Crafting an inclusive world, a community-owned company of over 3,000 artisans from remote villages and regions of India is striking out on it own. Rangsutra, which supplies garments and home products to Fabindia for the domestic market and IKEA for exports, is now in its 10th year launching its own label that would be marketed directly from its own flagship store planned in the National Capital Region. "The time is now ripe to shift our focus from craft, design and products to marketing as an important activity," said Meghna Chatterji, cluster development manager at Rangsutra. "We have a permanent shop at Dastkar exhibition in the Capital's Andheria Mor. But we realised that though this gives us numbers in terms of sales figures, it is not enough."

Rangsutra has been building upon traditional craft skills like hand- embroidery, appliqué, tie-dye, handloom weaving, engineered weaving, extra weft weaving, leather craft, jewellery, bead and natural fibre, and combining them with modern designs to produce the products that have been marketed through Fabindia and IKEA. They work through various groups ~ NGOs, self-help groups and entrepreneurs. Starting with three, they currently work with 35. Rangsutra organises artisans into small producer groups or self-help groups, equipping them with the necessary skills, tools and machinery to improve their craft and increase their incomes. It then coordinates and supervises the production of orders either directly with artisans or with their representative groups and organisations. They regularly create new products that combine traditional skills with contemporary design. Incidentally, 2,200 artisans are direct shareholders in the company and three artisans are the company Board Members.

The beginning

"We started in 2006 as a way to ensure regular work for rural artisans," explained Sumita Ghose, founder and managing director of the company. She recalled how the economic liberalisation in 1991 impacted the urban sector but the gap with the rural segment was growing. "Traditional artisans and craftspeople were not getting the benefit," she added. Rangsutra was set up as a different model, envisaged as a bridge between rural artisans and the market, between change and continuity, between tradition and contemporary.

To raise funds for the registered company, 1,000 artisans put in Rs 1000 each. A matching amount of Rs 10 lakh was added to the capital and the business was started. "Initially, we got a lot of support from Fabindia," recounted Sumita Ghose. "Not only did they help sell our products through their stores but taught us how to standardise as well as work from designs and sampling to production and retailing."

The first task, recalled Meghna Chatterji, was to get the women to come out of their homes, changing their talents from hobby to skill and then enterpreneurs. "This is a process that is challenging but very fruitful. It gives women a hope that they have contributed."

There is a huge demand for Indian hand-crafted products in the global market, pointed out designer Kritika Seth. But with a huge gap between the quality expectations of buyers and the producers, Rangsutra's initial task was to fill that gap. "The craftspeople have been producing for themselves," she elaborated. "We needed to commercialise and that is where designing came in." Giving an example, Kritika said a community in Rajasthan weaves woollen pattu, a narrow strip of special shawl or blanket. Rangsutra gave them cotton yarn to weave home furnishings and finer yarn for fabrics. In another instance, a cluster in the Devas district of Madhya Pradesh has trained manual scavengers to do block printing.

Business model

The key aspect of the enterprise is that 2,200 artisans ~ 70 per cent of them women ~ are direct shareholders. Each share is now valued at a little over Rs 600. With this the artisans gain both rights and responsibility. Sumita Ghose recounted the example of Pappu Devi of Pugal, in West Rajasthan, who has framed her share certificate and kept in in her prayer room. She cited that it was the only thing in her name as the house and land were all in her husband's name. The turnover of this unique business model has touched Rs 10 crore. The shareholding pattern is divided between 2,200 artisans (35 per cent), Fabindia (30 per cent), employees (16 per cent) and external social impact investors, who are high-networth individuals. Aavishkaar, an angel investor, has been given a good exit.

Production process

Rangsutra works with artisans at every level of the production chain, from sourcing of materials to weaving of fabrics and dyeing to product development and quality control of the final product. The cutting of kurtas, dresses and other apparel is centralised in Bikaner. The stitching of these is also centralised in Bikaner and Mirzapur to ensure standardisation of quality. The pieces are embroidered in village centres. Waste material and leftovers are recycled to make hand-embroidered bags, mobile covers and patchwork bedspreads. Since handlooms are slow, Rangasutra is, on a pilot basis, trying out a couple of solar-powered looms developed by an NGO called SELCO. "At Rs 1 lakh, it might be a bit expensive, but, using the solar loom, a weaver can operate two looms simultaneously," explained Sumita Ghose.

The artisans in the 16-18 age group are part of an apprenticeship programme, working four hours under a learn-and-earn programme. While the average age is 40 years, some are in their 50s and 60s. Young women, in fact, look at this as a career option. But what the women value most is their increased self-worth and self-confidence as a new world opened out to them.