The four feet by three feet wood work won a State-level award in 2012-2013 for K. Palraj of Sivaganga district. He worked on it for nine months using wooden chips of different varieties, including padak, rosewood, and yellow teak.
Palraj is a handicraft artisan registered with the Union Ministry of Textiles and he has exhibited his award-winning wood inlay work of the “Golden Lotus Tank” (Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai) at the Craft Bazaar here.
StatesHe is among the artisans from 12 States who have exhibited their handicraft products at the 10-day exhibition organised by the Small Industries Product Promotion Organisation (SIPPO) at Padmavathi Ammal Cultural Centre.
The expo has rosewood mandirs, wood inlay works made by artisans in Mysore, hand-painted leather lamp shades and wall-hangings from Dharmavaram, wooden toys from Channapatna, wall hangings and photo frames made of brass and copper, terracotta products from Chittoor district, marble show pieces from Rajasthan, handmade footwear from Rajasthan, white metal bowls from Madhya Pradesh, bamboo blinds, combs made of devadaru and neem wood, carpets, jute products, and a wide range of textile and jewellery products.
The exhibition also has artisans from various clusters of Tamil Nadu. For instance, K. Kandasamy of Namakkal district has been making stone vessels for several years.
He participates in seven or eight fairs a year and earns about Rs. 20,000 from each fair. “Customers who know about stone vessels do not hesitate to buy it,” he says. The SIPPO is supporting about 200 handloom weavers at Thribuvanam through a cluster programme and they have displayed silk sarees.
C. Gunavathi from Sivakasi, a quilling artisan, has been selling jewellery and wall hangings she makes from strips of paper mainly through friends and the social media.
She registered with the Ministry of Textiles just a couple of months ago and this is the first exhibition where she has displayed a wide range of products.
K.K. Palanivelmurugan, general manager of the organisation, told The Hindu that this is the fourth edition of the event at Coimbatore.
All the participants have registered with the Union Ministry of Textiles. The exhibition is on till February 23 and will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
