Projects - Identities of artisans…. embossed on leather: Story of Shanti Handicrafts

Embossed leatherwork on goatskin has been a specialty of West Bengal since 1940s. It is said that it was Tagore’s daughter-in-law who brought this legendary art of embossing to Bengal from Java.

It was around 1980, Sasha revived this unique skill and helped disseminate the craft to other parts of Bengal. It was Sasha’s sustained effort in design & product development, technical and skill upgradation, quality control and, most importantly, vigorous promotion & marketing drive that expanded the scope of this craft and created greater employment opportunities for the crafts persons.

Shanti Handicrafts is a small leather unit situated in rural Bengal, near India Bangladesh Land Border. The unit started 7-8 years back with few local artisans led by a young man who had some formal exposure in leather embossing. With SASHA’s initial inputs and order support, the small group at Shanti slowly grew up. In 5 years time, its turnover increased over two fold and the number of artisans increased from 4 people initially to 12 in 2004. The products included different varieties of bags, purse, frames, boxes etc. The products of this group reiterate the fact that traditional concepts can be molded to satisfy modern functional requirements.

In spite of the good work, the unit was suffering from low productivity and slow growth affecting its margins and fund flow. It was then that Sasha- EDF with support from Aid to Artisan, USA, conducted a study and undertook an integrated project at Shanti Handicrafts that intervened in several areas of operations & systems, design & development, modernization & skill upgradation..

Sasha- EDF offered a range of services to the group from infrastructure support, improvement in planning, processing, coloring, stitching and simultaneous skill development. It also assisted the group in creating and maintaining production and purchase records, delivery records, sample records and financial records so as to monitor production and marketing in an efficient manner and introduced simple MIS for better order processing, inventory control, enhanced delivering and invoicing.

EDF has introduced new design concepts, contemporary color schemes and a fresh look to the existing product range to developm new products. Sasha has promoted these products in the international market and propagated direct interface with foreign buyers through systematic feedback mechanisms.

Today Shanti Handicrafts is a thriving & growing enterprise. Its business has grown to about INR 15 Lakhs last year. Artisans have doubled and income has increased, so has the regularity of the job.

Dilip and Tapasi – the leaders of the unit comment:

“The support received from Sasha is huge. Now we know how much we can produce in what time and how we will maintain its quality and delivery schedule. Our business is growing due to the support and we have more men and women with us in the job. We and our fellow artisans have found a new identity and much more confidence in our trade”