House of Things (THOT) is a digital-first platform that claims to sell
best-in-class, luxury home decor products, and furniture, starting at Rs 500.
was starting to take off in India, but design and furniture had yet to find a
home on the internet. Astha chose to launch The House of Things, an online
platform that offers luxury products in the home decor and furniture market,
from her home in Udaipur, one of India’s most culturally vibrant cities. Astha
claims to have a head start in introducing specialised luxury and designer
items to a larger audience of Indian design enthusiasts.
Standing
out in design and furniture market
Astha founded The House of Things by gathering objects
from avant-garde designers that were class-oriented or period-specific.
The platform quickly expanded to include products at
various price points to appeal to a wider audience.
It spread from being a carefully curated site to
include best-in-class products in categories including furniture, home
accessories like candles, carpets, wallpaper, barware, and glassware, lighting,
sculpture, traditional art, and textiles, paintings, and mixed media art, and
so on.
More than 300 artists from India’s distant villages to
internationally recognised ones, like Aditya Ahuja, Ardmore Design, Ecru, Paul
Matter, Jay Strong water, Rooshad Shroff, Scarlet Splendour, and Michael Aram,
are featured in The House of Things. Subscribe to our special newsletters.
Check out our popular newsletters by subscribing.
While the artists set their own prices, The House of
Things discounts them so that they are available to the general public at the
same market price.
The most costly piece of furniture sold on the
platform was a piece by Duffy London for Rs 25 lakh, with costs for certain
accessories ranging from roughly Rs 500 to Rs 1,000.
The House of Things claims to have grown financially
year over year without having to cooperate with larger businesses thus far,
while being self-funded. Outside of India, the United States, Dubai, and Europe
are its most important markets.
Aside from its direct-to-consumer (D2C) approach, the
startup also runs business-to-business (B2B) operations, taking on consulting
projects for hotels such as the Taj Convention Centre in Goa and the Aurika in
Udaipur.
Astha claims that some of its competitors had to close
shop over time as the House of Things increased its goods to meet consumer
needs. According to Market Research, the company is now active in India’s online
home decor market, which is predicted to develop at a CAGR of 10.24 percent
between 2022 and 2026.
Changing consumer behaviour
Indian consumers have long been hesitant of purchasing online and even more so when it comes to luxury items. Since 2017, Astha noted a change in behaviour where ‘touch and feel’ did not feel as important to make a purchase. For the platform, COVID-19 has been a blessing in disguise that further accelerated online buying.
Initially, convincing designers to come onboard was a challenge. Astha says convincing The House of Things as a platform to sell high-end design was difficult but that changed over time.
At the end of the day, “In an increasingly globalised world where design and craftsmanship are valued, we wanted to disrupt the industry by supporting these businesses and connecting the creators to global consumers for contemporary design and luxury craftsmanship,” Astha says. The entrepreneur now hopes to foray into the retail market this year. Courtesy: www.yourstory.com
