- 21-Nov-2016
- Consumer Goods
- Social Entrepreneurship
DokraArts.com
Abstract
DOKRAARTS.COM
About Us
Dokra is one of the ancient Indian art forms showcasing the local lifestyle and culture of people making the art. The vanishing wax method of metal casting, popularly known as Dokra, is a primitive technique. It can be traced back to the Indus Valley civilization and is considered popular because of its wide usage, cultural connectivity, and folk charisma.
Dokra has historically been associated with the tribal culture of India. Its hub for many centuries was in the metal-rich region of Central-East India. But it is now restricted to a small number of groups of traditional artisans in widely dispersed locations. One significant nucleus of this craft exists among related group of families in Bikna Village (Bankura) and nearby Dariapur Village (Burdwan), in West Bengal.
Who We Are
Vanishing wax method of metal casting, popularly known as Dokra, is a primitive technique. This startup supports 65 Dokra Crafts-family in Bengal India.
Our History
-Creating an Innovative Scalable Business with Innovation in Product Line for the Dokra Arts Community with stake-holding from the crafts people - the artisans in the startup business through sweat equity. Launched on 25th. September 2015 and founded on 17th. September 2015, with start-up stake-holders: Mada Karmakar, Sadhan Karmakar and Beatrice Ghosh, incubated and invested by TotalStart Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Developers (www.totalstart.org), a section 25 not for profit company.
Video
Original YouTube URL: Open
Photos
Additional Questions
Who is your customer?
The buyers / users that we are targeting for our product: The target customers are people appreciative of the arts. They belong to the upper classes of society with a high propensity to spend
What problem does this idea/product solve or what market need does it serve?
The working model / Demo of our proposed product / service: Traditionally the DokraArts Artisan sell their product through middlemen locally and at best through Kolkata Market. The price realization wrt art is extremely low, as they do not consider it as art but as artifacts at best. DokraArts.com have kick-started the process of reaching out to HNI customers and approaching them with designer art pieces and have already got a high value order from Europe and a high end artifact order from local art agent ecosystem. Hence the problem they are solving is giving right value to the final art product as an art form though utilitarian and bringing back that value to the Dokra Artisans
What attributes will make this idea/product successful? Why do you believe that those features will create success?
Reason the solution will work: The concept works because it is innovation led by design. The innovation aspect is connecting a 7000 year old craft of Dokra to the contemporary customer which happens by incorporating design thinking and processes. Collaboration is key, the artisans especially form part of the core team in order to form a symbiotic relationship so that there is maximum yield of knowledge and output. Being insightful about the consumer, the artisan can make profit yielding products
Explain how you (your team) will execute to make this idea/product successful? What gives you (your team) an advantage over others already in the market or new to this market?
Success intrinsic in the Business/Profit Model for DokraArts.com - Creating High Value High Designer Items of Every Day Use keeping the ancient traditional Dokra Art Form strongly embedded in the hand crafted products we will reach out to niche high paying customers who will not only be eager to own a prized art possession of a Dokra Art Product, but will also be gracefully willing to support the cause of keeping alive a legacy art-form and support the artisans. Team Advantage: Ancient Art Form producing Artisans, Young contemporary designers connected to the root, Village based high artistry value based artisans. A great incubating/mentoring team with national and global network. A deadly combo :-) !!!
