Priyanka Da Cunha speaks about her venture The Busy Bee and her passion to create quirky products which make for excellent gifting options
Picking up gifts for any occasion has always been a challenge. We are all on the lookout for unique gifting solutions that will make the receiver remember you and cherish the moment. Priyanka Da Cunha with her brand The Busy Bee curates some very interesting and creative gifts that people love to receive.
A full time mother, homemaker by day and crafting wizard at The Busy Bee by night, Priyanka conceptualises her products, sews, packs and finally delivers the finished product to the courier or post to sometimes even hand delivering it to the client, all the while managing her regular home maker duties.
Growing up, Priyanka was always surrounded by both, her grandmother and aunt – sewing, quilting and making a lot of innovative things to be used for the house like a stool out of a Nido tin or a quilt with all the scraps leftover from making dresses for her and her cousins.
Her mother taught her how to crochet and always made something new for the house on every occasion. So it was natural that Priyanka too loved creating with fabric and thread. She went on to graduate in Commerce from Dempo College and then took up a teaching job at a pre-school in Goa, which left her with very little time for sewing. Once she moved to Oman in 2014 she took up her needle and began sewing again.
At The Busy Bee, all the products are handcrafted by Priyanka – right up from the magic pouches, tote bags, sling bags, makeup pouches to ‘The Busy Book’. Everything is made with different types of fabrics and in vibrant, quirky prints
Priyanka explains on coming up with the idea of The Busy Bee. “In Oman I would sew during my free time between laundry, school drops, cooking etc. I remember setting up my tiny Janome sewing machine in a corner of my bedroom and sewing, cushions, curtains, runners and a whole lot of other things that I needed around the house. I tried out almost everything I saved on my Pinterest board.” Her friends and family loved all her new creations and urged her on to start selling what she made, which led her to finally create her passion project, The Busy Bee.
At The Busy Bee, all the products are handcrafted by Priyanka – right up from the magic pouches, tote bags, sling bags, makeup pouches to ‘The Busy Book’. Everything is made with different types of fabrics and in vibrant. quirky prints. Her most popular product is ‘The Busy Book’ which Priyanka elaborates on. “The Busy Book is an activity book for kids made out of felt fabric. The book is customised to a child’s needs and each page consists of a fun activity so that the child can play
