Ensuring a fair price for our artisans is paramount
The India Craft House is a pioneering social enterprise dedicated to preserving and promoting India’s rich craft heritage through a digital platform that connects the world with the ancient and intricate craft forms of Indian artisans. Established with a passion for empowering artisans and conserving traditional crafts, it aims to elevate the dignity of Indian craftsmen by curating a unique selection of contemporary products that blend timeless tradition with modern appeal. Speaking to Fibre2Fashion, Founder & Director Sona Puri discusses preserving and promoting India’s rich craft and textile heritage.
What recent trends have you observed in the traditional clothing sector, and how do you anticipate they will influence consumer preferences in the near future?
There is a growing gravitation towards sustainable fabrics and an encouraging trajectory in terms of customers being appreciative of hand-crafted apparel. The premium attached to these products is not really frowned upon and in many cases, customers do not mind the extra they are paying as long as it conforms to the ‘sustainable/ handcrafted’ quotient. This trend is only likely to grow, especially as the youth and next gen becomes more and more sensitised to the need of the hour. Given large disposable incomes becoming a norm, it is not only seen as an aspirational style statement but also as an expression of one’s social consciousness.
How can companies maintain the authenticity and cultural significance of Indian crafts amidst the diverse range of traditional art forms across the country?
Simply by ensuring they stay close and true to the character and nature of each individual craft form, and by refraining from diluting its core essence. This way, one ensures that the inherent beauty of a craft is retained. At best, one can value add in terms of a modernised product with an innovated form or shape, keeping the craft process intact.
In what way can companies promote the economic empowerment of Indian artisans and contribute to their sustainable livelihoods?
For companies like ours, promoting the economic empowerment of Indian artisans and contributing to their sustainable livelihoods involves following fair trade practices and assisting artisans with accessing markets, new product ideas, and innovative categories. This requires out-of-the-box thinking to come out with game-changing products. This would need a high level of commitment and dedication, but it can be achieved if each of us strives to do our best in this regard.
For the corporate sector, their biggest contribution would be in terms of the choices they make mostly for their gifting requirements – internally and externally. Given the size of our country and the growth trajectory we are on, this itself can be a large contributor to the sustenance of the craft sector and would be like holding a candle up to show the younger generation of artisans a road map of a viable livelihood opportunity. This, in turn, would help preserve our legacy of craft.
Export markets are also a major focus area for supporting the preservation and growth of the craft sector.
What initiatives can Indian businesses take to expand the market reach of handicraft products beyond traditional boundaries and into new international markets?
Indian businesses can conduct thorough research, benchmarking, and innovation based on the collected information to appeal to customer preferences worldwide. Different markets have different needs, so it is crucial to consider this while developing products, particularly regarding their aesthetics.
The key is to offer contemporary products that showcase the beauty of craftsmanship. Moreover, making craft scalable involves assisting artisans in finding newer and faster ways of creating their products. It is essential to ensure they are adequately sensitised and trained to maintain high-quality standards consistently. Only then can they establish sustainable companies capable of meeting the challenges of growth and expansion.
Can you tell us about the founding story of The India Craft House and what inspired its creation?
India is an amazing country with an unparalleled heritage in terms of its art, craft, culture, and history spanning millennia. The India Craft House was essentially born from an ardent desire to contribute in some small way to preserving and promoting this legacy that each of us as Indians has inherited. The driving objective was to help create a larger canvas than what exists today, for all the beautiful and unparalleled creativity that the simple artisans of India have been quietly perfecting for centuries by creating a fair price platform for these artisans who have very limited access to any market, leave alone global markets.
The primary reason to start at that time was the cause in itself and the web platform was the perfect means to support the ideology. While India is a large exporter of handicraft, there were a few key issues we envisaged. One, the fact that a large variety of rural craft does not make it to the popular markets and stores. These remain limited to local town centric sales or then at periodic exhibitions in larger cities. Even here, the reach is extremely limited. We felt there lay a huge gap in connecting the smaller village level artisans to the larger domestic and global markets and only a select cross-section of popular craft would normally make the grade.
Two, the fact that artisans deserved much better prices for the fabulous work they delivered. A fair price platform seemed to be the need of the hour. As a rule, and a mindset, one never haggles over prices of branded goods. Then why the need to push a poor artisan’s earnings lower? So, there was the need to sensitise the general populace to appreciate a craft legacy, to support craft and value the artisan’s skill, talent and hard work.
Three, and perhaps the most important was also to do our own small bit in helping to preserve a heritage. In spite of such large exports, artisans are still struggling with livelihood. Perhaps the most important objective we hoped to achieve for these artisans, was in terms of being able to reach new markets, setting into motion a cycle of repeat orders and purchase. This in turn would help in making craft a lucrative work option for the younger generations of these artist villages. Clearly a lot needs to be done to stop this and to ensure craft revival is a collective movement supported across the board.
How does The India Craft House contribute to preserving and promoting India’s rich heritage of craft and textile traditions?
As mentioned earlier, the primary measure of our impact is the difference we can make in an artisan’s life, as well as presenting a compelling path for their families and future generations to engage willingly in the craft. This approach ensures the legacy of the craft is carried forward by the younger generations in artisan families, thereby preserving the craft. It became imperative for us to make craftsmanship a lucrative and attractive income option for the younger demographic, so they can see a promising future in it. Therefore, actively promoting crafts and textiles, and finding broader markets and acceptance for them, remains at the core of our entire work ethos.
