Project name: Handskart

Project location: We are currently based in 3 cities across the globe including our Headquarters De Carnot, Le Kremlin Bicentre, Paris, France.
Our Warehouse is in A1-1, RIICO industrial area, Jaipur, Rajasthan. We are also based in Barcelona, Spain.

Website: http://handscart.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handscart/

Project description:

Crafts have been a livelihood option in villages for decades now. Designers have worked with crafts, and so have government agencies. While other countries continue to recognize Indian art, we remain clueless about the same. Artisans themselves are limited to traditional designs, and do not have formal training in design or skill-development and therefore rely on external support reducing themselves to handicraft laborers. Our Project enables artisans to develop a sustainable livelihood through learning design, enhancing their skills and develop markets for themselves. Revival aims at recognizing each tribe's culture, art and spreading the same amidst masses. In time, we expect to strengthen the artisan's abilities to innovate, create their markets, and eliminate middlemen.

We strongly believe that to spread the message of crafts and culture we need to engage both the rural and urban audiences. At the rural level, we work with artisans and women's groups. The majority of the artisans are subsistence farmers or work as daily wage laborers. With other livelihood opportunities available, and limited demand for handicrafts, pursuing their craft is not a lucrative livelihood option. We work in collaboration with the artisans and their communities to understand the intricacies of their lives, their cultural heritage and the challenges they face in practicing their craft. Interacting with the communities helps us understand various social issues they face – like education for their children and health services. The approach we follow encourages artisans to incorporate their culture into the products they make for the urban market. This makes the products personal for them and introduces the customer to the cultural narrative of their community. In urban areas, we collaborate with schools, colleges, and other non-profit organizations to engage young people in the age group of 14-30 in traditional Indian crafts and culture. Our store is an active venue for workshops, film screenings, and discussions, that bring together people from all walks of life. As people come forward to engage in these activities, they get involved on various levels – from volunteering with us to connecting us to more people passionate about the issues we work on. While school and college students get motivated to volunteer with us, young professionals help us expand in their community and corporate networks. Based on our interaction with both rural and urban communities, we realize that there exists a curiosity in both to know about each other. Thought processes of both communities are hardly any different, but there is a need to create a platform to bridge the gap. It is this bridge that we seek to build through our activities and interactive events.

 

Full Article

 

https://www.deutschland.de/en/handscart-india