Dear Friends,

You would recollect that a few weeks ago I had posted an interview regarding a
shell craft trainign workshop that was conducted in Port Blair by the Crafts
Council of India (CCI).

Following is the note prepared on the workshop by the CCI

Posting it in case anyone is interested in knowing more and / or following up.

thanks

Pankaj





NOTE ON THE PDP:

The Crafts Council of India (CCI) with the support of the office of the
Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles organized a product
development programme on jewelry and accessories in seashell, mother of pearl
and coconut shell. It was conducted between 6th-12th February2006 at the Design
Centre, Cottage Industries, Port Blair.
The objective was to widen the current market to cater to a more niche market.

About 25craftsmen both sea and coconut shell participating in this workshop.
Both master craftsmen and experienced trainees participated. (In which there
were about 10-12 women, whom were mostly trainees participated. However it's
visibly a male dominated industry.)

The craftsmen are skilled in buffing, engraving and cutting. Skills are similar
in working with both media as most coconut shell craftsmen initially worked with
shell so they have adapted the existing machinery and styles to using coconut
shell.



Prior to the workshop there were several concerns expressed by the craftsmen:



Imposition on usage of raw material:

Trochus niloticus (a variety of shell) that is used for most shell-based
jewelry is under a schedule 4 regulation imposed on seashell procurement and
trading, issued by the Department of Environment and Forests. Andaman and
Nicobar Administration. The regulation only permits license holders (Since 1994
a licensing system was introduced only to registered shell craft industries. The
Director of Fisheries was designated as an authorized officer, to keep a check
on the rights of shell fishing and the quantity of shell procured) to use
already available stock. So the craftsmen show a bill for a quantity that does
not get exhausted and procure illegally. This is the accepted practice. So the
requirement of Trochus for the workshop, as CCI is a non-governmental
organization, was possible to procure only through this network, otherwise it
gets bureaucratic.. Most other shells used for jewelry are feely available. But
Trochus remains vital to jewelry for these craftsmen. Minimum working charges is
with trochus, in comparison to say working with mother of pearl.



Master craftsmen/ individual proprietors have lost their skilled workers. A
standard for a skilled worker is apparently one with expertise in using the
trochus, now with bans imposed and low production rates, much of the workers
have stopped working and have shifted occupations. The coconut shell craftsmen
whom were originally skilled in shells, shifted or prefer to work with coconut
shell because of the ban (imposed in 2004) and the hassles that come with
dealing with the various governing bodies. Two in particular the Department of
Environment and Forests which gives subsidies and clearance in procurement of
raw material /imposes bans And the Department of Fisheries which issues
licensees, auctions raw material/regulates procurement of sea shells.



Using new material: The craftsmen expressed a need in understanding or having a
good working knowledge of raw material that is available or made available.
However a draw back in using new materials like wood, plastic, metal that the
craftsmen have faced is to keep up with existing finishing rates. Also the
required expertise and tools that come with working with new material are
necessary. Previous to this workshop, a workshop (for 15 days) was conducted in
wood by the design development center, in Bangalore (using Paduka wood which is
popular in the islands) but getting tools and the wood was a problem for some of
the craftsmen. Techniques such as the usage of colored acrylic sheets for
jewelry were suggested during a three-day jewelry workshop (conducted by CCI, as
part of the Grass to Gold convention in 2004, in Chennai) but procuring material
is expensive. Dependency on usage of shells is thought to be more economical.



Market

Market largely dependant on Sagarika and the Khadi Gram Udyog Board,which

have retail outlets at the Cottage Industries Emporiums.

Goods are sold on a consignment basis and a ten percent commission is taken by
Sagarika and 12% by Khadi. On an average most craftsmen supply a stock worth
1lakh

annually, some very established craftsmen gave figures of eight lakhs worth
stock and a return of six lakhs.Returns are high only during the tourist season
(Dec-May) the next six months are variable.These emporiums have a high sales
target, bring in large quantities of goods from main land (through craftsmen in
Portblair) and are sold at a competitive price range, as labour is cheap.
Enterprising craftsmen trade with wholesalers locally and from the mainland and
supply mainland goods to the emporium. This goes against the ideals of a cottage
industries emporium, in supporting small-scale industries. Some other grievances
with these emporiums are long waiting periods for sample approval, also goods
are claimed to be lost and damage is to be borne by the craftsmen. And
commission rates are high.



Workshop activities

At the workshop two designers worked with the craftsmen-Dennis Kenward (a
jewelry designer based in New Zealand who works with shell jewellery) he was
assisted by Anusha Mishra (n accessory design graduate from National Institute
of Fashion Technology, New Delhi)

Several of the concerns mentioned above were addressed-



With regard to the release of raw material the CCI chair person-Ms.Vijaya Rajan

met with the officials from the concerned ministries. And in her meetings,
reasoned out that a releasing a regulated amount of trochus for livelihood
skills would not really affect a depletion These officials were invited to
attend the inaugural and valedictory functions of the PDP to view the body of
work done by the craftsmen and to support and encourage them. But none of the
dignitaries gave any answers, they encouraged the craftsmen to be sensible and
use only raw material that is available. Also they suggested that an appeal be
made directly by the craftsmen to the ministry in Delhi. Also during the press
meets that were held during the workshop, the concerns of the sea shell industry
in the Andamans was expressed by the CCI chair person.



Machine parts were introduced. These included -a pneumatic sander, a 3M buffing
stone and a polishing mop. The participants were trained in them for better
cutting and finishing of forms, they understood the significance of using
efficient machine parts and consequently placed orders for the machine parts,
which CCI would help them source.



The designers worked on exercises that helped the craftsmen to understand what
international and contemporary markets were like (prices, products etc.) The
craftsmen were exposed to an entirely new set of design sensibilities that are
current to these markets. Prototypes and duplicates were made (roughly around
20-25 prototypes were created). The crafts men at the end of the workshop were
confidant of taking up orders-CCI intends to make a catalogue of the prototypes
made and facilitate in marketing the products.



For more information on this workshop and related enquiries please contact us
at:

The Crafts Council of India
GF "Temple Trees"
37, Venkatanarayana Road
T. Nagar,
Chennai 600 017
India

Phone: + 91 44 2434 1456
Tele / Fax: + 91 44 2432 7931
Email: craft@...








C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa,
908 Deccan Gymkhana
Pune 411004, India
Tel: 020 - 25654239
Web: www.kalpavriksh.org


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