Fifteen Student-Run Design Businesses at VFDF 4.0: The PID Entrepreneurs Building Kintsugi, Crochet, Resin, Mandala Art, and Custom 3D Prints

Maker’s Hub was founded by three fourth-semester students.

Yajat Modi and Ritika Pawar from Product Design, and Vineeta Yadav from Fashion. The concept is rooted in the Japanese philosophy of Kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery by reattaching the pieces with gold, treating the breakage as part of the object’s history rather than something to hide.

The students adapted the traditional gold technique to more accessible alternative materials so that their customers could experience the philosophy without the cost barrier.

Beyond Kintsugi, the business offered 3D-printed items, customisable keychains, stickers, and stamps.

• Kintsugi is the hero product that communicates the brand philosophy.
• 3D-printed items are the impulse-purchase layer that sustains daily revenue.
• This is the same portfolio logic that established design studios operate on: one signature offering and a broader catalogue to support the business.

The founders spent a month on preparation. What they learned over the four days went beyond the product.

“The evening crowds brought strong sales and high engagement. The day hours ran slower, requiring patience and energy management from the team.”

Team cooperation during peak hours was tested and improved. The festival also taught them how to handle difficult customer interactions, which proved to be a challenging aspect of public-facing retail for design students whose training had not previously covered this dimension.

Read more: VFDF 4.0 at Parul Institute of Design: the complete festival guide

Dhaga and Drip was founded by four fourth-semester students.

Aashika Jain from Fashion Design, and Mitika Jain, Manya Garg, and Drishti Dhingra from Interior Design. The business produces handmade crochet plushies, accessories, and resin jewellery, with customisation built into the operating model. A customer could approach the team with an idea, and the team would produce a one-of-a-kind piece to specification.

The operating model taught the founders something specific about design services.

• Customers who engaged with the customisation option spent more time in the purchase conversation.
• They came back after thinking about their designs, and often returned to place orders.
• This is the pattern that established design consultancies know well: the longer the client spends with the designer, the more committed they become to the purchase.

The Dhaga and Drip team learned this on the shop floor rather than in a classroom. The challenges were equally useful learning. Custom orders took time, which made it hard to serve multiple customers at once during peak hours.

“Handmade pricing required justification. Some customers compared handmade rates to factory-produced equivalents and attempted to negotiate downward.”

Explaining the time, skill, and material logic of handmade pricing is a conversation every design professional needs to have. The Dhaga and Drip founders learned to have it over four days.

Lily’s Bloom was run solo by Swarupa Patil, a fourth-semester Visual Communication student.

The business produces handcrafted lilies designed with precision to offer a long-lasting alternative to natural flowers. Each piece reflected patience and craftsmanship, turning simple materials into elegant floral forms. The business model is built on the gap between cut flowers, which last days, and artificial flowers, which typically look industrial. Handmade floral art sits between the two and commands a premium.

What Swarupa learned operating the venture alone is a different set of lessons than the team-based businesses learned. Customers appreciated the effort behind handmade flowers, which shortened the selling conversation once they understood the positioning. Feedback was compliment-heavy, which boosted confidence during the slow hours when traffic was thin.

The challenges were that decorative products require more consideration time than functional products, and comparison with real flowers affected buying decisions for some customers. The founder learned to work the audience that appreciated handmade as a category rather than trying to convert the price-comparison shoppers.

Also Check: Parul Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Centre (PIERC)

Elara Jewellery was founded by Dharmi Limbasiya (Fashion Design) and Aparna Jha (Interior Design), both second-semester students. The collection featured handcrafted jewellery charms explicitly designed for Gen-Z demand patterns: minimal, wearable, personal, with unique detailing rather than mass-market repetition.

Elara’s operators learned the trend-awareness lesson that every fashion designer eventually learns.

• Jewellery attracts attention easily and pulls people into the business area.
• Once engaged, customers reveal preferences that inform future production.
• The founders developed trend awareness for what styles converted and what styles only attracted browsing.

REALMS was founded by Swati Prasad, a Master of Design Fashion Merchandising student and a PID alumna returning to the festival as an operating founder. The brand is a jewellery and lifestyle label.

“The name represents a portal into different worlds, styles, and emotions.”

The operational reality of running a brand solo was the education. Handling sales, product explanation, and inventory management all simultaneously became overwhelming during peak hours. These are the challenges every independent design brand founder faces for the first two years of operation. Swati compressed them into a four-day intensive.

