The part of the day that feels like you
You know the feeling. It's 1 am, the house is asleep, and you're still at the desk with a brush in your hand, fixing one tiny line on a mask that nobody else will ever look at that closely.
Or there's a breadboard on the table, a soldering iron cooling in its stand, and a board that finally blinks on the fourth try. The sensor reads, the code runs, and now the whole thing needs a home: a case that fits the board, a mount for the display, a knob that sits right on the shaft, clips that keep the wires where they belong. That last small part is what turns a project on the table into a device you actually use.
Or you make things for other people to see. A desk setup for the next video, a prop for Saturday's shoot, a stand that holds the phone at exactly the right angle, a light for the corner where you record. Nobody notices those pieces on camera, but without them nothing looks the way you pictured it.
Or you're planning the next trip. The route is marked, the dates are fixed, and the floor is covered with everything that has to go: bottles, cables, the headlamp, the first-aid kit, the camera and its spare batteries. You're hunting for the organiser that fits the bag, the holder that stops the phone sliding off the handlebar, the hook that keeps the tent tidy. Small things, and you'll thank yourself for every one of them on day two.
Everyone around you calls it a hobby. You know it's the part of the day that feels most like you. Igul is for exactly those people: the makers, the builders, the creators and the explorers, and anyone who needs the one right piece to finish what they started.
- late nights
- the fourth try
- the packing list
- the one right piece
Igul did not start as a store. It started in 2017, with a founder who kept building things for people who care about the small details. This is that story, in order, with the photos from each year.
Seven stops, from 2017 to today
It started with art on the wall
In 2017 the founder began selling collectible art online. Artists were onboarded one by one, printable copies of their work were sold, and the royalties were shared with the people who made it.
Paintings, framed prints and posters, each one picked for somebody's wall. It was the first time we saw how people light up when the right piece finds them.
- collectible art
- artists onboarded
- royalties shared
A print shop, in the third year of college
Still in college, that art store grew into an on-demand printing platform: certificates, banners, t-shirts and flex boards, for the college and for other businesses.
Team jerseys with names on the back, mugs for birthdays, tees with a line only one class would understand. Every order was somebody's small moment, and it had to be right.
- college
- on demand
- certificates to hoodies
Marketplaces, bulk orders and the first million
Next came the marketplaces. Products were listed online, and alongside them came B2B bulk merchandise: polos for restaurants, startups and offices, boxed, packed and shipped.
The first 1M+ in sales. The first solo trips, paid for with money earned. Everything was flowing, and it felt like the whole thing had been cracked.
- e-commerce
- first 1M+ sales
- solo trips
Then it went sideways
In late 2019 several bulk orders, outsourced to a vendor, went wrong, and the vendor offered no support at all. Every refund came out of the founder's own pocket.
At the same time the marketplace seller account was suspended over listings that broke trade rules the founder had not known about, and it could never be reinstated.
Both lessons are built into Igul. We check the designs we sell and take down anything that is not ours to sell, and when an order goes wrong, putting it right is on us, never on you.
- refunds, all on us
- rules learnt the hard way
A kitchen, some courses, then fifty companies
During the lockdown came a cloud kitchen with its own ordering app, starting with one or two orders a day from Facebook ads. The inventory planning made it impossible to sustain, so next came a small platform selling Facebook courses. Good feedback, a few courses sold, but it was not the thing.
So the skills were packaged into services. From late 2020 to 2023 that meant work for about 50 companies across India, Africa, the UK, the US and Dubai: healthcare, SaaS, fitness clubs, e-commerce, FMCG, food and beverage, agencies and education.
- cloud kitchen
- selling courses
- 50+ projects
The markets, and a reset
Not knowing how financial markets worked was unbearable, so the founder learnt by trading, and lost. Freelance projects got done but did not get paid, so came a full-time role as a marketing manager at a parking solutions company, for over two years, to see what long-term growth looks like from the inside.
By 2025 there was enough saved to try trading full time. September 1st was the last working day. By December it was all gone: the printing machines, the car and every last appliance sold, and that money lost too.
Two weeks back in the hometown to reflect, then back to Bangalore. No I, me or mine. Everything just there.
- marketing manager
- financial markets
- reset
What stayed through all of it
Through every high and every low, the hobbies stayed. An embroidery machine humming late at night, a square of paper turning into a rabbit, flowers on the terrace, and the dogs of the neighbourhood who always know when it is dinner time.
It is okay to do things. It is more important to be at peace without the chase, because the chase never ends. A butterfly spends half its short life hanging from a branch, not knowing if it will make it, and still it keeps going until its wings are ready.
Stitched by hand
A little bit on the fun side
Manoranjan
And from all of it, Igul
Every chapter left something behind. The art store taught us that the right piece matters more than more pieces. The print shop taught us that every order is somebody's moment. The bad year taught us to own every mistake.
So we named the store after the bird that sees what others miss. Say Igul out loud and you'll hear it: eagle.
An eagle can spot one small thing from high up in the sky, and once it has found it, it keeps it close. That's the whole job for us. We look through thousands of designs from makers around the world, pick the ones worth a place in your life, and keep watch over every order until it lands at your door.
- picked, not listed
- made for hobbyists
- watched till it lands
The days that went wrong
It hasn't always been smooth. Parcels get delayed. A piece can arrive with a crack. For most shops that's a ticket number. For a hobbyist with an event two days away, it's the whole weekend.
So we made promises we can actually keep. Delivered within 7 days across India. Anything that arrives wrong or damaged gets replaced. Every order is watched from the moment you pay to the moment it lands, and you can reach us on WhatsApp the whole way.
- 7 days across India
- replaced if damaged
- watched till it lands
A hobby is better shared
We'd rather grow with the people who come back than chase everyone once. So every order earns points. Every honest review earns IP (Igul Points), good or bad, because the next hobbyist deserves the truth. After five orders, delivery is free for life.
And when you send us a photo of your shelf, your costume or your dog asleep on the new bed, it honestly makes our day.
- points on every order
- IP for every review
- free delivery for life
Building, making or packing? Tell us about it.
We want to know the people behind the orders. Tell us what is on your table, where you are headed next or what you are trying to finish, and a real person from Team Igul will reply on WhatsApp with the pieces that fit. No bots, no pushy messages, just someone who gets it.
Send us the board size or a photo of the build. We'll find the case, mounts, knobs and clips that fit, or tell you honestly if we don't have them.
Tell us about the shoot, the setup or the piece you're making. We'll pull together the stands, holders and props that get it done.
Share your packing list and your bag. We'll match organisers, holders and hooks to it, so everything has a place before you leave.
Show us the shelf, the desk or the craft corner. We'll look out for the pieces that belong there and tell you when they land.
An eagle doesn't hurry. It rides the warm air for hours, circling, watching, waiting for the one moment worth diving for. Most of its life is patience. Only a few seconds are the dive.
Hobbies are like that too. Weeks of saving, sanding, sketching, planning the costume, choosing the spot on the shelf. Then one evening it all comes together, and you step back, look at it, and smile. That smile is what we're here for.
And when you finally find the thing you were looking for, it goes home to your corner. So here's to your corner: the desk with paint on it, the shelf that's never quite full, the dog bed by the window, the box of costumes under the bed. We hope a few of our pieces find their way there, and stay.
Welcome to the hobbyists crew.
Team Igul
Made for the ones with a hobby
Whatever yours is, it deserves pieces picked with the same care you put into it.