KOHIMA — The love of beads and colours inspired this 26-year-old upcoming fashion designer to venture into the beaded bags business.
It began two years ago when Rhüsü Grace Rume, then a student of Bachelor of Business Administration in Fashion Designing at Global Open University in Dimapur, weaved her first beaded bag.
After completing BBA, she did internships in Kolkata and Delhi before looking for a job in the national capital; but unable to find one, she returned home.
Encouraged by her father, her beaded bag business under the brand “Rhii Rume” took flight two months ago, all “for the love of beads and colours.”
“I love beads. When it comes to garments, I also work a lot with beads, which is my specialty and I am good at it,” said Rume, a resident of Kohima.
In an interaction with Eastern Mirror, Rume shared her enthusiasm for working with beads using various colour combinations, be it on garments or bags.
Backbreaking labour
Two months into the business, she admitted that the venture has not been a piece of cake.
“Though we may be super talented and have the motivation to do it, if we don't spend a lot of resources, it's very hard for the designers to build up our businesses,” she said.
The young entrepreneur also disclosed that it takes a lot of time to make beaded bags. To make a beaded bag of smaller size, it takes her at least two days. "By two days, it’s not like working for one or two hours a day. I have to work for at least eight to nine hours a day. Maybe I am also slow but even if I do my best, it takes two to three days,” she said.
Getting cuts and bruises on the hands while making them is another pain she has to put up with.
She is also faced with a pricing dilemma as beads are expensive: if it’s too high a price it would dissuade prospective customers, if it’s cheap, she would incur loss.
The maximum price of her bags is INR 3500 apiece, out of which she gets a profit margin of INR 1000 as making charge.
As for the beads, she sources them from Delhi as they are cheaper, of better quality and “multiple options are available,” she said.
Rume shared that while the technique of beaded bag making is easy, but taking a decision to create one takes time and that she spend a lot of time thinking about what types of bags and shapes would look good on people.
Realising and working on what one is best at
Sharing her first experience of making bags, she said that she was working on a bag when her friend expressed interest in buying it even before completion.
Despite reminding that the bag was not for sale but “a learning process,” her friend insisted on buying it. She later sold it for INR 500, which was not even the price of the beads. But she was happy because someone liked it.
Upon realising that her strength lies in beadwork, embroidery and detailing, Rume finally decided to work at what she is best at.
Initially during the learning process, she watched videos on YouTube but that didn’t help. “As a fashion designer, we are not used to watching videos and learning as we usually learn from patterns and from detailing. It took almost one week to make the first beaded bag after making a lot of mistakes,” she confided.
She also admitted that customising a bag is difficult for her and she usually doesn’t prefer doing one.
“If the customer's vision and mine vibe, then I'll take it. But if it's not like that, then I don't prefer customising because it's expensive and I don't want to just sell it like that. I want that customer to be happy,” she maintained.
Eyeing new clothing line
She envisions starting a new clothing line inspired by ‘modern vintage’- a fusion of classic colours in a contemporary style, to complement her beaded bags.
She also did a fashion show collection themed ‘Allure Catholic’ (clothing) for her graduation last year.
Observing the recent trend in gothic fashion and fascination with ‘Satanism’ as a fashion statement, she pondered why fashion can’t be inspired by something holy.
Her 'Allure Catholic' is an inspiration from the Catholic faith, which is "innocent and beautiful". She explained her clothing line was inspired by the church, Mother Mary's veil and how priests and nuns wear their dresses in a “fashionable way.”
The response to her collection was “positive” and thereon she started receiving invitations to participate in various shows including the Nagaland Fashion Week.