From studying fashion designing to making the right choices at the right time, this lady sewed her life beautifully to lead a fulfilled life. She knew she wanted to create the most elegant and classic evening gowns for her customers someday, and today she is living that dream and is dreaming bigger every day! Meet Tanvi Sawlani, who started her venture – Zwaan, at a very early age, with a team of two. Today she manages 35 people and upholds a brand that oozes trust and elegance.
Topping Subjects To Choosing Art
Born and brought up in Surat, Tanvi Sawlani did her schooling from Lourdes Convent School. Coming from a very supportive family, she was always pushed to pursue her interest with passion and hard work.
Excelling every subject in her academics, Tanvi always had a dedication towards her endeavor. She says, “I was always a top ranker in school, or at least till 7th grade! Apart from studies, I was also good at painting and art-related activities in school. Even when my parents insisted on getting a proper education, they never really put any pressure on me to ace. They never really set a bar that my brother and I had to compulsorily achieve!”
Tanvi adds, “Even though I was good at studies, I was not really interested in those subjects. When I was in 10th Grade, my mom did her NIFT. Even though I had my board exams during that time, I was more interested in doing her work than mine! Doing art for her projects felt more interesting than revising my school subjects. While helping her with her oral and written examination, I had a realization that maybe even I should do this! So after my 10th grade, I took commerce and then did my graduation from NIFT, Gandhinagar.”
Studying in NIFT, which is one of the best art and design colleges in India, must have been a great experience we wonder. When asked, she says,
“As a student in college, I was never competitive. I was more of an appreciative person. In fact many times in college, I would get inspired by others work, in the same field as well. I would usually draw inspiration from them and get better in my approach. In fact, my knowledge about fabrics was really poor in college, till the end. Now I realise, that it was mostly because they don’t teach you the practicality of things in college. That is something we have to understand by ourselves!”
Motivation To Start “Zwaan”
How does a recently graduated student find the courage to start a brand of her own? She says, “After my graduation, I did a 2-month internship in Mumbai. That was a wake-up call for me. I knew it right away that I would never work under someone. I wanted my creativity to flow freely than being forced to do something I didn’t feel like doing.”
“After having a conversation about this with my brother, I claimed that I wanted to go to London for my masters. And my primary reason for that was to get foreign exposure.”
“After listening to me, my brother sat me down and showed me three pathways from there. Finish my masters and then do a job, or start something of my own, or get married!”, she chuckles. “Haunted by my previous work experience, starting something of my own seemed like the most relevant option. So I took a graduation trip with my friends and just the next day, I started Zwaan!”
The Importance Of A Strong Mentor
Tanvi says, “Zwaan for me signifies my love for elegance and my fond love for evening gowns. Zwaan means Swan in Dutch, which is white and elegant! The word felt tailormade for me!”
Further elaborating on her journey, she adds, “My journey wasn’t this smooth when I started off in 2014. In fact, in the beginning, self-doubt did shadow me from time to time, especially when I used to see so many of my friends enjoying doing their masters!”
“I think my brother did rescue me from getting lost even then. I didn’t realise back then but him asking me the right questions at the right time did eventually push me on the right path. So with him, I learned to first rule out what I absolutely didn’t want to do, so that finally I am only left with what I want to do!”
Tanvi continues, “Even when I was afraid of how Zwaan will scale, he told me to forget about how everything will unfold and instead asked me to sit in a room for a week and just sketch 50 pieces. Out of those 50, at least 5 would be great enough for me to convert into dresses was his masterplan! And that’s all I concentrated on; making those 5 dresses! That little push was all I needed to keep me moving on my new journey.”
The stress of doing something alone can get to you and hamper your work. We asked Tanvi how she dealt with all the startup stress. She says, “By processing all the stress, I started building confidence and Zwaan starting growing and expanding its wings. To my surprise, within the first 8 months of starting Zwaan, I got a chance to design something for a bride. It was both overwhelming and exciting!”
She further adds, “After 4 years of Zwaan, today things have changed a lot. What I do now is completely different than what I used to do before. Earlier, I personally handled all the processes of getting a piece ready and delivered, but now my primary task is to delegate all the tasks and keep my team happy!”
Challenges And Rewards
When asked about the challenges she faced, Tanvi smiles, “Initially the biggest challenge was learning to take criticism more productively without locking myself in my room!”
She adds, “Zwaan has always represented class and elegance. In a way that someone can take our dresses out of their wardrobe after 10 years and still prefer to wear it, from an angle of sustainability. That also means that we are not very trend conscious as a brand, and at times clients want what’s new and happening! Convincing them to take something other than what we know to be fad fashion was a challenge we faced.”
“Letting go of the responsibilities was another challenge that I encountered. Being used to operating out of my perspective, I faced difficulties in accepting new perspectives because I considered my brand as my baby! Though I soon realized that Zwaan is not my baby; my team is my baby and that made everything easier!”
With a twinkle in her eye, Tanvi describes her rewards, “Creating Zwaan from scratch was my largest reward. I never expected Zwaan to grow this much in four years and now that it has, I feel nothing is unachievable. So in a way, it made me fearless! I also learned that entrepreneurship is like parenting; comes with no real hard guidelines. You just have to keep questioning and changing as per the need.”
When asked about the future of Zwaan, Tanvi says, “Zwaan for me is more of a brand label than a designer label. We plan to expand in terms of jewelry and shoes. I don’t think we would be restricting Zwaan just to Surat; I see us growing across India and maybe even abroad!”
Takeaway – Habits that Help!
“Getting up early in the morning, meditating whenever I can, and spending quality time with my team are some of the habits I have cultivated!”, says a cheerful Tanvi.
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