The historically imbibed plural aesthetics of Indian handicrafts are priceless economic and cultural assets

of the country. The production of handicrafts is (after agriculture) the largest source of income among
rural population. But, despite of best efforts, the roots of the crafts, which are the rural craftsmen, are
in decline. Currently, the sector carries the stigma of inferiority and backwardness, and is viewed as
decorative, peripheral and elitist. This is compounded by the Governments treatment of crafts as a
sunset industry, which has resulted in a lack of well-developed policies and programs to protect and
strengthen the ecosystem for artisans. This was the key reason that led me to work with the craft sector
and understand what actually goes behind the making of a hand crafted product.

Aavaran is a unit set up by Centre of the Study of Values (COS-V), a leading NGO, in Udaipur, Rajasthan,
headed by Alka Sharma, and is working for the development of deprived tribal communities of southern
Rajasthan since 1988. It focuses on women and child development so as to help them get access to their
basic rights and make the self sustainable through skill development and economic empowerment. The
key strategy is to create value system within the community and employment opportunities for their self
reliance. Their ideology is to majority use hand skills such as hand stitching, hand quilting, natural dyes
which places them in the category of environment friendly organization.

It provides a great opportunity for the crafts people to pursue and connect to their own hidden skills.
Aavaran is known for its contemporized Dabu and Phentiya prints. Different types of hand embroideries
embellished on the apparels along with the beautiful silhouettes are the unique selling points of
Aavaran. It serves as a market linkage for the artisans who are unaware of the actual importance and
value of their crafts and skills. Its been a year since Aavaran has shifted completely from Akola to
Udaipur. It supplies to various stores across India like Ogaan, Anantam, Cinnamon in Bangalore, Anonym
in Hyderabad, Kilol etc.

COS-V identified that the unique block printing and dying process practiced by the local village dwellers
of Chippo ka Akola, district Chittorgarh is diminishing. Therefore to preserve and sustain this unique
art, under Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hast Shilp Vikas Yojna and with the support of Development
Commission (Handicraft), Ministry of Textile, the tribal and rural women have been technically trained.
Under the CSR program of Vedanta, COS-V is providing stitching and embroidery training to the rural
women. The traditional motifs have been contemporized, by creating the fusion of the traditional and
modern designs according to current fashion trends.

The infrastructure of the organization is very convenient for both the designers as well as the crafts
people since everything is produced in-house. The development of the designs becomes very easy as the
printing, dyeing as well as the stitching, all are done under the same roof. Any doubts whatsoever can be
solved and interacted with the masters at the organization itself. They * small knit system that has a far
connected network source of * craft skills. Everyone helps each other in all possible way * a contributing
factor for the development and prosperity of * organization.

New collections are launched every six months based on a particular theme. Products are of upcycled
waste fabric cut-outs * accessories like beaded neckpieces, bags, wallets, foot wares * which are a part
of capsule projects that run simultaneously * with two major collections throughout the year.
A range of traditional yet contemporary printed garments * out of fine fabrics, rich printed sarees, stoles
and dupattas is the identity of Aavaran. The consumers are mostly women, over and * the age of 25. It
majorly designs in apparels, hence very little home furnishings products have been made so far. The
blocks that * been made for the apparel collections in the past, have also * used in home furnishing
products. So this was a big opportunity for me to introduce an exclusive range of home furnishings
products and give Aavaran a new identity.
The goal for me during this project was to develop a sensitivity and understanding towards the craft of
block printing, respect the craft skill, the neatness and quality of the work, the fineness and intricacy of
the design where the credit goes to the block maker and the way it is translated on to the fabric with all
the hardships and manual labour that the printer has to go through.

The project was to develop a range of print designs for home furnishings keeping in mind the traditional
techniques of Dabu (mud resist block printing) printing. The collections were to be composed as 20%
Indigo, 20% Kashish dye (existing dye), 10% white and off-white and rest 50% divided in new
development of other shades in natural dyes. The inspiration could be anything preferably Indian,
selected after a thorough research, both direct and indirect. The designs developed had to be traditional
and fit in the contemporary context. More natural colours were to be added to the collection along with
indigo and kashish dyes. The project aimed to be sustainable so additional accessories were to be
developed from waste fabrics to further enhance the collection.***
Once the market research and the trend analysis was over, the next step was to freeze on the
inspirations. Initially the thought was to take just one inspiration for all the four collections but then
after several discussions it was decided that each collection should be developed from different
individual inspirations, since the market requires variety. Aavaran maintains a balance between
traditional and contemporary in all aspects, be it design development, implementation or styling. And
since it was the very first time Aavaran was going to develop an exclusive range of home furnishing
products, my very first thought was to pick up a local craft of Rajasthan itself as an inspiration and
further develop designs from the same. Also looking back at the past inspirations at Aavaran, I
understood that the local crafts were yet to be explored.

