The advantages of having less

A founder’s journal from Goa

I was recently reading Rework by Jason Fried, especially the chapter on embracing constraints.

It made me think deeply about COCO LENI.

In the early days, we did not have enough money to import different types of hinges and components from Germany.

We also could not afford the machines needed to install spring hinges, even if we wanted to use them.

So we did what we could.

We started with stronger riveted hinges.

They had to be installed by hand. They needed more time, more patience, and more skill.

At that time, it felt like a limitation. Looking back, it became one of our strengths.

The same thing happened with materials.

Initially, we could only afford to buy buffalo horn plates.

We could not buy large quantities of bio-acetate directly from manufacturers because the MOQs were too high.

Horn is not an easy material to work with.

It is natural, unpredictable, and difficult to shape. But starting with a tougher material trained our craftspeople in a way that nothing else could have.

Later, when we began working more with bio-acetate, it felt easier to work with and master.

Even when we added better tools and machinery later, it did not feel like we were replacing skills.

It felt like giving a better racket to a skilled tennis player.

You can only truly appreciate good tools when your hands already understand the work.

Otherwise, it is just an expensive racket in the hands of a beginner.

For many years, all we really had were craftspeople, simple tools, and constraints.

But constraints force you to think harder.

They force you to be creative.
They force you to simplify.
They force you to make decisions that come from necessity, not ego.

And now, as COCO LENI grows, I feel we must continue to create constraints for ourselves,

even when we technically do not have them anymore.

Because without restraint, it is very easy to create a bloated product line.

Too many products.
Too many distractions.
Too many things that do not truly matter.

Restraint may become our simplest formula going forward.

Do fewer things.
Make them better.
Use the extra resources with more responsibility.

That could mean planting more trees. We have already planted over 6,700.

It could mean creating more jobs, even when a machine can do the same work faster.

It could mean choosing a slower, more human way of building, even when the world keeps pushing for speed.

For me, constraints are no longer just something we had to deal with.

They are something we must protect.

Because sometimes, the thing that limits you in the beginning becomes the thing that gives your work its soul.