There are some things we buy because we need them. Then there are things we buy because we can already picture them in our homes—on the dining table, in the kitchen, or sitting on a work desk. The difference is often not what the product does, but how it makes us feel about the space around us.
That distinction sits at the heart of Nestasia’s approach to building a home and lifestyle brand. For co-founder Aditi Murarka Agrawal, design is not simply a layer added after a product has been created. It is one of the first questions the brand asks before bringing anything to market. “For all our products, we want to have design as a defining layer. If it is not unique or interesting to the prospective consumer, we don't launch it,” she states.
Design, however, is not divorced from utility for Agrawal. Quality and purpose have to work alongside it.
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That philosophy also extends into the way Nestasia communicates. Rather than simply showing products, the brand tries to place them inside the lives consumers might imagine for themselves. “The consumers should be able to identify these products with their own homes, and imagine these products as an extension of themselves and their self-expression,” Agrawal says. The second consideration is whether the product can offer an upgrade to what already exists.
This approach to marketing recently found a more humorous expression in Nestasia’s campaign around its insulated tumbler bottle, built around the thought ‘Bottles So Good, You Sip More Than You Should’. The creative idea emerged from the product itself. While testing and improving it, the team realised that people were actually drinking more water because the bottle was always within sight.
“People have alerts on their smartwatches, among other things, to remind them to drink, but this bottle is actually in itself a reminder. When it sits on your table, or desk, or wherever it is that you are, it acts as a reminder to drink water,” Agrawal explains.
The observation eventually led to the campaign’s humorous premise. “Since drinking more water is one of the effects of the product, what ends up happening is people getting up and actually going to the restroom.” The restroom queue then became a setting where different people could meet and talk about the bottle and various other things.
The campaign is an example of a broader shift in how Nestasia looks at everyday products—not just as functional objects, but as things that can become part of a consumer’s identity. This explains the brand’s collaboration with Universal to launch Minions-themed bottles.
Creators are another part of that equation. Nestasia began influencer marketing when it was only two months old, and today a significant part of its spend goes towards influencer marketing. But Agrawal sees creators as more than a communications vehicle. They can also act as an early feedback mechanism. “These creators actually end up using some of our products first, and they share feedback. There have been times when we have actually taken feedback and gone back to the drawing board and fixed things,” Agrawal reveals.
First started as a digital-first brand, Nestasia is now also taking its design-led proposition offline. The brand currently has 15 stores, but Agrawal admits that moving from digital to physical retail has involved learning a completely different skill set. “The muscles that you actually exercise when you're thinking of digital versus offline are very different.”
She further reveals that offline makes for around 10 per cent of their overall revenue. “We foresee this 10 per cent to grow to 20-25 per cent, once the number of stores and new store openings stabilise.”
The next phase, then, is about scaling the omni-channel model, with newer stores, more in-house design-led products and licensed collaborations. Ultimately, the ambition is to make consumers feel that the products they bring home are a little more special.
