Up and innovate!

Innovative entrepreneurs Anupama Prakash and Pavan Kumar’s tryst with starting up is a story that needs to be told. After having co-founded Workbench Projects, a dedicated space in the city that creative people and innovators from different walks of life could call home, the duo is all set to host Hackaday Prize, a creative assemblage event that’s slated to take place on April 25. In a freewheeling conversation, they tell us more.

“While we were engaged in building a product for an educational services company, we realised that the city did not have a dedicated studio for creative experimentation. Hence, right after the completion of the project, we decided to build a space for ourselves and people around us who could be struggling on the same grounds to take projects and programs from idea to fruition!” pipes Anupama tracing the origin behind the venture.

Quite like most success stories, theirs too was  a tale of humble beginnings. “Believe it or not, but when Pavan and I decided to go about with the idea, we had no other go but to start off at my father’s old garage!” she pipes. Started in October last year, the space has housed over fifty workshops, innovative assemblage programs and story telling events till date.

Elucidating about the forthcoming Hackaday Prize event Anupama says, “The reason we’re excited about this event is because it’s absolutely a platform for creative souls from different walks of life to experiment with their ideas. The intent is to get artistes, hackers and builders of all kind under one roof to use this podium as a canvas to express their creativity.”

While organising seminars and conducting programs take most of their time, Pavan reveals how his innate passion for drumming takes most of his spare time. “When I’m not drumming, I constantly tinker and toy with ideas that I find exciting to build online for my new born. Also, I’m crazy about technology and keep myself informed about the happenings world over in research.”  

Whereas Anupama, who has developed a green thumb in the recent times, reveals about her organic gardening fetish that keeps her busy in her free time. “I spend as much time as I can to keep my green pockets in the apartment as edible as it can get. I’m into organic gardening and love preservative-free vegetables,” she says.

Speaking about the growing need for spaces that foster the unleashment of creativity, Pavan adds, “Taking learning from this very first space, Anupama and I wanted to showcase a model of success, so that more number of such spaces emerge and there will be a community of makers growing and the culture is embraced by the public. It’s been a bumpy ride, but we’re glad about how things are shaping up!”