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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.

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)

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