Just like the network itself, Creative Dignity’s market development function finds its roots in the pandemic era, when our first ever market campaign – Artisan Direct – was put to sea. Artisan Direct was a concerted effort to connect diverse crafts producers from across India to established e-commerce platforms, and induct them into the digital world. Most of India’s craftspeople relied (and still do) on physical exhibitions, craft bazaars for sales, and owing to the lockdown, this door was completely bolted for them. However, at the same time, the Artisan Direct campaign opened the world of e-commerce to them. It carved-out an alternative stream of revenue and enabled artisans to continue to make sales and sustain – with or without exhibitions. Several volunteers, local teams and organizations from the sector worked with the artisans to create a digital identity, artisans learnt phone photography, SKU coding, making line sheets and catalogs and were then on-boarded onto these platforms.
The uncertainty that prevailed during the lockdown was now abated considerably if not fully. Artisan Direct has taken several forms in the past 3 years. Each of them essentially aiming to help artisans connect with buyers, tell their stories and sell in the right markets. While the e-commerce connections continue, the market hub now aims to focus mainly on unearthing fresh, unexplored market possibilities for the craft sector and also novel, experimental ways of marketing the craft products that are not only profitable and scalable but also aids us in jolting people away from the orthodox, redundant perception of the handmade crafts. This is achieved through extensive product training, highly curated exhibitions & pop-ups featuring contextual display systems and strong product presentation, effective storytelling and dissemination of crucial market intel via seminars, Zoom sessions, workshops etc.
