Meet Dev Vig And Akshata Vig | Co-Founders of De Space

Dev Vig And Akshata Vig are the co-founders of De Space, a full service, Interior Architecture studio. Their goal is always to deliver the best culturally and contextually relevant design, within budget and on time. They mentor a movement of socially and ethically responsible design that improves people’s lives, and sustains the ecosystem.

De space is a concept that started with their home (of the co-founder’s Dev and Akshata) and a dream to accomplish a functional home with aesthetics to balance the look & feel of the space in an optimized way. It was founded in 2010 after Akshata designed their first home on a minimal contemporary theme and on a shoestring budget. The home interiors earned a lot of accolades and lead to inquiries and clients signing up. Each client propagated De Space with word of mouth and referrals. Today we got a chance to interview them, let’s know more about their journey.

We hope this can inspire you to become a successful person too! It is worth listening to a successful entrepreneur or to people who share their success stories. We can significantly learn many things from the experiences of them, by listening to their story.

Excerpts from our exclusive interview with them:

Q1) How did the idea for your business/startup come about?

The lacunae in the existing home interior industry motivated us to create a niche for ourselves, so we could help as many people as possible to bridge this gap and offer the best of designs and experience while getting their homes ready to live in.

Q2) How did you come up with the name for your business/startup?

The name de space(de’ in French means Of or about space)came about as an obvious choice since space is the soul of this endeavor and everything revolves around it.

Q3) What service(s) or product(s) do you offer/manufacture?

We offer turnkey home interior solutions (design and build) that take care of practically everything that goes into making your apartment/villa from a cold shell into a warm shell that is ready to dwell. Designing and execution of joinery, electrical, plumbing works, painting, loose furniture and drapes/decor ideas & surveys, etc are part of our offering.

Q4) Why should people choose your product/services?

De space should be an appropriate and obvious choice for homeowners who need a personalized touch to their homes where each corner is curated and created with a lot of passion and thought.

Q5) How do you market your business, and which tactics have been most successful?

The most powerful marketing tool for De space has been their clientele. Our clients are our “Brand evangelists”, and each one of them has been instrumental in taking us where we are today. Their faith in us has lead to the execution of some of our best ideas and projects that have won accolades and appreciation through our YouTube videos and our official FB page.

Q6) What risks are you facing?

The market is over-crowded and highly unorganized today, and hence a lot of players delve into wrong practices to win orders (by offering lower prices using low-quality material without informing the end customer). A lot of clienteles approach us after having a bitter experience with their providers, and while there is a possibility of losing customers on the basis of false promises made by other providers, we see it as an opportunity to educate our customers in detail of what quality to expect, what to use and what to avoid.

Client these days are well-informed, plan to do their homework and research well, and this helps us in getting a fair hearing, and educating them on minor details on what’s on their way.

Q7) Did pandemic (COVID 19) affected your business? if yes how?

The entire country had shutdown initially due to the Pandemic, and our industry was no different. But we utilized this time to stay abreast with the latest products in the market, and also launched our YouTube channel during this time. This helped us to reach more audiences, and once the market opened, we were immediately back on track. Today, we are operating at our full capacity with a strong pipeline of projects.

Q8) Have you considered any alliance/partnership/funding?

De space believes in nurturing their baby on their own rather than outsourcing their baby to an outsider who wouldn’t care as much as their own parents. Our team members are our partners and pillars of strength, and we wish to grow with them. Funding isn’t really our aim or target as it might dilute our USP which is our personal involvement in each of the spaces we create. So we prefer to the best in our capacity and walk as far as we can.

Q9) What are your responsibilities as the business owner?

We, at de space, try to follow the best of market practices and help in providing the best of solutions to our clients within the committed budget and time frame with complete transparency. Additionally, we take responsibility for protecting the interest of our vendors, partners, and people involved in working hard for making our ideas come to life.

Q10) How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?

We practically work Mon-Sun 9-9 and a typical day revolves around taking calls from clients (existing, old and new), working on new inquiries, estimates and scheduling meetings, site visits with clients/team, etc. along with personal commitments.

Q11) What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?

I think the greatest fear would be to be out of work but the best way to manage our fear is to be positive and just go with the flow. Since the market or the industry is dynamic we want to make the best of what we can today and pray to have the courage to face whatever is in store for us in the future.

Q12) What comes first for you money or emotions?

Emotions anyday!

Q13) Tell us about your early life & How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?

We come from a middle-class simple family where education was of utmost importance in our early years. But as we grew older, we also realized the importance of listening to our hearts and following our instincts! We practically stood on our own and tread this path, stumbled on roadblocks, and took this journey with a lot of challenges and hardships. And when you are on a journey of entrepreneurship, the family sometimes has to cope up with our hardships and challenges. Lack of time sometimes leads to emotional distress, but we try to make up for that by taking short getaway breaks, holidays, and a compulsory weekly off.

One of De Space YouTube Video

Q14) What piece of advice would you give to college graduates who want to become entrepreneurs??

Believe in yourself and Never say Never. If you think you can!

Follow De Space @

Facebook Handle	https://www.facebook.com/despaceinteriors
YouTube Channel	https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWlKXVZJ2eJ3Q7lUBvR7nYA

StartoCure is the online entrepreneurial magazine platform, where the team brings you Interview & Stories of Entrepreneurs, Inspirations, Influencers, Startups eco-system & Change-makers. StaroCure also committed to bringing resources, research reports, funding reports, and analysis of the startups, as well as profiles of great businesses & entrepreneurs from all over the world.

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