Ensuring a fair price for our artisans is paramount, as well as maintaining reasonable profitability for us to sustain our existence. Very often, we are faced with situations of competitive pricing, where we are told an item is available at a much cheaper price elsewhere – especially in the case of wholesale buying. Nine times out of ten, these lower prices are due to the involvement of middlemen or traders. In such cases, we are fundamentally clear and non-compromising on the fact that if the choice is between squeezing the artisan or letting go of the order, we will opt for the latter. We thus ensure a certain respect and dignity for the effort and time spent by the artisan on his craft
What sets The India Craft House apart from other platforms or enterprises that promote artisanal products?
Our extensive range, our authenticity across the board, our extensive network and needless to say we have been probably the first movers in this space. Consequently, there exists a wealth of experience that we have garnered over the years and have also developed strong relationships with our artisans as well as the confidence of our long-standing customer base. We can humbly say that we are recognised as perhaps one of the best craft-based sites in the country today, and this is what motivates us to keep expanding our efforts.
Also, while we started out largely as an inventory-based model, today we are a hybrid version. We mostly buy from all the smaller artisans. We do not just aggregate like other marketplaces. Most e-commerce companies today are aggregators. This may not be the best business decision but then our objective is different. There is a firm belief that in the long run we can make a tangible difference in our own way, to generating a demand and a wider market for a wider variety of Indian craft. If we offer the range, the market will manifest itself.
Could you elaborate on the process of curating products for The India Craft House? How do you select artisans and craft forms to feature on your platform?
Basically, it is quite simple. Driven by our core principles of promoting craft, supporting artisans, and preserving heritage, we aim to cover a wide spectrum of handcrafted products from across the country. We continuously strive to expand our range of crafts and artisans. Sometimes, we establish connections with artisans during our travels, and quite often, they reach out to us seeking assistance to sell their work. The rest of the curation process is largely influenced by our sense of aesthetics and the marketability of the products.
Can you share some examples of the eco-friendly initiatives undertaken by The India Craft House to promote sustainability in the textile and apparel segment?
We are extremely discerning about ensuring that every piece of textile/apparel featured by us has a connection to craftsmanship and sustainability, whether it be through handwoven fabrics or block prints, embroidery, or other such handcrafting processes. A prime example of our commitment to sustainability is our active support for handwoven fabric like organic Kala cotton, which is as sustainable as it gets, given its zero-pesticide cotton and minimal use of water. Another example is Kashida Pattu weaving that we have tried to adopt in a range of Indo-western apparel that we featured recently.
How does The India Craft House balance the preservation of traditional craft techniques with the need to innovate and appeal to modern tastes? Also, could you describe the process of customising bulk orders?
Again, it is quite straight forward. Craft techniques themselves are so beautiful and incredibly mesmerising that it would be sheer folly to traverse away from them – something that remains intrinsic to our core values. So the rest of the question is to mostly understand the craft well enough to be able to effectively innovate successfully. Naturally, this exercise also entails working closely with the artisans in the entire creative process. Creating products for specific target customer segments is very important.
In bulk orders, whether its domestic or international, it is pretty much the same principle. The only difference is that in these cases the product developed is in conjunction with the customer based on his requirement and budget.
Can you discuss the role of The India Craft House in empowering artisans to adapt to changing market trends and preferences?
While we do feature a lot of traditional crafts that are original creations made by the artisans based on their own sense of aesthetics, design and legacy, we also work and innovate with them to create newer versions of traditional craft to help create a new market for products that may have dwindled in terms of demand, or in helping them with designs/ideas that could trigger a whole new range for them. So essentially, it is a question of sharing our market intelligence to help them grow. We look forward to creating products with more craft forms, that are likely to reach and enthuse a larger customer base than we are able to satisfy today. We would focus more on developing contemporary products from craft. Our endeavour is to assist artisans in developing newer products by helping them with innovative product designs, assisting them with research on techniques, and empowering them to be more efficient in the quality of products they make, so that it fetches better value for them.
Can you discuss the role of The India Craft House in empowering artisans to adapt to changing market trends and preferences?
While we do feature a lot of traditional crafts that are original creations made by the artisans based on their own sense of aesthetics, design and legacy, we also work and innovate with them to create newer versions of traditional craft to help create a new market for products that may have dwindled in terms of demand, or in helping them with designs/ideas that could trigger a whole new range for them. So essentially, it is a question of sharing our market intelligence to help them grow. We look forward to creating products with more craft forms, that are likely to reach and enthuse a larger customer base than we are able to satisfy today. We would focus more on developing contemporary products from craft. Our endeavour is to assist artisans in developing newer products by helping them with innovative product designs, assisting them with research on techniques, and empowering them to be more efficient in the quality of products they make, so that it fetches better value for them.
Looking ahead, what are the future goals and aspirations of The India Craft House in the textile and apparel segment?
We have a driving vision to make handloom and Indian craft techniques in textile and fabric an equally widespread and strong vertical for us. This we hope would include not just apparel but also a wide range of home furnishings as well as personal accessories crafted from sustainable materials and fabrics. Naturally, staying true to our brand and all that we stand for, we will aim to ensure our range achieves a satisfactory geographical coverage of the craft forms offered, across states.
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