Gifts speak

Three years back, Nidhi Agrawal, 24, was at a loss as to what to gift her young nephew. A fashion designer, she decided to go in for something personal. She gifted a wrist watch with a picture of her nephew on the dial. Her nephew loved it immensely.

Simple, useful, memorable and unique — Agrawal’s personalised gifts are all about these. Agrawal, who also loves painting, started making personalised gifts seven years back. “I do not like buying gifts and in college I had a limitation as far as pocket money was concerned,” she says.

Starting out with a watch, cushion and blanket, she has moved on to mouse pads, baby books, towels, visiting cards and candles. Recently, she added jigsaw puzzles to her list.

The idea of a puzzle came to her while thinking about a gift for her fiancé. “Since we like playing games, I made a jigsaw puzzle using our picture (front) and small notes (back). He had to match the words to complete the puzzle,” says this bride-to-be, busy preparing her wedding cards, which will double up as photo frames.

Agrawal believes that “gifts should be given so that they suit the person’s personality.” So, give her a picture and she will turn it into — an apron for a person who loves cooking, a calendar with important dates marked out, a family video, a Hello magazine cover for an aspiring model or a book of achievements for a loving husband celebrating his 50th birthday. 

Agrawal gives a satisfaction guarantee on shape, size and quality. She designs on the computer and continues making changes till the person approves it. She gets most of her clients by word of mouth. Krishnapriya Dhoot, a public relations officer wanted a unique gift for a close friend.

Agrawal made her a clock with the hands fixed at a particular time to depict ‘we had such a lovely time that these moments are frozen in memory.’ Adds Dhoot, “The centre had a picture of me and my friend and in place of the numbers, there were snapshots of our friends. My friend was surprised and loved the gift.”

Family and friends inspire Agrawal to come up with different ideas. Her college friend, Kunjan Budhiraja received a lamp containing pictures of their friends on a night out. “It’s better than receiving an expensive gift bought from a store. Personalised gifts have more meaning,” adds Budhiraja. Taking her cue, Agrawal’s friends gift her only personalised gifts. It takes 10 days for a gift to be made and home delivered. The price ranges between Rs1,000 to Rs5,000.

Contact: Nidhi Agrawal 98206 44124 or anidhi1@gmail.com