Namaste,
Welcome to our first ever blog, an encapsulation of what 7mm is.
Our first blog had to be an introduction to us. As we write this blog, while sipping a hot cup of coffee on an unusual cold winter morning in Mumbai, 7mm completes a little over 4 years of celebrating stationery and supplying it to stationery lovers - a surreal feeling, a win, a high with losses, fears, mistakes.
So, hello to a fellow human that stumbled upon this blog and wants to read about us. We are so grateful to have you here.
Sit back and read 7 things about 7mm as the founder’s say it!
We promise to do justice to your next 4 minutes.
1. SO HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?
The founders Prachi and Divyan met up and were chatting over a cup of coffee where Prachi professed her love and obsession for stationery, Divyan ran a book manufacturing unit and wanted to start something of his own. They came to realize that India lacks designer, minimal and aesthetically pleasing stationery. What started as a random conversation ended with a business idea, which both were very excited about!
That’s when they brought their love for always putting pen to paper and aesthetics together and took their first leap of faith bringing 7mm to existence.
Prachi put her creative cap on and worked on the design while Divyan took care of the business side of things.
2. WHERE IT IS NOW
What started over a cup of coffee and adrenaline to bring something new to consumers, has completed 4 years and counting!! A lot of things changed through this, started with 5 products on amazon and are currently at 180+ SKUs with their own website, office space, a team, market places, retail listings!! Massive changes but the cup of coffee stays consistent and shows up to work everyday with us.
3.WHY WE DO THIS?
We do it with great passion for design and business but what really keeps us going is the fact that with everything we create, we become a part of our consumer’s daily lives, be it with a to-do that helps them stay consistent, or a note card that brings a smile across their face as they write it to their loved one. We create stationery that brings about positive change to people’s lives so even if we think the passion isn’t fueling us sometimes, this thought of serving our community makes us show up to work every single day.
4.WHAT STATIONERY DO WE USE
So we definitely sell the prettiest and functional stationery but guess what? We always end up using the samples! Our desk is covered with samples all the time, and we write on these so much that we lose track of what is written where. Another reason why we do this is so that we have fully felt the product before sending it out to our consumers. But this using samples only situation is so consistent that it sometimes feels odd to even open up a new product for ourselves.
5. WHY THE NAME - 7MM
Being stationery lovers, we had high expectations from ourselves.
We wanted the name to be meaningful and be associated with stationery. So in the stationery world, thought goes into deciding the distance between 2 lines, the norm being somewhere between 5mm-8mm. But 7mm is the ideal spacing for all handwritings.
There, we had it, our euphoria moment
6.OUR HIGHS AND LOWS
This journey has been nothing short of a roller coaster. To name a few bumps, not having enough funds as a small business, not hiring people soon enough because you’re so attached to your business, products that we put our heart and soul into, not working out. The highs are hitting our targets, working with our dream brand (Pinterest), being showered with love at the flea markets, great feedback. So like any other business the highs give us the adrenaline and the lows keep us grounded.
7. AN UNUSUAL PRODUCT
An insight exclusive to the blog readers is that Divyan and I are married!! The most non-stationery product that was created thanks to 7mm.
That’s a wrap on 7 things about 7mm, we hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed writing it! The first of many, hope to see you in each and everyone of those.
So glad to have been a part of your day through this blog.
