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Enigmatic India

This blog captures the life experiences of the Enigmatic India team in the beautiful and enigmatic country of India.We capture our experiences through our writings, photos and products that depict the very essence and fabric of India.Through this platform, we invite you to join us in our journey as we explore.
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Saturday, October 17, 2020

Artisans around us: Kiranbala Harichandan

multi-proficient artisan who weaves magic with hands:  Kiranbala Harichandan


Kiranbala Harichandan is the master handicrafts person who runs Seven Diamond Multicraft, that is a producer of handmade items . Situated at Lokeswarpur, Pallahat, Khordha District of Odisha, this organization has been functioning since 2005. Previously, it started with home creations however now their creative work has made its path to diverse stalls in the last fifteen years.


Their products include applique paintings, embroidery, straw art and paddy artwork which is made by trained individuals. They even create pillow covers, sofa covers and bedsheets, which they promote from houses or from stalls at Gopalpur, Bhubaneswar or anywhere else when they get a chance.


Kiranbala, besides being an outstanding artisan, she also gives training to young people at distinctive locations for which she is being paid by the government. She has 15+ artisans working with her at Seven Diamond Multicraft. They acquire the raw materials in bulk from places like Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri & Pipili and they an inventory for 3-4 months.


Their efforts in this is field has started to pay off because of the high quality of work. She shared that recently , they got an order for applique work for a temple for INR 28,000. However, the temple administration was so impressed that they paid additional INR 2,000.


She is a self-made artisan, who had this hobby since her school days and later converted this to a business. She believes that  "handmade products have much greater authenticity and beauty than the machine-made ones". At the same time, she expresses grief, that people nowadays are unaware of the high-quality produced by artisans and prefer the machine-made cheaper products. 
She is happy that our honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modiji has started the "vocal for local" campaign, and this she believes makes the case for artisans stronger. 


The current Covid-19 situation has posed a problem for her as the sales are down, however they are assured that they have got enough stocks of their artwork, which would start selling once things return to normalcy. 


That’s called optimism and our salute to many more Kiranbala's in India who are promoting local products and creating livelihoods for artisans.


(Interviewed by Neha Dash, KSOM 2nd year student during her internship with EnigmaticIndia. Photos have been provided by Ms Kiranbala)

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Artisans Around Us: Md Khurshid Ansari

“You got to pack anything, whenever you make a sale and that is an opportunity”: Khurshid Ansari

Md. Khurshid Ansari is a craftsman of Jute & Cotton working as a trainer in a production unit at Rishra close to Hooghly, in West Bengal. His organization is a part of the Bharatiya Mahila Sangathan since thirty years. Nine years into this organization as a craftsman, Mr. Khurshid has gained a great deal of recognition worldwide. Mr. Khurshid is not only a great artisan himself but also contributes to the society as a trainer at the Aditya Birla Institute. He has received many awards for his contribution to the society including Aditya Birla Jan Seva Trust for two years.

His organization deals with jute & cotton bags, canvas & Tisco bags. They make workplace  lunch boxes (
which is their best-selling product). Apart from this they supply gunny bags to Supermarkets/malls. In the initial days, he struggled a lot to form his team, which comprises mostly women. However after months of training, the team is well settled and delivering well. The supply chain for the products  involve procuring the jute and cotton directly from the mills  through an agent. The raw materials are  bought as per the frequency of orders and it is converted into finished good in an impressive line-up of the  twenty-five (25) machines for  Jute  products  and  twelve (12) machines for Cotton products. 

He definitely wants his products to go global through online channel, however due to very high packaging and shipping cost, he is unable to do so. This is limiting the sale of the products just to exhibitions and small shops/retail outlets. As asked by our team regarding how the Jute and Cotton bags will be reach globally, he quoted you got to pack anything whenever you make a sale and that is an opportunity that strikes us”. As there's slowly a ban of synthetic resin packaging, the demand of jute and cotton bags has seen an increase. He has seen that the craze for such eco-friendly products is increasing both in  Asia and Europe. Traveling within the country with these merchandise to various exhibitions, Melas, International Trade Fairs, noted exhibitions in cities. He has gained heaps of expertise regarding client preferences and also understanding the dynamical demands. Apart from these, he has tied up with a chain of providers in Odisha, which has a good uptake on Jute products (as it’s a Temple State and jute is considered to be a lucky material as per Mr. Khurshid).


Through this story he wants to reach out to individuals who support buying eco-friendly products /merchandises and also make us aware of the impact he and his organization is creating in generating livelihoods in his locality.


(Interviewed by Neha Dash, KSOM 2nd year Student during her internship with EnigmaticIndia. Photos have been provided by Mr Khurshid)

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