there is no looking back. Nowadays, the majority of the architectures are looking for a good package. My advice for them is not to care about a good salary and it will eventually come to you. We should be running behind excellence and everything else will follow the suit.
Shwetambara Sharma, Founder, Shashvat Designs
In a career spanning over 19 years, Shwetambara found her interior design firm Shashvat Designs in 2015 and has been delivering some globally appreciated design works since then. A happy going person, Shwetambara loves to face challenges and find solution for the same.
Hobbies:Listening to Carnatic Music, creating art
Favorite Book:Books of John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer
Favorite Travel Destination:
Mountains and trekking places
The success mantra lies in the fact that I love what I do. Having successfully handed over more than 200 projects, realization of our esteemed client’s dreams come from our continued motivated positive outlook to solution finding. For me, meeting enthusiastic clients, having a highly motivated team, and having inspiring friends around you is what is called success. A very positive environment around makes me do the work with finesse and dedication. We are a grounded team not so active in social media so far. Work is in progress and our newgen team will take over for reaching out to the social networks.
I love interacting with people as well as my experiences, while respecting the privacy of our client’s. For me, it’s more about positive word of mouth, confidence of our client’s that grows on us. I've been very fortunate with a very hard working team. They don't hesitate to come up to me with suggestions and ideas. In all the projects that we do, it’s the whole team putting in the combined effort which is a really beautiful thing.
What are some of the major milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction both as an individual and as an entrepreneur? Based on your strong professional experience, what advice would you give to the upcoming entrepreneurs in the same industry?
The most memorable milestone as well as a huge stepping stone for me is when we grew to be a team. Getting appreciated for our quality deliverance and innovation globally is the constant turning point for me as well as my entire team.
The advice I would like to give to budding entrepreneurs is to go ahead, practice and enjoy every moment. If you are consistently doing good work and enjoying the process, then there is no looking back. Nowadays, the majority of the architectures are looking for a good package. My advice for them is not to care about a good salary and it will eventually come to you. We should be running behind excellence and everything else will follow the suit.
Shwetambara Sharma, Founder, Shashvat Designs
In a career spanning over 19 years, Shwetambara found her interior design firm Shashvat Designs in 2015 and has been delivering some globally appreciated design works since then. A happy going person, Shwetambara loves to face challenges and find solution for the same.
Hobbies:Listening to Carnatic Music, creating art
Favorite Book:Books of John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer
Favorite Travel Destination:
Mountains and trekking places