In the modern age of technology, where every single product that you find is ‘machine-made‘, traditional art & craft forms are at the brink of extinction. India being seventh largest country (by area) and one of the fastest-growing major economies, is a home to more than 10,000 such endangered art & craft forms which are integral part of country’s cultural heritage. These art forms vary over various traditions & regional styles and are of great significance, depicting region’s unique cultural values.
Traditional art-forms are now endangered, because neither the new generation of artists & skilled workers foresee any value continuing their hereditary line of work, nor do they find many sponsors to support their hand-made work nowadays.
How Nazariya is trying to safeguard these endangered art forms:
- Bringing these beautiful but dying art and paintings back into the public attention. Products made independently by small makers from around the country.
- Rejuvenating the interest of the new generation by re-launching and portraying ‘one-of-a-kind’ traditional art-forms in the new avatar.
- People pour in interest when they get to know the rare story of artisan behind the art form they are purchasing.
- Providing an e-commerce platforms where consumers could order such products online.
Problem Analysis
Traditional art forms do exist for sell in the market, however one can easily feel the need of a reform.
- People in general don’t consider traditional art & craft business as a true industry that could drive economic development and could create jobs. They don’t realise the economic value of this essential sector.
- Consumer don’t realise the true value of a master-piece sculpture, wall painting, miniature painting or a jewellery which is actually born after a great deal of handwork. They remain insensitive to the compensation they are paying.
- Artisans get the minuscule share of the actual market value of the final product. Most of the painters, potters, carpenters and weavers get just the one-tenth of the product value, which is the bare minimum for their survival.
Insight into company – Nazariya
Started in 2015 by Raghvi Khurana with an aim to connect artisans and craftsman from rural and farthest areas of the country to the mainstream economy. It has a vision to create a single platform that not only trade the finished art products but also to publish the origination detail of the product, who made this product and the rare story of those craftsman. The company was part of IIM-Bangalore, NSRCEL, launchpad program.
Nazariya is currently operational in Delhi and Bangalore. With over 60 products in 7 categories listed from 10 makers, Nazariya is on a path to become full-blown e-commerce site selling great artisan items from around the country.
Raghvi got a positive participation in her last exhibition organised at Chithrakala Parishath in Kerala in Dec 2016. She is organising various workshops across Delhi and Bangalore to promote traditional arts. These workshops are attended by vast diversity of visitors. Participants range from people over age group 15-60 years and from students to corporate professionals. They are generating awareness of traditional art-forms and games among kids of age group 8-15 years via workshops which are both fun & knowledge.
Past events include: 1) DIY puppet making from waste, 2) The joy of playing traditional games. You can find more details here.
Looking into the future
Looking into the future, Raghvi, Founder of Nazariya, told that “she is now looking for corporate and school tie-ups.” This is to scale up the reach of unique art products in the form of gifts along with spreading stories and cultural history. One of the logical question asked by our team was, “How Nazariya differentiate themselves from other corporate gifting and workshops”. Then Raghvi told that they differentiate themselves with two unique qualities:
- 70:30 revenue policy: In any event and sales, 70 percent of the amount is passed on to the artisans. This helps artisans in better sustainability and getting fair price for their work.
- Not only a gift box: Customized and personalized gifting is specialty of Nazariya team, with a twist. They gift-wrap art piece along with its story and cultural history. Which helps in increasing art awareness as well a creating happy moments for people.
CSR friendly activities:
Since Nazariya is promoting less-known art-form only, they are in-directly working for improvement of particular society section. Government is also actively encouraging these activities.
Have you recently seen tribal art form and wondered its history? Do share your experiences and how you would love to see endangered art-forms of India flourishing again.
You can read latest stories of Nazariya here.
