QUEEN’S ROAD:An entrepreneur from Manipur has decided to combine crafts with compassion in order to make a difference to the lives of women artisans. Sophia Rajkumari's inspiring venture, Chumthang Crafts, sources creations from her enchanting homeland.
She currently resides in Bengaluru and this is not the only venture she is proficient in.
She has studied law, is a food stylist, a food and travel photo essayist, a creative writer, illustrator and an art, crafts and weaves revivalist.
She set up her business at a farm amidst modern architectural oddities, lush greenery and sequentially arranged coconut trees. The scenic beauty of what she calls the Lake View Farm is truly mesmerising but this ‘abode of serenity’ has a larger purpose.
It is from here that her venture Chumthang Crafts sets out to promote the art and crafts of the North-East and to provide employment to women who weave artistic water reed baskets and traditional fabrics. She is working with self-help groups and co-operative societies in Manipur and showcases a variety of products ranging from handwoven and hand-embroidered cotton and silk sarees, stoles, shawls, table clothes, table mats, cushion covers, bedspreads, traditional quilts, vanity bags, baskets, mats, jewellery boxes and much more.
“Chumthang Crafts was created to provide support to young widows in Manipur,” says Sophia. In the year 2011, she came across an article about young Manipuri widows in a magazine.
The article brought to light, the travails of women from the state whose husbands had lost their lives either in police encounters or while countering insurgency. The article moved her so much that she felt like doing something for these grief -stricken young women from her homeland. So, she went ahead and asked a few friends of hers to garner some support to create a corpus fund. Her basic idea was to provide a small capital to the under-privileged ladies.
Sophia got in touch with an NGO in Manipur which failed to provide the requisite details of the ladies. So, with the help of her sisters and relatives, she succeeded in locating a few women artisans and weavers from far flung regions in Manipur.
Over a period of four years, she has worked with two self-help groups. Women artisans and weavers have also been taught to package their stuff and to open their accounts in a post office or a bank. Says Sophia, “Earlier, we used to purchase raw materials from the traders in small proportions but now we are able to procure stocks for an entire year. The women have also started to travel far and wide to seek better deals as they are now in a position to sell their merchandise on their own terms. They were even motivated to adopt modern technology and now they have also started using the mobile messaging app like WhatsApp."
However, the journey this far was not easy. Says she, “The biggest hurdle that I faced was the mindset of these artisans when they failed to understand that the government grants are provided to lend only a formative support at the initial stages to enable them to be self -sufficient and make their businesses grow.Year after year, they cannot thrive only on these grants, loans or continue to seek financial aid from the government. Initially, they did not have confidence in me and I had to convince them to work for me.”
Tansporting goods was one of the many difficulties she faced as private courier services or speed post services are expensive. But with time, the profits have taken care of the minor hurdles.
For more details, check http://chumthangcrafts.com/
Chumthang Crafts is at Varthur Main Road, Siddapura, Whitefield, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560066
Phone:098861 31110