Successful Director: Sandy Khurana, 35

Sandy is director,The Entertainment Design Company (EDC) that offer invitation cards for every occasion. The company has a growth rate of 30 percent

What do the King of Bhutan, president to Malawi and the Bachchan's have in common? The same invite designer. Sandy Khurana and his brother Kapil, realised at an early age the growing demand for extravagant invitation cards and ventured into this business 10 years back. "We realised that invites were not given much importance earlier. They were of poor quality and run-ofthe-mill. I joined the family business of printing after college. This gave us the platform to make high-end, good quality cards, without any initial investments" says Khurana.

He believes that, when they got into this line of work, there was no concept of a retail store for cards. Four years into the business, Entertainment and Design Company (EDC) opened its first store in Delhi where they provide a beautiful display of invitation cards. Edc customise cards, if required by clients but the idea behind the shop is to display the work and make it visible.

The Mumbai store opened four years back and now EDC will be opening a shop in Kolkata. Highlighting the importance of a card, he elaborates, "An invitation card builds the concept and the mood for an event. We work to bring together the entire look for an event and execute this right from the invite. We want the cards to speak for the event and provide a glimpse of what to expect along with reflecting the host's personality. The final product is like a piece of art and feels like a major accomplishment."

Like clothes, cards at edc have two lines, the pret and the couture. As the names suggest, the prêt line offers ready-to use cards and while the couture line is more exclusive and can include personalised crests.

Sneak peek

• Khurana started the business from New Delhi when he was 25. He has not received any formal education or training in       printing and design.

• The EDC believes in innovation and creates bespoke invitation cards that for all occasions.

Reproduced From India Today. © 2011. LMIL. All rights reserved.