About
Shipra Nayyar is a product designer and creative director from India who recently moved to Maryland, USA. A chemical engineer- turned designer -turned entrepreneur, Shipra has an unquenchable thirst for innovation and is at the forefront of AI creative direction. Graduate from BITS Pilani, She worked in international energy sector for twelve years and in 2018, she launched her own luxury handbag label Özel which is now a renowned name in India.
CV available upon request.
Get in touch at hello@shipranayyar.com
As the founder and Creative Director of Özel, a handcrafted luxury fashion accessory brand, Shipra is passionate about bringing ideas to life that spark emotion, empower people, and leave a lasting impression.
After earning a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) from the Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences (BITS Pilani, Goa Campus) in 2010, Shipra went to work for Shell in various roles across Contracting and Procurement. She managed third party spend portfolios of more than $100 million and worked with leading suppliers for energy equipment and services across Europe and Asia. Shipra also handled impact investing for access to energy and electric mobility startups across India, working with incubators, accelerators, and startup founder teams to have a positive social and environmental impact while simultaneously generating ROI.
While at Shell, Shipra travelled extensively across the globe and led multi cultural teams. During one of her trips, she realized her love for design and took a break from the corporate world to train underprivileged women in vocational craft skills to create handcrafted products and earn a livelihood. Blending artistic vision with practical execution, she started Özel in 2018, establishing a purpose-driven brand and production unit that empowered local talent through meaningful training and employment for artisans across India.
Shipra led design, production, and marketing to create a brand supporting 70+ livelihoods, with a community of over 130,000 social media followers and 50,000 customers globally. Özel is now one of the leading brands for premium handbags and accessories in India, recognised for its design leadership, exquisite craftsmanship and ethical production. Özel has been spotted down the red carpet at Cannes, New York Fashion Week, Lakme Fashion Week and carried by leading celebrities and content creators of India.
Shipra believes in building digital first (and now AI first) companies and has been experimenting with Gen AI to take her brands to the next level with AI assisted creative direction and visual narration.
Shipra’s work has been featured in countless publications and she has earned the Pink Power Entrepreneur Award and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women recognition. She recently moved to Maryland USA and now navigating the next level of scale by exploring new product categories and collaborations