The success story of Aakruti Glass Crafts dates back to the year 1991, when it was started by the husband and wife team of Anil and Sushma Shah. "I graduated from the J J School of Art in 1984-85 and only 5 years later did my fascination for glass, lead to it becoming my vocation. My husband, a mechanical engineer, helped with the technical aspects of the trade. We went through no formal training, but learnt only through experimenting, through trial and error methods," says Sushma Shah, the creative mind behind Mumbai's Aakruti.

Starting with a two-person team, the glass crafts company has expanded today to a large team of well trained, motivated artists and craftsmen catering to varied requirements of architects and interior designers not only from Mumbai, but across the country and abroad.

"Over the years we have been adding various new innovative processes to our already comprehensive process portfolio: the latest being glass fusion, glass slumping, real stained glass, beveled clusters, sand carving, acid etching, glass moulding and imitation stained glass. We are also working on exclusive glass furniture. We are the only company in Mumbai to produce textures in fusion," says a proud Sushma Shah. She adds, "We have set ourselves a target to be the most customer service oriented studio by the end of the millennium."

These varied artistic glass pieces cost anywhere from Rs 35/- to Rs 3000/- per square foot depending on the process involved