Niki Shamdasani of Sani, 2018 NC IDEA MICRO Grant Recipient, shares how settling for subpar designs and a subpar shopping experience led to the creation of Sani. Â
If you have ever been to a South Asian wedding celebration, you’ve surely noticed the colorful saris, lehengas and other traditional outfits that are accessorized with beautiful, glittering jewelry. In 2017, my sisters and I were shopping for one of those weddings. We noticed, as we had on previous shopping trips, there were not many designs that we liked, and the shopping experience was time consuming and expensive. When shopping in the US, we often had to travel to South Asian hubs like New York and Atlanta, but still didn’t find styles that were multifunctional, up to date with trends and in our first-generation South Asian American aesthetic. We even tried shopping via video call with our family in India, but it just didn’t work.  >> READ MORE
Published: June 2020
