Inks, Papers, Pens and More
So you all would have played this game in your childhood, Let me confess that I never heard about it and watched my children play, But got the first taste of this game last sunday for the first time. We used to play X & O or join the dots to make a square your own :)
Well here instead of Rock, paper and scissors..we have Inks, Papers, Pens and More. After sharing the experiences of an Fountain pen Lover (FPL), biker, photographer, Amar sarma in last session, this time I had the opportunity to Rope in the owner of Brand The Ayush Papers ...Ayush Surana.
He gracefully accepted my request to answer the questions, which I felt were playing in my mind.
Here we Go
What does the word Pen meant to you?
Initially I never cared about what pens I used.
I started writing a gratitude letter with every order I shipped. I had few pens that I wanted to sell but, one day I thought of opening one and using it for myself.
My first pen was Stabilio Easy buddy. I felt that whatever I wrote using a Fountain pen had more value
as compared to when I used ball pens. I was never a gel pen person.
Where did you get your inspiration from, for opening this venture for Fountain Pen(FP) friendly paper?
My inspiration was my father and mother who wanted me to be focused and start working at an early age and not waste time like other kids during their college time. They also motivated me to try and fail rather than be a passenger.
What does your family say about your passion?
I live in a joint family.
Not everyone understands my new love for these pens..
A few members in my family, however write everyday so I started handing them these pens for them to try and use on a daily basis... I keep tempting them with the new range of pen images and videos that are shared on social media. I guess my family knows what to gift me for my next birthday 😊
I believe you must have wide array of fountain pens in your caskets. Can you share their pics and details, how you feel about each one of them?
Don't really have a wide range of pens but I wish to buy a pen every 4 months. For now my budget is 4k max for any pen.
What drives you towards Indian fountain pen?
I get fascinated by the facts that they are handcrafted and a craftsman has put in so much of time and effort to create a master piece that is most likely a unique one...
What measures you feel are essential on part of manufacturers and FP dealer/ retailers in India to make it a part of daily routine, writing with an FP?
I feel in order to expand this products usage and reach out to new users trying to convert them into using something that's is eco-friendly and therapeutic at the same time. Brands should have some experience center or samples given to various good shops so it's easy for sales person to promote the product. We plan to start such activity in our city. We have taken up work for click pens and plan to have an executive sit at a store explain people about the product let them use it. Even though the conversion rate will be low it's about giving them a new experience.
What was your childhood dream.. writing with FP, having a good paper or some dream ink?
Um I first used a hero pen that was recommended by my handwriting teacher. When I was in my 3/4th grade. I stopped using them because they used to leak.
When did this bug hit you.. to get into the Quality papers for fp and sketching ?
I've always been into creating interesting products for artists and painters it's been a fun journey...
When I opened my first pen the stabilio I felt there is a need and market for good paper in India. So many inks don't work well on regular paper.. my friend Swaroop from Banglore helped and pushed me a lot to create these books, helped me by suggesting how to go about its design, papers thickness and other aspects.
So now coming to Your brand Ayush Papers. Tell us about it. How did it start?
Ayush paper started in 2013-2014 when I was in my 1st year of graduation. We started with an investment of 12,000/- Our first product was fancy envelopes. Then we purchased some handmade papers and started selling them to local shopkeepers. In 2017 we came up with our first sketchbook a 7*7 inch square book that has been our best seller till date.
Now we have ventured into a very unique concept of designing a letter-pad like Inland Letter, if you remeber those pale Blue foldable letters with self adhesive, (closed using our saliva 😜) to give a feeling of bygone era when Snail mail was everything and one used to wait for Dak Babu to deliver a letter. And you don't have to look for a separate envelope to send ..just write address after folding it.
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| Inland Letter Pad |
What is your USP? What do you think is strong point of your brand?
Paper is a common comodity and there are many brands out there..I feel our USP is connecting to users on one to one level, fast service, trying to innovate new products, having artists involved in our products. For example we organise a cover painting contest so the artist has to use our paper paint as per the theme given to them and selected one will be printed as our book cover. We make sure the artist's name is written on the book cover.
Apart from this I am a user of my products which makes me think more creatively as to how more value could be added to these products...
Do you make it inhouse or you have a manufacturer working on your directions to mqke papers as per specific requirements?
As off now we don't make them in house our papers are made as per our requirement. We hope to attain good volumes that we can manufacture them in-house some day soon.
What are different types of papers? How does one differentiate between different types of papers
Papers that we have are
140 gsm sketching paper
200 gsm sketching paper
250 gsm mix media paper
270 gsm watercolor paper 100% cotton
260 gsm acrylic paper
100 gsm Fountain pen friendly books
140 gsm Fountain pen sketchbook
And some handmade papers
Differentiate between papers would be through its usage primarily. If you are an artist and a beginner 140 gsm book is sufficient for your usage you don't need a 200 gsm book to start with.
We are also launching some new products in Pen Mahotsava at Kolkota
What is GSM? What does it signify? We often say this is 75 gsm paper or 100 gsm paper etc?
Gsm stands for grams per square meter. It's the weight of paper.
It's how much pulp is there in per sq meter of paper. So to calculate paper gsm cut paper in 4*4 inches fold it and put it on weighing scale. If your weighing scale shows a weight of 0.90 your paper thicknese
s is 90 GSM. Similarly 1.4 grams your paper thickness is 140 GS
Apart from the gsm of paper, correct composition of raw material is important plus it's application. So you don't always buy paper based on its gsm but choose a paper based on its application.
What are your recent ventures that you forayed into, inorder to provide quality experiences and combos for FP enthusiast in India?
Well as you know , We have recently addressed the problem faced by all FP lover who love to collect these beauties...a proper storage box. So we had this multi tray, a storage box made out of teak wood that can sit pretty on your writing desk as well as on the side table, looking elegant. It has a side rack for your scribble pads and notebooks too.
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| Teak wood Pen storage |
A litle bit about Ayush as I have come to know in past couple of years.....
He is a young enthusiast, barely out of teens , fool of charm and boyish looks, innocence written all over his face. Very mature for his age and pleasant to interact with, Ayush has indeed got all the signs of a successful entrepreneur and a good person
Wishing him all the best for his future endeavours
