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Workaholic Tuesdays: Farah Khan's Secrets to Success

9 things you can learn from Farah Khan

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Don't believe anyone who tells you it is impossible — “People just love to say, 'oh it's not possible. '. My favourite question is, have you tried it before? How would you know if you haven’t tried? Don’t tell me it's not possible; it's either you haven't tried it before or you're too lazy to attempt it. Go all out and try it. You may make a mistake and not get what you want. But if you don't try, how will you ever know? You just may end up making the best discovery of your life.”

Aim for perfection — “I'm a perfectionist. I can drive myself insane. I can drive anyone insane. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it exceedingly well or I'm not going to do it at all,” insists the jeweller, who does not hesitate to melt jewellery that doesn't quite turn out the way she envisioned it.

Don't depend on anyone — After a litigation involving her company ended in a settlement two years ago, Farah who was previously not too involved in the business side of things, “turned from a designer into a business woman. That experience helped me become an all-encompassing person. Designers are just creative. You have to move from the creative space to the retail space, because that is what makes a brand,” reveals the designer who now wishes she had paid a little more attention in Math class.

Experiment – Would you believe that the 150 carats of emeralds Lisa Ray wore in each of her ears as Farah Khan’s show-stopper on the first day of the Indian International Jewelery Week went into production four days ago before the show?
“Now that I have my own design house, I just have to dream it to make it,” says Farah whose designs are no longer restricted by “manufacturers who don't really see design the way you do”. Yet, “There are many times even people in my own organisation will say, 'No this can't happen'. So I say, 'How do you know, have you tried it? Because it's my own organisation, we actually end up trying. That's how you learn—through trial and error. Most Indians are not very experimental in nature.They feel that the customer only wants this look. Or this is the only way it can be done. I think that is where people go wrong. You have to explore. If you don't travel the road that has not been travelled before, how are you going to discover a new place? I’m curious, and curiosity is not killing this cat; it's making the cat more creative,” says Farah, who was extremely passionate about dancing and photography before she settled down to jewellery design.

Discipline is a high — Farah’s sense of discipline, which stems from hours of daily practice as a dancer with Shaimak Davar's troupe, transcends into her life and work. “For me, being fit is a high. Being disciplined about my body and myself is a high. It's not about having the best body in the world; it's about feeling strong from within. I don’t have the best body in the world, but I feel strong for my age (44). I think it is important to go through life without any 'oohs' and 'aahs' and aches and pains".

Look Around — “People like short cuts. For me the longer the journey the more interesting it is. It's important to take in your surroundings because you are a part of that picture. You can’t go through life not looking at the world around you, because you’re going to miss ‘something’ in a blink, and that ‘something’s could have changed you".

Focus on Beauty — “Beauty is imperfection. If you're perfect, you're too plastic. You have to have a personality that speaks through your eyes and your soul. I don't find anyone ugly unless they're a bad person.I find all people around me beautiful. I look for something beautiful in them—their eyes, their hair, their voice. I like finding beautiful things in people. I focus to find the beauty. I don't look for what's not there.”

Live your story – “I don't love to design. I live to design,” says Farah, echoing the line on her artfully crafted promotional video. “I'm highly eccentric as a person and that comes with the creativity. I think I suffer from ADD (attention deficit disorder); I think most creative people have it. I'm hyper. I can't sit in one place. For me relaxing is designing,” says the designer who uses jewelry to tell stories and believes that her jewelry reflects her life.

“I got Lisa Ray to be my showstopper, because I needed a woman who had a tale to tell. For me a women with lines has more definition than a plastic beauty. Lisa has been through her struggles and still smiles. We all have struggles; it's how you fight back and how you go through life that matters. I believe that the more stories you have to tell, the more interesting you are. Experience not only makes you wiser, it makes you more interesting”.

Don't Quit — “I like challenges. If I start something, I ensure that I see it through to the end,” says the designer who's been on this road for 21 years. Her biggest challenge is, “getting customers and well as manufacturers to make what you're saying. In India, people would rather take a design, modify it and call it their own. They don't want to experiment and come up with something brilliant. Ideas are generally borrowed, not original.” But, given her determination, maybe she’ll change that status quo.

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