Joys of Singledom
Rahul Anand 37 Rajat Tuli 36 FOUNDER Happily Unmarried, Delhi
Wear your attitude. Or spread it all over your home. Happily Unmarried’s funky lifestyle products let you do all that and more. Rahul Anand’s nine-year-old lifestyle brand was born out of lateral thinking, bachelorhood and no money. The dot com bust was on and Anand hadn’t been paid for six months by his employer in Hyderabad. He moved to Delhi and partnered with Rajat Tuli, 36, his batch- mate from Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad, to start Happily Unmarried. It was initially conceived as a one-stop shop for young people
Their ideas are completely original and rooted in an Indian ethos, not wannabe Western.”
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living on their own, from finding them accommodation to sourcing fun gifts. Anand and Tuli then moved on to designing and retailing lifestyle products. From an initial investment that came off a pawned laptop for Rs 50,000 to a turnover of Rs 5 crore-plus this year from 100 retail stores in India and in three countries abroad, the duo has had some happy anniversaries. “Today, there are lots of new players who are trying to imitate us, which tells us we might be doing something right,” says Anand.
Designed Differently
Happily Unmarried’s products are unique, from tiffin box-shaped CD holders to fun graffiti T-shirts to their signature toiletshaped ashtray called the ‘sandas ashtray’, but they all have an unmistakable Indian connect.“our design ideas come from professionals and even the building security guard,” says Anand.
Happy-go-lucky
Tuli got married three years ago thanks to Happily Unmarried. His wife used to design for the company. Anand is still happily unmarried.