Another assignment during this project was sourcing fabrics. Aavaran did not have a range of fabric
library, that could be used in home furnishings except for the 20s and 30s cotton sheeting fabrics. Home
furnishing products require fabrics with wide width making it another challenge to overcome. During
this project it was nice to know about different fabrics and different dealers though most of the fabrics
have been sourced from Jaipur. Finally, 30s Satin cotton/126 ; 30s cotton/120 ; heavy Khadi/44 ;
Modal/48 ; Centoon/48 ; 80s Voile/120 and Mashru/46 have been used for the final collections.

Before I reached the final outcome there were a few hurdles to overcome. The diploma project was for
six months but instead it took seven and half months to reach the final stage due to the monsoons in
between. The greige fabric took a long time to arrive from Jaipur and since most of the fabrics were
heavy so the washing of the fabric was also to be done in Jaipur itself which further delayed the project.

Using various techniques and exploring the possibilities of a single idea, the concepts for each
collections were finalized. The final shapes were defined and developed with great detail. Initially it was
decided that the products would not be stitched in-house, rather it would be given to some outside unit
for stitching. But later everything was stitched at Aavaran itself as the quality of the products outside
were very unsatisfying. Also there were a lot of political issues in the dyeing and printing unit. Though,
problems are everywhere but the challenge is to be patient and overcome the situations no matter how
hard it gets.***
COLLECTION 1
ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE

Aavaran is a unit set up by Centre of the study of Values (COSVI), a leading NGO, in Udaipur and is
working for the development of deprived tribal communities of southern Rajasthan. COSVI was
established by Dr. Girja Vyas in the year 1988. Dr. Vyas was then a member of parliament from
Chittorgarh. COSVI was set up with the aim to serve the society. Now her daughter-in-law Ms. Alka
Sharma is the chairperson of COSVI. It focuses on women and child development so as to help them get
access to their basic rights and make them self sustainable through skill development and economic
empowerment. The key strategy is to create value within the community and employment oppurtunities
for their self reliance.

COSVI identified that the unique block printing and dyeing process (Dabu and Phentiya) practiced by the
local village dwellers of Chippo ka Akola, district Chittorgarh, and is diminishing. Therefore to preserve
and sustain this unique art, under Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hast Shilp Vikas Yojna and with the support of
Development commission (Handicraft), Ministry of Textiles, the tribal and rural women have been
technically trained. Under the CSR program of Vedanta, COS-V is providing stitching and embroidery
training to the rural women. The traditional motifs have been contemporized, by creating the fusion of
the traditional and modern designs according to current fashion trends.

Aavaran trains rural women artisans from Chippo ka Akola near Udaipr in the Traditional processes of
mud-resist Dabu and indigo-dyed Phentiya printing in order to preserve and sustain these ancient
textile traditions. Inspired by current trends in fashion, they contemporize traditional motifs to create
new and evocative patterns. One initiative to provide livelihood and financial support to the rural
artisans and women, COS-V has set up a sales outlet Aavaran in the city of Udaipur for selling the
products made by these artisans. It serves as a market linkage for these artisans. Established in 2009,
Aavaran had been producing only for the local market. Later the chairperson Ms. Alka Sharma planned
to work for the high-end market as well. She has dedicated herself to establish Aavarans identity so that
the artisans can be economically sound and also find their base in the new markets.

Earlier Aavaran had two units. One of them being in Akola where printing and dyeing were done and the
other being in Udaipur where the main office was located. But the unit in Akola did not belong to
Aavaran. It belonged to Mr. Gopal Chippa and Ms. Alka Sharma had hired the printer for certain period
of time at Rs 5000/- monthly. At that time Ms. Alka Sharma did not have her own Indigo vat, so she used
Mr. Gopal Chippas Indigo Vat and his printing unit.

Aavaran completely shifted to Udaipur in 2015, with all its printing and dyeing happening under the
same roof. Nothing is carried out in Akola now. There are three dyeing/printing masters and eight
printers. The stitching team includes of one pattern master and two cutting masters along with 13
tailors. So the entire design and manufacturing process is carried out smoothly in one single unit.
Besides the main production unit in Udaipur, Aavaran works with three other centres owned by
Hindustan zinc where the ladies are given training in machine stitching and handwork, embroidery etc.
FOUNDER

Ms. Alka Sharma did a Survey in the year 2009 and then formed a Samuh named SHG (self help group)
to help the artisans prosper and take their craft forward. She took a five year project under Baba
Ambedkar Hasth Shilpa Yojna, Ministry of Textiles to give training to women. She has a textile
background herself, being a graduate from IICD Jaipur, pioneer batch of 1999. It was a very inspiring and
exciting step taken as a designer. People then joined slowly. Suresh Ji joined in 2010 followed by
Siddharth Ji and Poonam Ji. They have been there since the very beginning of Aavaran.

