The V Renaissance is a company that designs bespoke luxury and soulful products for their clientele starting from scratch, taking into account the client’s personality and requirements. It is one of the most intriguing ventures put forward by a very uncommon group of visionaries – a photographer, Vipul Amar, a graphic designer – Gireesh Nair, and a psychologist – Harsheen Arora. The brand started off by making photographic artwork on canvas. Vipul did a personalized photo-shoot while Harsheen brought out the inner self of the client through psychology. Eventually, the group has extended the same idea to other luxury products of leather merchandise, such as jackets, bags, luggage, lingerie, and furniture.
When asked how their leather products are different from the other brands existing in the market, Harsheen said, “We are absolutely true to the term ‘bespoke’. Being a professional psychologist, I can reach the depths of what our clients are actually looking for. We have one on one session with our clients to understand their personalities and their needs and we use this information to come up with a product built literally for their selves.”
The process of building a bespoke leather product for their clients is one that takes time – often several months. It begins with the aforementioned interview in the presence of a photographer and a psychologist, who end up determining the particulars of the bag that the client wants to have built. Then, the two move on to build the sketch for the product which is subsequently presented to the client. Once the sketch is approved, a mock is built out of the design by their craftsman, which, after alteration, serves as the groundwork for the final product. According to Harsheen, the design process involves eight distinct phases – the Inspiration for sketching, the definition of the product, the allocation of resources from around the world, the building of the product in the workshop, the prototype, use of the prototype to point out flaws, planning for the final product, and production of the final product.
The innovation of the company’s products isn’t limited to just conventional leather materials. It also involves the design of novel leather products such as leather bikinis. When asked what gave them the inspiration for leather bikinis, Harsheen responded by saying that leather doesn’t have to be restricted to the winter months, and that leather bikinis can be paired with all sorts of different clothing options.
Prior to the V Renaissance, the trio was involved in a brand called Stupid Eye. In this venture, Vipul and Harsheen worked together as to give their clients the best photo-shoots. Harsheen says that the word “stupid” comes from stupere, be amazed or stunned. She eclectically quotes Jung and says that ‘stupidity is the mother of the wise’. As part of the Stupid Eye process, participants were first asked about how they see themselves, and what they envision themselves to be. Based on this, an in-depth session with the photographer and the psychologist is held, which results in the basis for the design of a frame. This is followed by a photo shoot that involves therapeutic intervention to allow the participants to express their uninhibited self. A second group of participants are made use of to facilitate the photo shoot. Harsheen says that the final photograph allows for a sense of self-actualization in the mind of the participants.
According to Harsheen, the change from Stupid Eye to The V Renaissance is a natural progression, after Stupid Eye taught them that their clients express their inner selves in many varying and different ways. The V Renaissance allows the trio to delve deeper into human expression to come up with products that define people for what they are and who they wish to be.
When asked about which people take interest in their products and services, Harsheen says “Our clientele is very niche; one of the biggest challenges was to spread the awareness of the brand to the right target audience.” The V Renaissance believes that quality is the driving force and the most crucial aspect of their process of sketching, designing, and crafting their products. When asked about the USP of their brand, she reinforces the fact that it is a bespoke brand in the truest sense, and that it is conceptualized by a business analyst/photographer and a psychologist.