Amar Kutir, a landmark of handicrafts in West Bengal, was set up in the 1920s in Shantiniketan. It was home to the quintessential Shantiniketan embossed leather craft. The establishment was also involved in weaving, batik and agricultureand the workforce mostly comprised women.
However, after the demise of founder Sushen Mukherjee, Amar Kutir fell upon bad times and was finally dissolved in 1972. Later in the decade, Mukherjees friend Pannalal Dasgupta revived the society and formally registered the Amar Kutir Society for Rural Development.
Dasgupta invited the late Subhashini Kohli, Founder of Sarba Shanti Ayog (Sasha)a not-for-profit organization incepted in 1978 that works towards developing craft communitiesto Amar Kutir in 1978. There began the resurrection of Amar Kutir and its ascent to its glory days of yore. Kohli took up the responsibility of marketing the Amar Kutir products.
Sasha played a pivotal role in the revival of Amar Kutir and its crafts. It helped put up a decent production unit with machinery like the ball press, skiving and stitching machines for fabricating leather, thereby improving and enhancing production. Sashas designers also worked with the artisans on new designs and ideas, resulting in a larger product range of both traditional and contemporary designs.
With Sashas help and association with Fair Trade, an alternative trade movement, Amar Kutirs products made their way to markets in Europe, the U.S. and Japan. This resulted in a faster movement of goods and higher income. As part of its commitment to Fair Trade principles, Sasha also facilitated various training programs to upgrade skills and improve technique. Even today, it continues to provide product development inputs to keep artisans abreast of market demands, both abroad and in India.
When Sasha started out, craft in India was going through a bleak phase due to the influx of cheaper machine-made goods. Artisans were increasingly being marginalized and their products trivialized as ethnic and purely decorative, explains Roopa Mehta, Executive Director, Sasha. Over the years, Sasha has worked toward addressing these issues by creating sustainable markets, training artisan groups to organize themselves into sustainable production units and helping out with every other aspect of business, Mehta adds.
Also a founder member of the Fair Trade Forum in India, Sasha uses the Fair Trade network to market the products in India and abroad. A lot of products are also sold at exhibitions and from the Sasha Store in Kolkata. However, almost 92 percent of their sales take place in markets abroad. We try to be good partners of good businesses, says Mehta. Our style of business involves establishing long-term relationships with both buyers and artisans. This model helped us tide over the recession, too, as there was an established network of buyers, she says.
The company places a strong focus on encouraging women in rural areas to become handicraft entrepreneurs. Says Mehta, Earning independently changes the socio-economic and cultural stand of women in rural areas. Sasha has programs to provide them with financial, technical and managerial assistance. Currently, women constitute almost 70 percent of the total number of artisans working as a part of various producer groups associated with Sasha.
Sashas activities and responsibilities are divided between Sasha Association for Craft Producers and Sarba Shanti Ayog. While the former looks after business and sales, the latter looks after producer development, support and compliance. With Sarba Shanti Ayog leading, there are two producer networks: Sasha Textile Artisan Association, which has 35 producer groups, and the 15-member Sasha Craft Services.
This has translated into a Sasha producer earning of Rs. 4 crore last year, while Sashas turnover rose to Rs. 8 crore with 70 producersa huge increase from the Rs. 40,000 turnover in its first year, when it worked with just four producers.
Apart from a fixed minimum wage, artisans are also assisted with overhead cover, insurance, bank loans, savings schemes and assured work throughout the year. Mehta and her team plan to increase footprints in India by leveraging existing Fair Trade partners, such as Indus Tree.
We dont want to unnecessarily increase costs by investing in owned stores, as we can easily leverage the Fair Trade network, Mehta explains. With fixed buyers abroad who endorse the norms of Fair Trade (which does away with the middleman and ensures a minimum earning for artisans) the artisans are assured of continuous business. Now, with the two parameters of healthy businessorders and earningsfirmly in place, Sasha is all set to sashay into other parts of the country.
MILESTONES:Set up: 1978
First shop: Kolkata
First years turnover: Rs. 40,000
Current turnover: Rs. 8 crore
Producers turnover: Rs. 4 crore
OPERATIONS:92 percent sales clocked abroad. Remaining sales garnered through exhibitions and the shop in Kolkata and other Fair Trade network stores across the country.SOURCING:
From nearly 100 groups of disadvantaged women; marginalized producers and artisans from rural and semi-urban pockets of West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and the Northeast, among others.Entrepreneur October 2009
