Sreelatha Menon: The craft of survival

Blue pottery and other crafts await access to markets even in the day and age of e-commerce

Malshi and his six brothers live in Mota Varnora village in Bhuj, Gujarat. This village and several others in the neighbourhood are full of weavers. Malshi and Khimji Samji Vankar, a relative from the neighbouring Bhujodi village, sell most of their exquisitely embroidered and woven clothes to middlemen or wholesale buyers who collect these from their villages. Malshi and his family of six brothers, their wives and children together barely make enough.

The various patterns on the clothes come out of their imagination. They have no designers or designs to copy from, says Malshi. But, is this rich imagination inherited from generations by the men and women of Kutch remunerated enough? They are shocked, but helpless, to see their products selling in shops in the Capital for five to ten times the rate they get from the middlemen.

Malshi, who is in Delhi to sell his wares at the Crafts Museum, is not alone. There are artisans and weavers from different states. Apart from these rare outings, there is little happening to improve the condition of the artisans or encouraging their craft.

Online marketing sites have been coming up but artisans are mostly cut off. Malshi and his relatives are oblivious of the e-commerce phenomenon. He finds it difficult to believe that his products can be sold virtually. The websites are solely by and for traders, not for artisans.

Ram Lal Sen, a blue pottery artisan who was earlier part of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Jaipur, vows against making his sons craftsmen. He struggles at his kiln with a handful of workers, many of them threatening to leave the craft. He invests about Rs 45,000 a month, including inputs and wages, and manages to earn only Rs 15,000 a month.

Ashok Vyas who started the website RAPJaipurblue.com to help artisans get direct orders from India as well abroad, is yet to receive a single order. He does not have the money to update his website, as well. He feels lack of education is the biggest handicap for the craftsmen, as they have no idea about the government initiatives and the endless possibilities available online. As for his website, he has financial constraints and has not had the knack of publicising it.

The government agencies don’t reach out to artisans, most of whom are uneducated and, hence, timid to demand information, he says. Rajsthali Emporia in Rajasthan used to exhibit crafts, but stopped taking new pieces 12 years ago. Now they demand a minimum sale guarantee price from artisans.

The only support the artisans get in Rajasthan is a pension of Rs 1,000, provided they never quit the kiln. With only 20-25 blue pottery kilns functioning in three or four villages in and around Jaipur, the craft is preparing for an unsung exit.

Ram Narayan Prajapat of Kot Jewar near Jaipur sells his wares regularly to a big exporter who makes much more than him. But I get orders regularly, he consoles himself. The exporter rejects half the pieces and leaves it on the artisan to sell these. With expensive inputs going into the making of these crafts, a rejection can be dejecting. But artisans are totally dependent and, hence, helpless.

“It won’t last. The inputs are getting very expensive and exporters are trying to keep artisans permanently dependent,” says Vyas. The problem is not different for the weavers of Bhuj, Benaras or any other weaving centre.

The government has failed so far, while social workers have morphed into traders in many cases. The only partner the artisans and weavers can trust could be students from professional institutes of management and design. They could probably give a helping hand to craftsmen, while enabling them to get what they deserve.