More than a hundred blue pottery artisans from Jaipur are indebted to two software professionals for whatever little sales they make during the lockdown.
Two colleagues from Salesforce — Srichandana Nagoji and Anusha Paruchuri— got together to design an online catalogue for these artisans who have been struggling to market their products due to a lack of sufficient exposure to technology.
Handicraft enthusiast Srichandana, who follows the pages of artisans and weavers on social media, came across a video posted by Vimal Prajapat of Ramnarayan Blue Art Pottery (RN Blue Pottery) that said they had nearly two years worth of stock that they were unable to sell due to the lockdown. It added that more than 200 artisans they worked with were struggling to make ends meet.
“If we can support them get pre-orders it would help them get the money they need to survive the lockdown and they will also be able to move their stock,” says Srichandana who reached out to Prajapat through their Instagram page.
That's when the suggestion to design an e-catalogue was made and Srichandana sought the help of Anusha who had a design background.
While Srichandana collected all the information, Anusha lifted up the look of the e-catalogue with her design touch.
“Though I am a product designer by profession, graphic design and illustrations have always been a hobby for me,” says Anusha.
The blue pottery craftsmen of Kotjewar village in Jaipur have been struggling to keep this art alive, and the pandemic dampened their hopes further as there are no exhibitions and sales happening now.
“Our work is labour-intensive and extremely fragile; blue pottery is made with a paste which is obtained by blending quartz stone powder, powdered glass, multani mitti, borax, gum and water. If we make 100 pieces, only 60 come out right,” says Nand Kishor, Prajapat’s brother.
He agrees they need to adopt technology to market their products but they don’t have the resource and support to do so.
“Our website is also recent, we have been postponing creating one as we did not have the money to design one,” says Kishor. RN Blue Pottery is offering items at a discount till their stocks last.
The two colleagues have plans to continue their association with the blue pottery artisans. Besides promoting the catalogue on social media, they are also exploring setting up e-commerce sites for these artisans.
For details, visit http://rnbluepottery.com or call 7737904171.
