When Shazia Merchant and Yoshita Sengupta were reminiscing about the stores that sell stationery with stunning designs, in South Africa, they thought of building a brand that does the same here. "The easy way out was to curate, but it bothered me to think we'd be sourcing without a name and face. So we chose the difficult route of creating the products, based on our ethics: no leather or plastic," says Sengupta.

That's when the perils of India's manufacturing sector were revealed to the young entrepreneurs. Finding craftsmen who understood the ethos, would produce in small volumes and not overcharge was a challenge. Sourcing material that looks, behaves and ages like leather was the other. After months of scouting, when they found something their vendor—who deals with leather every day—couldn't tell apart from hide, "we knew we were home," she says.