Rich cultural heritage and marvelous crafts
India is a country of rich cultural heritage with her marvelous arts and crafts.
They depict the ancient cultural traditions of the people.
The artisans even in the early days were known worldwide for their skill and craftsmanship.
India is a country of rich cultural heritage with her marvelous arts and crafts. They depict the ancient cultural traditions of the people. The artisans even in the early days were known worldwide for their skill and craftsmanship. Even today India is a treasure trove of exquisite handicrafts and a rich diversity of traditional art forms. The works of art and handicrafts are actually produced with creativity and great reverence. Abundant labour, low capital investment and uniqueness of the artworks are the characteristics of Indian handicrafts. It provides employment opportunities to more than six million artisans – roughly one fifth of the total working force in household and industrial sector of the country.
The handicraft industries in India are very much diversified with a lot of varieties and products. They are concentrated in the rural, semi-urban and suburban areas of many states and union territories. The Indian crafts are highly diversified; some familiar areas of crafts are: Textile; Clay like Terracotta; Metal like Dhokra; Jewellery; Woodwork; Stone; Glass and Ceramic; Pottery; Leather; Paintings; Bamboo; Grass Crafts like Jute, Madur and Sabai; Shells; Paper and many more.
Challenges
Indian handicrafts are highly commendable everywhere and they have a large foreign demand; however Indian artisans face a lot of problems in production and marketing of handicraft products. Some of the common problems are: lack of availability of, sufficient raw materials and fund; insecurity in life; poverty; unemployment; exploitation from intermediaries or middlemen etc. As a result, majority of the artisans are not interested to bring their next generation into this field. Indian Government has taken a lot of initiatives to uplift the Indian crafts sector, but unfortunately these schemes end up in the wrong hands hence denying support to the needy artisans.
There are various setbacks in this sector, which are to be resolved and addressed by all, like local communities, non-government organizations, and individuals. Despite all the problems still, it can be declared that the Indian handicraft sector has a huge potential to grow and people wish to be a part of this sector. However, growth help is needed from all to smoothen the establishment and development of business and make more employment and stability in this sector.
Involvement
Every problem has a solution; we just need to discover it. After a thorough research doing grass-root study of artisans and their artifacts, various steps have been taken by Earthen Living to bring a change in the lives of the Indian artisans.
Indian artisans always struggle to display their products to the national market as that is almost beyond their reach. Earthen Living has provided opportunities to them like product photography and e-cataloguing giving them space at Earthen Store.
Design
The Indian handicraft sector has a dire need to embrace the concept of the global style to access the demand for contemporary design and remain distinct in the market. Earthen Living has skilled professionals to help crafts-people to help in the areas like product design and development. This helps them to meet the expectations of the target customers.
Logistics
At present many Indian artisans have limited or no access to logistics services like printing, packaging and quality certification, etc. To avoid this problem, Earthen Living suggests various ways like warehouse support; pick up and distribution services for quick market access.
Support
Earthen Living wants to break the chain of captive setup created by dishonest middlemen. To do so, that organization provides financial support to buy raw materials from the market and later display them on the pages of Earthen Store.