Corporate gifts that are not another dry fruit hamper

The number decides everything

Before design, before colours, before budget: how many, and by when.

Everything here is made by one person. There is a quantity above which I am the wrong studio, and I would rather tell you that in the first reply than three weeks into a conversation.

If you need two hundred identical pieces in three weeks, use a corporate gifting company. They exist for exactly that and they are good at it.

If you need twenty or thirty pieces that do not look like everybody else's hamper, that is this.

What handmade actually changes

The dry fruit hamper problem is that your client receives six of them. They are interchangeable and they get regifted.

A handmade piece is not interchangeable. Every one is slightly different because it was laid by hand, and that is visible when somebody picks it up.

It also stays. A hamper is consumed in a fortnight. A tea light holder or a small mirror-work plate sits on a desk or a shelf for years, with your company attached to the memory of it.

That is the argument, and it only holds at small quantities. At two hundred pieces the handmade character is gone and you are better off with something manufactured well.

Diwali, and the deadline

Diwali is Sunday 8 November this year. Dhanteras is the 6th, which matters because a gift that arrives on Dhanteras lands better than one that arrives the day before Diwali.

Corporate orders need more notice than personal ones, because the quantity multiplies the making time and the drying between layers does not compress.

If you are reading this in late October for a Diwali delivery, the honest answer is probably no for a full batch and possibly yes for a small one. Message me with the number and the date and I will tell you the same day.

There is more about the festival dates on the Diwali page.

The occasions that are not Diwali

Corporate gifting in India collapses into one week of November and it does not have to.

Year-end and new year

January is quiet here, because Kharmas means no weddings between 16 December and 15 January. That is the easiest time of year to get a batch made properly.

Client appreciation, unattached to a festival

A gift that arrives in March means more than one that arrives with everybody else's in November.

Onboarding and milestones

Small, repeatable, and spread across the year rather than concentrated. This suits a one-person studio far better than a single annual spike.

Office opening or relocation

A name plate or an entrance piece for a new office, which is a different conversation and is covered on the office art page.

What I can and cannot brand

This is where I differ most from a corporate gifting company and it is worth being direct about it.

Everything is hand-painted. A simple wordmark or a clean monogram can be painted onto a piece. It will look hand-painted, because it is.

A complex logo with fine detail, gradients or precise typography is not something a brush on clay will reproduce faithfully. I will tell you honestly if yours falls into that category rather than deliver something that looks like a poor copy of your brand.

There is no laser engraving, no UV printing and no foil stamping here. If exact brand reproduction is a requirement, a corporate gifting company is the better fit.

What usually works better anyway: your brand colours worked into the piece, rather than your logo stamped onto it. Send me the hex codes.

What suits corporate gifting here

Tea light holders

The most ordered corporate piece. Small, useful, and the mirror work reads at that size. They go in a box together and they survive being handed out at an event.

Candle plates

A step up in size and presence, for a smaller list of people who matter more.

Small mirror-work panels

For a senior client list where the gift is meant to be kept rather than used. Keep it under 30cm so it is easy for them to place.

What does not work: anything large, anything fragile enough to need its own crate, and anything that requires the recipient to find a wall.

Tiering, which most companies get wrong

One gift for everybody is simpler to order and worse as a gift, because the person who matters most gets the same thing as everybody else.

Two tiers works better: something good for the full list, something more considered for the top twenty.

It also helps with the quantity problem. Thirty simple pieces and ten detailed ones is more achievable than forty of the detailed ones, and it costs less overall.

Near-identical, not identical

Across a batch there will be small variations in the relief and the mirror placement, because every piece is laid by hand.

For most corporate gifting that is the point and it is what separates these from the hamper. Say so in your note and it becomes a feature rather than something a recipient wonders about.

If your brand team requires true uniformity, tell me before design and I will be honest about whether I can meet it. Usually I cannot, and that is a real answer rather than a negotiating position.

Budget, and what it buys

Within India pieces start at ₹700. Corporate orders usually sit near the lower end because of the quantity, and simpler repeating designs cost less per piece than complicated ones.

There is bulk pricing on larger orders. The per-piece rate comes down as the quantity goes up, because the design work is done once and spread across the batch, and simpler repeating designs benefit from that more than complicated ones do.

I am not going to print a percentage here, because the right rate depends on the quantity, the design and the date. Tell me the number and you get the rate with your quote, before anything is made.

You get a firm figure for the batch before anything is made, and it does not move unless you change the brief.

I invoice for business orders. Tell me what your accounts team needs when you enquire rather than after delivery, because it is easier to set up at the start.

Delivery

To one office, or to several. Multi-location is possible but each address is a separate consignment and that affects both cost and timeline, so mention it early.

Delivery is charged on top of the piece price and quoted for the addresses.

Pieces also ship internationally, to the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, the UAE and across Europe, which matters if part of your client list is abroad. Transit is on top of making time, so those deadlines move earlier.

What I will turn down

A quantity I cannot make properly in the time available.

An exact logo reproduction that a hand-painted piece will not do justice to.

A deadline that leaves no room for drying. A batch rushed through it cracks after your clients have taken it home, which is worse for you than no gift at all.

A request to match a competitor's product. Send a reference by all means and I will make my own version.

How to start

Message me with four things: the quantity, the date, the budget per piece, and whether branding is required.

You will get a straight answer the same day about whether it is achievable, and a design direction and a firm price before anything is made.

If it is not achievable I will say so immediately, while you still have time to arrange something else. That is more useful to you than a maybe in week three.

Questions before ordering