Showing posts tagged Market
FT.com article: Saris from France?
In this recent Financial Times article, [Indian designer, Deepika] Govind speaks reverentially about difficult weaves such as the Patan patola (a reversible weave that appears luminous on both sides); the Bagh prints of Madhya Pradesh (intricate handblocked floral prints coloured with vegetable dyes); and the geometric, multilayered ajrak prints of Rajasthan.
“We are sitting on a gold mine,” she says. “If a company can take a very basic design and release it worldwide for that outrageous price, it just shows that we don’t know how to market our products. If any fool were to buy this [Hermès] sari, if any Indian were to buy it! I cannot see a reason to own this product.”
I think Govind is right: Indian craft is in the midst of a marketing crisis. And I’m sad for both sides, actually… the untapped markets have no idea what they’re missing out on. Seeing the process of these crafts and meeting the people who design and produce them in person, is damn near a born-again experience. My goal with Rubina is to change this through design and story. I hope that connecting people to the source of these traditional crafts will help increase the appreciation and value of the products that incorporate them.
(Thanks for the tip FT.com reader, Michele Perez!)
In love with Dekalb Market. They’ve got it going on.