Timtima Tarbooz was founded by three sixth-semester students: Satya Sharma, Swara Shedge, and Aditi Samal. The business specialises in mandala art. Intricately designed patterns created with precision, patience, and strong symmetry. The name is drawn from the Korean drama Twinkling Watermelon (Timtimata Tarbooz in Hindi), reflecting the Gen-Z culture familiarity that increasingly defines the customer base for student-run design businesses.

Qala was operated by Neha Ahirwar, a fourth-semester Interior Design student. The business combined handcrafted candles with artistic bouquets in unique shapes. Qala’s unique shape library pulled customers in quickly, and the founder gained pitching confidence through repeated conversations.

Aesthetic Hub was operated by Jiya Parekh, a sixth-semester Interior Design diploma student. The business produced handcrafted crochet jewellery, combining traditional handcraft with modern aesthetics.

“Many customers were unfamiliar with crochet jewellery as a category, requiring the founder to explain the craft technique and value proposition before the purchase conversation could proceed.”

The founder developed explanation and interaction skills that are exactly what is required to sell any new design category to a market that has not yet learned to recognise it.

Funkit Up was founded by two second-semester students, Anushka Saini and Gauranshi Gautam. The business concept is deeply personal and artistic: clay becomes a medium to preserve memories, emotions, and identity.

The product range included pendants, charms, and objects designed to either hold or commemorate the ashes of loved ones, transforming something intangible into a tangible keepsake.

• The business model addresses a niche that most design students avoid: the grief economy.
• Customers who connected with the concept spent more time understanding the product and its significance.
• This created deeper interactions and higher conversion within the target audience.
• The emotional and handcrafted nature supported a higher-value positioning and better pricing.

JigTrip was founded by Tripti Bairwa and Jigyasa Tiwari, both fourth-semester students. The business offered a diverse range of handmade products: scented candles in various fragrances, bracelets, charms, crochet pieces, and hand-painted tote bags. Customisation was the differentiator.

Pocketful of Pixie was run by Vanshika and Gungun, fourth-semester students. The business offered a focused collection of cute handmade accessories and small objects: lamp keychains, hair clips, rings, phone charms, pendants, crochet bouquets, mini books, and quirky lighter covers. The playful theme resonated strongly with the audience and produced memorability.

Slayerz was founded by Ishan Malhotra from the design programme.

The venture is a 3D-print and customisation business. Product design students turning ideas into physical objects, whether aesthetic home décor, detailed wall art, personalised keychains, or completely custom creations.

“If a customer could imagine it, Slayerz could produce it.”

The standout product category was lithophanes. A 3D-printing technique where images reveal themselves only when illuminated from behind. The object appears as a neutral white panel until lit, at which point the image emerges in detail. The category blends technology with emotion, turning personal photographs into glowing art pieces.

The business reflected the real dynamics of 3D-print operations. Customisation was the core offering, which meant explaining feasibility, production time, and technical limitations to customers who wanted immediate turnaround. This type of customer education is exactly what industrial design consultancies deal with daily.

Read More: How Shital Verma Taught Twenty-Five Students To Pitch Original Ads

Milemist Jewel was operated by Raveena and Tanvi, first-year Visual Communication students.

The business offered non-piercing jewellery, pearl accessories, and designs using real pearls. The jewellery is lightweight, stylish, and suitable for everyday as well as special-occasion wear. The founders operated an Instagram presence at MiddleMistJewels, which extended the business beyond the festival and created continuing customer relationships.

Little Frame Corner was operated by Pragya and Piyush, second-year Animation and VFX students. The business focused on memory and personalisation, offering mini frames that could be customised for all occasions.

Products included mini photo frames, customised polaroids, handwritten letters, and gift-box packaging for a complete ready-to-gift experience.

• The concept is particularly relatable for hostel students, who can keep pictures of loved ones and small memories close to them.
• Customisation made the interaction unique and the conversion driven by emotional connection.
• Timing pressure during busy hours was the operational challenge that taught the founders about inventory planning.

First-year and second-year students running viable micro-businesses during the academic year is not standard at most design colleges in India. At PID, the VFDF 4.0 experience pushed them into the operating deep-end early, with the support structure of faculty and PIERC behind them.

Read more: B.Sc Animation and VFX at Parul Institute of Design