There has been a huge contribution by Ms. Alka Sharma, towards the development of the artisans in
Akola because earlier they only made Phentiya (traditional hand block printed skirt) and only two units
were practicing the craft of block printing and selling the products while the other artisans of the village
made products just for themselves unaware of its value and importance in the outside market. People
became more developed and aware after the inception of Aavaran.
ORGANISATION STRUCTURE

The organizational aims are achieved because of a organization structure in a company which defines
how activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision are directed.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Alka Sharma and her team (Poonam, Siddharth, Sarika) is the main link between the buyers
requirements and the team that produces the products.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Overall responsibility for smooth production.

Achieving production targets of the unit within the parameters of the cost, time and quality.
Coordinating the various departments of production, technical quality etc.
Ensuring production efficiency.

DESIGN TEAM

The design team is responsible for studying, understanding forecasting trends. It also is the source for
all the trends and designs that the company manufactures. New collections are launched every six
months by the interns as a part of their student projects for which they are guided by Alka Sharma, the
company head and also by one of their institute guide.

Along with two major collections, some capsule projects are also run throughout the year.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Study of the trend forecast and analysis in terms of the color story, style and language of the
design.
Market survey and analysis of the competitors of the company.
Inspiration research and development of mood boards along with other color palettes.
Initial sketches and development of final designs for block printing.

PRODUCTION AND SAMPLING TEAM

Once a design is approved, it then goes for sampling. The sampling of a design helps in identifying
various aspects such as:

The appearance of the design on a particular type of fabric.

Problems in dyeing and printing.
The appearance of the dye/color being used for the design on the fabric.
MARKETING TEAM

Ms. Sarika Narayan is the marketing manager of the organization. Siddharth (Admin Head) also plays a
major role in marketing of the company. They have the day to day contact with the customer or client
and are their point of contact for any and all issues. Another job responsibility is to design the
marketing strategies for a company or an organization to help expand business and growth.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Having people skills is an absolute quality of any marketing person.

Should be able to understand and handle the needs of the clients.
Should be on top with strategies to help the business grow.

ACCOUNTS

Mr. Vikram Chauhan is the accounts manager of the organization. He handles everything from the
organization expenses, reimbursement claims, overhead expenses, salaries, customs department
charges, transport, shipping bill, compliances related to tax etc.
TARGET MARKET / CLIENTAL SEGMENTATION

Initially when Aavaran had started, it did not have a market or any clients for block-printed fabrics. They
only had some local clients in Udaipur. Within a year of introducing new designs they started creating a
space for themselves in the market. At present they cater to both domestic and international markets.

Aavaran is majorly into apparels but now is also expanding its product range by introducing an exclusive
range of home furnishing products. After doing the market research, there was a clear understanding of
the term high end market. The aim was to cater to the clients who like to buy luxurious textile for their
homes. It was also understood that the market for home furnishing is not a regular buy, it is more like an
investment. People would by clothes for themselves everyday but wouldnt buy bed sheets or cushions
every day. Thus it was necessary to understand the market thoroughly and then design such products on
which the clients would invest.
ORGANISATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE:

The in-house production infrastructure makes it very convenient for both the designers as well as the
craftsperson. Design development becomes very easy as the printing, dyeing as well as the stitching; all
are done under the same roof. Any doubts whatsoever can be solved and interacted with the masters at
the organization itself. Thus it provides a platform for learning both for the designers as well as the
craftspeople. They are a small knit system that has a far connected network source of varied craft skills.
Everyone helps each other in all possible ways which is a contributing factor for the development and
prosperity of any organization.

The main production house in Udaipur is in its developing stage. At present the production and the
construction of the unit is going side by side. However it is working with three other training centres for
women owned by Hindustan zinc, one in Debari and the other two in Matoon. Here the women are
provided training in machine stitching and handwork like basic embroidery, button making etc. They are
also paid daily on a per piece bases.

Aavaran has two outlets, one in Udaipur and the other in Jaipur. It is already expanding its business by
participating in various exhibitions and will come up with a few more outlets in a couple of years.