“Crocheting is more than just making
something; it’s a passion and a healing process.”
(Anonymous)
August 22nd, 2011 the date when an
idea came and passion was finally brought to life, the day when one of the most
successful online shops ‘The Whatnots Shop’ was founded. Recently I had the honor to have a bit of
chat with the owner, Atiya Zubair. I was completely surprised to know that
nothing was planned unlike any other business. 'It all started on a completely
normal day. One night I started looking up for different and unique things. While doing my normal Google search for handmade things I came across a site that caught my attention quickly. The reason behind that was this site had different crochet items like bookmarks, tissue covers, coasters, baby sweater and many more...'
However the vision of having and creating something was always there from the
start. “I would say it is
‘The Journey to My Dream’ I always wanted to start something of my own…I didn’t
even know when the right time was or how to do it…”
With just a glimpse of
this website an idea structured in her mind creating a trend- A trend of
bringing up crochet and creating
trinkets, mobile covers and bookmarks and now after approximately an year,
customers have been ordering their own designed products. Her biggest advantage
was her mother who knew the art well, 'For as long as I can remember she had yarn and needles in her hands she made mainly baby blankets and place mats, but was talented enough to make anything.'
Within a few hours the first order came up and since then there Facebook inbox
is loaded with orders. The shop that started
with only 300 customers has now reached a milestone of 2000 in just 8 months.
The response was not only from the capital – Riyadh but across the Kingdom so
they decided to extend the branches by shipping. The dealing spread and now
they have been shipping to UAE and Pakistan. One of the major help, as I reckon
it at least, is the Social Networking sites. Facebook, Twitter and Blogger are
the sites where Whatnots is trying to get attention of most of her fans. 'We manage our online shop through our Facebook page. All pictures of the items are categorized in different albums so that if any person is finding some particular thing then he/she can can look up for that specific album and get all the related stuff in that single album. And the good thing is that now we can also deliver the orders across Riyadh too for those who are unable to pick their orders but they also have to bear some delivery charges.'
Luck and Passion were needed to change this dream into reality. We hope that
‘The Whatnots Shop’ gets a larger response this year and the future, and gets
shipping across the globe. For all the readers out there make sure that you
Like and Follow them on Facebook and Twitter, Check out their work and get your orders finalized.
Links:
The year was
2010, when the brand was founded by a few team members who had no knowledge
about the crafts of the fashion industry. This was just a work of passion and
obsession which blended with the traditions and culture of the Mughal Era and
resulted in something fresh and innovative.
