Deco Alley

I am pleased to introduce Priyanka Sodhi from Kitchener, Ontario Canada of Deco Alley. She sells contact cases and screw top containers with handmade clay and re-ment miniature pieces. Other items include cell phone covers, special edition cases, and handmade miniature collectibles.
I had her saved in my favorites on Etsy because I planned to purchase a contact lense case for my sister for Christmas. They have a very unique kitchy cuteness that is hard to resist. After agreeing to being interviewed for this blog she send me the sweetest email telling me that she was sending over some samples for me! Love that! I will post the pictures of them here when they arrive.

What is your real life like?
I recently got married and left my sales job to move in with my husband. He was so awesome to let me take this year off to try building my business and experimenting with different fields in design. All I have been doing the past year is working 12 hours a day on building my business, experimenting with new materials and techniques while taking care of household chores. I started running in July to help with releasing stress and keeping up energy levels and hope to run in some races next spring. My other hobbies include cooking and baking.

What is your process?
I am still at an experimental and growth stage. I do not really have a set process because I do not want to set limits on myself. I just read a lot, spend hours researching designs online and thinking! I am on a limited budget so I do not have access to many tools or materials. Things I use daily are air drying clays, toothpicks, and tape over popsicle sticks to hold things on when painting. Recently I have been working with silicones and resin to add another dimension to my miniatures.

Business Goals and Vision...
My short term goal is to really learn some good online marketing techniques and try to expand my current business on etsy. Long term I want to build a miniature empire in which one can buy supplies to make their own quality miniatures at home with little investment and no prior knowledge on making miniatures.
How do you market your business?
I am trying to build up traffic through my blog. Recently I signed up with Flickr and have registered with some blog search engines such at Techoranti. I am attending a miniature show in Toronto this month and hope to gain some experience and meet some more people locally.

Do you subscribe to any business related blogs, zines or magazines?
I have subscribed to Inspiri Art and Craft blog and I have several other links saved to my bookmarks. Right now I am concentrating on reading books on business in general such as "What they don't teach you at Harvard Business School" by Mark H. McCormack. In the past self help books like Getting Things Done by David Allen give you some helpful tips on managing life especially when trying to market and grow you business but balance daily life.

Who is your favorite musical artist?
I listen to a lot of R&B, Hip Hop and indie/rock type bands. I have grown up in the Middle East and I am of South East Indian origin so I have been exposed to many different types of music. I love Arabic music and listen to songs from Bollywood movies. Also my husband is originally from Sri Lanka so I am starting to listen to some Sinhalese songs too! Right now to improve my Japanese speaking skills (so when I get to visit Japan I won't be totally lost!) I have been listening to a Canadian/Japanese band called Monkey Majik. Here is a link to a fun tune on youtube

What inspires you?
I love music and colors! I always have my ipod shuffle with me. I am also a huge manga/anime fan. My inspired definitely comes from Japan since decorations on your cell phone and other personal belongings is a must! It is like a culture there and I want to bring this culture to North America.

What are two of your favorite things from your shop?
Its the head phones (sold unfortunately but they are just so cool especially if you listen to your ipod all the time like me) and my miniature bunny and bird because it's only 4 cm across, 2 cm tall and completely handmade.
Headphones
(pictured above)
Bunny and Bird
(pictured above)

Am a fan of these places...
1.crunchyroll.com for anime
2.ebay for new re-ment miniatures or rare ones
3.etsy just to browse new goodies that are listed daily
4.my email because I am obsessed with replying to people in a timely manner
5.google to randomly search for images and inspirations

Find seller at...
Etsy shop
decoalley.com is my blog and it has a link to my esty shop