An entrepreneur and pioneer of luxury watches
They say a girl’s dreams end with marriage but here is how it doesn’t, Shilpa Shilpa, founder of a luxury watch brand ‘House of Marigold’ didn’t have a career when she got married first. Later having two daughters at an early age caught her up with the family. But one thing held her all life, and that was the natural propensity towards watches.
A toddler with a great mind to underline the conventional shape of watches. Shilpa had this mad passion for watches since her childhood which took her from collecting watches with every penny she had to setting out benchmark with her luxury brand.
Being just a B.com graduate with a marriage and two kids seemed a little too much to pursue dreams. But the passion pushed her through and she launched her dreams all over again at the age of 38. At a time when luxury watches weren’t really a thing, Shilpa studied jewellery designing, diamond grading, and Gemology. Unavailability of adequate courses didn’t stop her from chasing dreams and she began learning watch mechanisms at a local watchmaker’s shop, thereafter starting her first brand Marigold watches.
If one had to point out the most important factor that has contributed towards establishing Shilpa Choksi’s brand, it must be her uncanny ability to look through the timepieces with all its frailties. She had a vision to see the wristwatch not just as a functional piece to reflect time but as a piece of art, jewellery, and as an heirloom. This later became the USP for her brand as she knew that creating limited edition watches with very unique and unconventional shapes is the right thing for her to do.
With the spectacular triumph of Marigold Watches Shilpa launched another two watch brands but with a distinctive idea this time. The brands were specially designed to cater people who maintain an excellent balance between their passion and their monetary poise. Jacaranda watches, and Aabhasa watches were invincible but affordable and sumptuously grand.
Without hogging any credit for being an admirable woman herself, she went to creating a collection of hand-crafted timepieces and later founded House of Marigold and named the proprietary firm under her name. The brand serves designer hand-crafted timepieces with innovative dials, taking care of intricate details in precious stones, VVS and FGH color diamonds, 18k gold & Swiss ETA movement. Taking the visionary of upscaling niche clientele in the markets.
Following passion is her only appetite for business, Shilpa said. “I remember when I was young, I could notice monotony in the watches, and always use to think that why such an essential accessory comes in routine shapes of round, oval, square and rectangle.” The idea to create something unique turned into a passion later in her life.
The multiple award winner and a woman entrepreneur Shilpa Shilpa is a believer in Lord Buddha. When asked about her success mantras in life she expressed, “Whatever we are today is the result of what we have thought, the mind is everything that what we think we become.” The entrepreneur added, despite your age, stage or gender, follow your dreams, believe in yourself, and don’t give up. If you work hard and have dreams in your eyes, no one can stop you.
Through her experiences and over her multiple stages of life she stated that becoming what Shilpa is today and starting over a career wasn’t really a piece of cake. Like every successful person, Shilpa too had to encounter obstacles. But she ascribes her passion, commitment, and persistence that kept her going beyond all stumbling blocks. Like any other field, the watch world was predominant by men, and as a female, it was gruelling to sustain, but even though the situation was challenging, she embraced her journey.
With so much happening in the world where businesses hit the waves amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Shilpa highlighted that they managed to sail through the tough times. She stated that it was evident that the luxury business has been the last priority for everyone. “But as Indians, we have one great inherited habit of savings and investments to many other commodities that made us survive.”
With the ambition and eruditeness like Shilpa Choksi, it wouldn’t be wrong to define her as a flawless blend of fervent, pioneering, and exemplar.
