An inspiration to craftspeople
A rural women’s collective and its marketing arm have created an ecosystem in which weavers get reasonable wages for producing ecologically sustainable, naturally dyed fabric, writes Geetanjali Krishna
Craftspeople across rural India, who are struggling with lack of market access and design inputs, need look no further than a cooperative from Karnataka for inspiration.
Charaka, a rural women’s collective, and its marketing arm DESI Trust, have grown from a band of 13 women and two sewing machines in 1994 to a workforce of 800 across seven districts of the southern state.
It all began when a group of civicminded citizens began travelling to villages in and around Shivamogga district to understand the local culture, lifestyle and problems of villagers.
“After chatting with them, we realised that, like craftspeople across the country, they too had very little access to urban markets and commercial design inputs,” says Prasanna Heggodu.
The group of individuals helped craftswomen organise themselves into a cooperative titled Charaka. Alongside, they founded the DESI (Developing Ecologically Sustainable Industries) Trust to market the products made by Charaka. The two sister organisations have created a model that can be easily replicated not only by craftspeople but by any rural producers across India.
Here’s how they work: DESI runs 16 outlets across the state, with an annual turnover of more than ~60 million. Sixty per cent of its sales are from products made by Charaka. Four Charaka members are trustees on DESI’s board, and rural craftspeople regularly visit DESI showrooms for product feedback and to connect with their market. DESI’s profits go back to the Charaka cooperative as a yearly bonus based on the scale of production by each member. The DESI staff also receive a yearly bonus depending on their performance. In this way, the profits earned are distributed to all the workers, in recognition of their contribution.
“Further, DESI provides constant marketing inputs to Charaka, while Charaka provides the solid technical background and experience that yields credibility to DESI,” says Heggodu.
The result? DESI has a production capacity of 35,000 metres per month, and is arguably one of the largest producers of naturally dyed handwoven fabric in India today. Charaka has 400 active looms across the state, which employ 800 workers. Together, they have created an ecosystem in which weavers get reasonable wages for producing ecologically sustainable, naturally dyed fabric — and more importantly, viable employment in their village which negates the need for migration.
“The handmade sector needs this kind of support,” says Heggodu. “Else, it will not be able to compete with factory-made goods.” DESI and Charaka also regularly organise festivals and exhibitions to popularise handmade goods, and advocate for the rights of handloom workers. “Ideally, we’d like our products to be utilitarian and as competitively priced as factory-made goods,” he says.
Charaka members are working on developing natural dyes that cost the same as chemical colours. In collaboration with Infosys Foundation, they are also setting up an institute for research, development and training of natural dyes at Bheemanakone in Shivamogga.
DESI’s marketing strategies, too, are unique. They don’t believe handcrafted and handmade products are commodities, in the way factory made products are. “So we have consciously set up shops in regular, middle-class houses,” says Heggodu.
The shops aren’t air-conditioned and people walking in have to remove their footwear in accordance with local customs. DESI hasn’t advertised their presence either, content to not grow the shop count further at this point.
“Often we tell our customers not to buy so much,” Prasanna laughs. “Why own so many things? Instead, we ask them to get their friends to visit and buy something small from our store.”
As has been witnessed with Amul and Lijjat Papad and now DESI/Charaka, marketing cooperatives and craft federations are a good way forward for rural producers, especially the smaller ones in remote places, to collectively access markets. In fact, DESI’s Gandhian approach of selling only handmade, sustainable products has not only ensured a market for them but also created pockets of rural selfsufficiency across Karnataka.
Unsurprisingly, a small-scale rural success story such as this has almost completely escaped the gaze of the powers that be in the state. But the quiet, invisible women of DESI and Charaka have shown that Gandhi’s philosophy still works.
DESI has a production capacity of 35,000 metres per month, and is one of the largest producers of naturally dyed handwoven fabric in India today
For more details as well as show addresses, check out desitrust.com and charaka.in or follow them on Facebook Next up, in times of increasing communal polarisation, a small organisation is doing what it can to promote harmony between communities