Banupriya Kumar – Founder, SND Designs & Constructions, Chennai
In 2011, SND Designs and Constructions took its shape in Chennai to serve the requirements of its client. In last 12 years, it has thus successfully completed 25 projects and currently handling 5 live projects. Founded by Banupriya Kumar, the firm aims at vernacular design projects as much as possible rather than going contemporary with the modern world. And for Banupriya, since childhood Architecture has been her love and had always attracted her to dream of becoming an extra creative person in the future, which made her join studying the subject of Architecture and resulted in becoming one Architect. She now owns a firm and does projects that are challenging as well as providing unique design solutions to clients. She always focusses on satisfying her clients with her unique piece of design advice by making them completely understand the nuances.
Whatever she is today, she attributes her success to her family and friends who had been a great support towards achieving her career goals and also believes that she has a long way to go in this profession. Since college days she has been fascinated with interior designing, and now she aims to provide the most sustainable design solutions for her clients. She believes that client psychology and requirements are the basic essentials for any designer to design a project more than anything else. That is the important aspect where her firm understands them, decodes it and then mix knowledge & skill into it like the ingredients thus gets to serve a delicious meal to her patrons. She always encourages her juniors on a first note to sit and talk with the client in a friendly manner rather than professionally in order to understand their likes and dislikes also it helps them learn how to go ahead with them on a smooth note.
Architect Murali Murugan has been her inspiration, mainly because of his wonders in his projects and his down to earth character he possesses. She believes that the basic essentials for starting a business are determination, patience and dedication. She elucidates,
“Being a woman into business, I have faced a lot of issues, betrayal etc, but more than anything else, my strong will power made me overcome everything and start fresh every time I was pushed down. I learn from every second in my life that it teaches.”
It isn’t easy to run a business, but she had a lot of contacts through her family relations and friends who provided her with opportunities thereby trusting her skills on the initial stages of the business. She is a risk taker and fearless, at the same time is highly dedicated. Among all the clients with whom she has been working, she finds actor Vijay Sethupathi’s project very close to her heart. As the actor had given her full freedom to implement her design concept in his project with full trust on her. Banupriya feels that sustainable design solutions are very much needed for the current scenario of our earth and lifestyle of people. Individually we all have responsibilities towards the planet that we live in because that is our first home.
According to her, the main goal in profession is not just money or how many projects you do but it’s all about how people (clients, labours, vendors) trust you and value you. She strives to become a better person day by day with the help of her profession, and that’s the point where it clearly means that one is doing well in their profession and as a person. We wish her all the best in her future endeavours.