Hey, Creative Soul — Welcome to the Story Behind CrafTreat!
Once upon a time, I was a software engineer.
I spent my days solving problems with logic and code, and my free time doing something completely different — playing with paper, colours, and craft supplies.
Crafting became my happy escape. But even while enjoying it, my engineering brain couldn't help asking questions.
Why does this have to be so complicated? Could there be an easier way? What if we could skip some of the tedious steps and get straight to the fun part?
Somewhere between my love for creating and my habit of solving problems, an idea began to take shape.
What if I could make crafting easier?
From Crafter to The Craft Shop
In 2012, I started The Craft Shop, importing and selling craft supplies from brands around the world.
And what an education that turned out to be!
Over the years, We've also had the opportunity to work as a distributor for some international craft brands.
Being on the retail and distribution side of the industry gave me a different perspective. I wasn't just looking at beautiful products and thinking, "I love this!"
I was watching what customers actually picked up.
Which colours caught their attention? Which brands did they return to? Which designs excited them? What did they buy, and what did they admire but leave on the shelf?
I became familiar with different brands, their design languages, their collections, and the changing preferences of crafters.
Without realising it, I was learning something incredibly valuable.
Beautiful is important. But beautiful and wanted are two different things.
That lesson has stayed with me ever since.
And Then Came CrafTreat
In 2017, I took the next step and started CrafTreat.
Now I was no longer just selling craft products. I was designing them!
And that opened up a whole new world of learning — materials, manufacturing, product development, packaging, production challenges, retailers, distributors, and international markets.
The Craft Shop had taught me to look at products through the eyes of a crafter and retailer.
CrafTreat taught me to look at them through the eyes of a designer and manufacturer.
And my engineering background? Well, that never really left me!
I found myself thinking about how things could be assembled more easily, how complicated constructions could be simplified, and how we could make products that were enjoyable to use without compromising on the finished result.
I love figuring out how things work. Sometimes I enjoy figuring out how to make them work even better!
Learning Through Teaching
Another part of this journey that I've really enjoyed is teaching.
Over the years, I've had the opportunity to teach hundreds of store owners, both in person and online.
I've also authored instructional books and created tutorials to help people understand our products and explore different ways of using them.
One of my favourite moments during a class is when someone says,
"Oh! I didn't know we could do that with this!"
I love that moment!
Sometimes, a product has so many possibilities that people don't discover until someone shows them.
And teaching has taught me a few things, too!
When you're explaining a project, you quickly discover which steps are confusing, what could have been simpler, and what seemed perfectly obvious when you were designing it.
Quite often, I come back from a class with ideas for improving our next product.
I suppose that's one of the nicest things about teaching. You never really stop being a student yourself.
Four Ways of Looking at One Idea
After all these years, I've realised that I rarely look at a product from just one perspective.
The crafter in me wants something beautiful.
The engineer wants to know how it works.
The retailer wants to know whether people will want it.
And the teacher wants to know whether people will understand it!
Sometimes these four perspectives agree immediately. Sometimes they have rather different opinions!
But somewhere between them, I usually find the answer I'm looking for.
I think that's what I enjoy most about product development. It's not just about coming up with ideas. It's about making those ideas work for the people who will eventually use them.
The Heart Behind the Hands
Behind every CrafTreat product is a team of people who bring patience, skill, and care to what they do.
One of the things that means a great deal to me is that our work creates employment opportunities for women and helps support their families.
As our ideas grow, so does the opportunity to create meaningful work for more people.
It's something I'm proud to be part of.
And the Joy of Creating?
Because crafting is more than paper and glue.
It's a quiet moment after a long day.
It's a memory being made.
It's the excitement of trying something new.
It's the satisfaction of figuring something out.
And sometimes, it's simply the happiness of hearing someone say,
"You made that?!"
I still love that feeling.
And I have a feeling there's still so much more ahead.
After all these years, I'm still doing what I love most:
Creating things that make people want to create.
With gratitude,
Priya Sivaraj
Co-Founder, CrafTreat & Color Conceptions