By supporting us, you are acquiring unique and meaningful products, empowering artisans, fostering sustainable practices, and helping to keep traditional art forms alive.
"Navroze Mehta, owner of Mela Artisans talks about their work, mission, goal, aspiration and achievements below. "Mela..."Navroze Mehta, owner of Mela Artisans talks about their work, mission, goal, aspiration and achievements below.
"Mela Artisans was created in 2010 to empower artisan clusters directly by providing them design guidance and most importantly exposures globally. Mela Artisan's mission is to help preserve India's heritage handicrafts and showcase to the world how beautiful and relevant these artisanal crafts are while providing artisans with a sustainable livelihood.
"Mela Artisans helps to create employment for many artisans of the crafts community. Working with handmade techniques with interventions on design & quality ensuring their relevance & growing markets for the crafts. Mela Artisans prioritize use of hand made production techniques for all their product categories and enhance their aesthetic using their design team guidance, while ensuring the authenticity and cultural significance of the products. These methods often involve intricate handwork, sometimes age-old crafting tools, and techniques that have been honed over centuries. For example, using traditional looms and weaving techniques that have been part of our cultural repertoire for generations. Hand-molding techniques that produce distinctive designs and textures unique to Kashmir for papier-mâché.
"The products of Mela Artisans are deeply rooted in the heritage and cultural traditions of the local communities and the region. All the products originate from a long-standing tradition that has been passed down through generations. These crafts are not just items of utility or decoration but embody the stories, values, and artistic expressions of our ancestors. Each piece reflects the unique cultural identity and historical context of different regions in India, celebrating its rich heritage. Mango and acacia wood, animal bones, recycled paper or pulp, cotton, rattan, bamboo, marble & other stones are used by the Mela Artisans for their products.
"Mela Artisans are committed to use materials that are natural but also hold cultural significance. These materials are often sourced locally and include natural fibers like cotton and other fibers like rattan that have been traditionally used across communities. Designs and motifs find their roots in the cultural heritage of the region, often telling stories or representing aspects of the regional culture. By integrating these traditional elements along with design into our products, we aim to preserve and promote our cultural heritage while offering unique, high-quality items that have an audience globally.
"Mela Artisans helps to create employment for many artisans of the crafts community. Working with handmade techniques with interventions on design & quality ensures their relevance & growing markets for the crafts. They have partnered with healthcare providers to offer medical camps and health education programs.
"Mela Artisans have made concerted efforts to reach out and gain the trust of the communities they support through various initiatives and approaches like maintaining regular contact with the bigger workshops which have grown with their organization from artisans to artisan entrepreneurs. This ensures that the required compliances & company values that they believe in are valued & supported by the artisans also. They also follow fair trade guidelines, ensuring that artisans are paid fairly for their work and wages comply with State stipulated norms. Mela Artisans maintains open lines of communication with artisan community members and helps in bringing in their inputs and feedback across things. Mela Artisans assists artisans to access broader markets by promoting their products across multiple platforms & geographies. This includes online market places, buyer collaborations etc. where their work can reach a wider audience. Their designs are inspired by our rich cultural heritage, nature, and global trends. They reflect the beauty and history of our community, incorporating symbols, motifs passed down through generations and translating them for today’s customer audience.
"As an organization committed to preserving cultural heritage through handmade crafts and building global market for it, Mela Artisans have faced several challenges: financial constraints - securing funding through grants, crowdfunding and partnerships, market access - emphasizing the uniqueness and sustainability of our products to penetrate modern markets, maintaining authenticity - balancing traditional techniques with market demands by bringing in both master artisans and design interventions, artisan support - providing fair wages, health initiatives and a supportive work environment, sustainable sourcing - ensuring a steady supply of quality eco-friendly materials, digital adaptation - training artisans in basic processes and basic digitization for communication and marketing and cultural sensitivity - respecting and accurately representing cultural stories and traditions, logistics - navigating delays, vessels/ container shortages with reliable logistics partnerships.
"Mela Artisans community facilitates professional training programs aimed at upskilling and self-sustenance.
"Mohd. Sarfaraz has been one of the key members of the Mela Artisan community. He is the master in bone inlay work that uses animal bones and other materials such as brass, glass or timber to create finely detailed patterns on wooden surfaces. His business was started by his father where they were manufacturing for the local traders/exporters for over 20 plus years. Exploitation by middlemen who take advantage of their lack to access to markets and bargaining power, made then look for a sustenance plan. Recognizing the growing global demand for handmade artisanal products, they were exploring the possibility of exporting their creations to international markets. During this journey, Sarfaraz met Mela Artisans, who were also on a journey to find such skilled artisans. The connection was an instant success. Mela Artisans decided to introduce their product to the international market while impacting their livelihoods. The results were very encouraging, the turnover grew drastically. This eventually helped them to be debt-free and support more livelihoods. Their workforce grew from 15 to 50.
"Mela Artisan’s short-term goal is to expand their online presence, reaching a wider audience to increase awareness and sales of our culturally significant handmade crafts. In a longer term, they would like to establish a sustainable ecosystem for artisans, ensuring the preservation of traditional crafting techniques and providing consistent economic opportunities for future generations.
"Mela Artisans wants Novica and all the customers to know that their organization is deeply committed to preserving cultural heritage through ethically made, high-quality handmade crafts. By supporting us, you are acquiring unique and meaningful products, empowering artisans, fostering sustainable practices, and helping to keep traditional art forms alive for future generations. Every customer of ours contributes to a broader mission of cultural preservation and mindful living."
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