Hand For Handmade

Hi, I am Shibani, the Founder of @BaayaDesign. We have created a collective platform ‘A Hand for Handmade’ and some incredible people, who have been in this field for a long time have joined hands and put in many good ideas. An interesting cross section - architects, interior designers, craft designers, CSR people, academicians, producer companies and not for profits are a part of this group. I Thank them all for joining. When I initiated this group, it was with a simple thought- how can we keep sustaining artisans and give them continued income in this time and in the foreseeable future? An uncertain, disturbing and difficult time. ‘This time’ can be a few months or perhaps the impact can continue for years ahead. We first need to understand the views from experts here- what is their perspective on the days to come. Not only about artisans, but the entire ecosystem. If businesses that give income to artisans are themselves under threat, then a big chunk of the market will disappear. In such a scenario, exporters, businesses that create artisan products, designers who work with artisans are all faced with a dire outlook. Thus, we may need to think more long term. Maybe we can think of market as comprising of bulk export, international tourists, domestic tourism, local utility, fashion, home decor, corporate and hospitality segments. Which of these may continue to do well? What new needs may emerge? How can design intervention help? It is clear that we will need to depend on the domestic market to buy at this time. Can we start a movement to promote hand made artisanal products? Almost like the swadeshi movement ...create a sense of duty and pride in buying hand made goods ? Baaya Design has created this platform to discuss such ideas and more with initiating a webinar 30th of April. More will follow. I believe in the incredible leverage that our collective effort can bring. Keep the ideas coming...