Corporate Approach to Indian Tribal Art

Gond, Madhubani, Chamba Roomal, Pattachitra, Kantha…….art forms I barely knew about…..what states are they from ? what is unique about them? more importantly what are the statistics -  the number of artists,  their financial condition and their marketing reach ? I had several questions…… I looked up google but didn’t find much data, why not? Its Diwali and my home is flooded by beautiful expensive gifts, very few Diwali gifts or decorations have any form of tribal/ indian art, why not?

Till we don’t have a corporate approach to tribal art, we cannot do justice to this important part of our economy and culture.  Think of how a corporate plans a new brand launch, there is 1) buzz and awareness created around it 2) who is the target audience 3) what is the packaging, colors that will sell most 4) business plan supported by adequate market research 5) brainstorming sessions around price points and then the final launch with all the fanfare with the target audience.

This is the kind of organized effort needed for tribal art if we want it to be “scalable and sustainable” part of India, below are some thoughts

1.     Business Development and Marketing to promote exports

a.     Neiman Marcus, Bloomigdales, Saks all have an organized procurement section. Can a central agency connect with these and figure out what are the “handmade” items that can be stocked & sold? Pashmina shawls have done well abroad, what about kantha or madhubani scarves? Kolhapuri chappals with heels that my US cousins buy by the dozen when they visit? Copper/ Tambat water jugs that can be marketed for their medicinal values? Penholders with warli? Lovely wooden candy boxes with hand carving? What are the items we can supply and what are the price points these stores need? 

b.     Many jewellery brands from India have done so well gloabally like my friends who started Isharya (Gauri & Radhika Tandon) and En Inde (Sonal Sood). Very often they are featured in Vogue and Hello in india and also abroad with celebrities wearing their jewellery, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have these celebrities and magazines do a photo shoot with scarves, jackets, home décor items with our Indian art. Can we market and create more buzz globally?

2.     Marketing in India -These artists typically have stalls at government organized trade fairs which are not advertised well, have very low footfall and the few that buy bargain and pay 20- 30% of the original prices quoted by the artists. Aren’t the government funds and efforts better utilized towards creating & funding an online store for this and then promoting and marketing it? There are chains like Good Earth and Either Or (Pune by my friend Ritika Tickoo) doing a great job of promoting these arts, but can we have more such chains and wider range of items?

3.     How are we leveraging Indian tourism and integrating Indian art into the “Incredible India” experience. When I travelled to Jaipur, my hotel store did not do justice to the Rajasthani art forms, I was taken by my taxi driver to a store where I was ripped off as a tourist and realized that I paid 3 times the real price. How can this be promoted and sold in an organized and credible manner to the tourists who are eager to learn more about our culture?

4.     Has a focussed effort been made by the art ngos to tap into the 2% CSR mandate that corporates have? Delhi Crafts Council that my friend Radhika Bharat Ram so passionately works with, has done an incredible job in reviving the Chamba Roomal, how many of us know about this ngo and support it through our 2% CSR?

Finally, I never studied or learned all these art forms in school, cant we teach this to our children?  instil awareness and pride in their hearts about our rich indian heritage? Even if 1% of the youth gets inspired and takes this up as a career option or as a social responsibility, maybe this industry will get the place of pride it truly deserves!!