29th June 2017. New Delhi. India is essentially a hub, when it comes to the creation of handmade products, a category which is extremely extensive and is known to include a myriad of skills, such as gold designing, creation of customised luxury products like leather articles, cosmetics, metal-crafted items, much beyond the commonly referred handicraft and textile products. Hence, it doesn’t come as a surprise when the current speculation for the Indian Handmade Industry is speculated to be over US$ 70 Billion.
One needs to understand that the handmade segment still lies latent when it comes to optimal marketing efforts. Most of the whopping 726 forms of art that this segment envelope is barely even acknowledged. More often than not, artisans that contribute to the segment are either unaware or incapable of reaching out to the urban markets, where the demand for such products is impressive. It is for this very reason that players like Direct Create are taking the initiative to instil the much-required dialogue amongst the craftsmen or the ‘makers’, the designers and the buyers. It is believed that this step will lead to a collaboration between these parties, which will help the segment move forwards towards growth and development. Though the idea might come off as implausible at first, the digital platform created by Direct Create to implement the same has simplified it in the most impeccable manner imaginable. Add to it the whopping number of 450 million people of India, who use the internet, and close to 730 million people who use at least one handset in the country and it all starts making sense.
In addition to contributing towards the adoption of smart technology is rural areas, Direct Create is also advancing the much coveted Make In India campaign. The organisation is urging and encouraging large and small scale consumers to purchase indigenous products. In fact, key players such as architects, interior designers, jewellers and even wedding planners have shown incredible interest in purchasing these handmade products, mostly in bulk quantities. Given that they can directly interact with the makers of these products, aspects such as customisation, change in colour palette or alterations in patterns, along with the quantity required can be communicated in a fairly easy manner. Needless to say, the results speak for themselves.
In this regard, Rajeev Lunkad, Founder of Direct Create says, “Our aim is to make the buyers feel comfortable and engage with the makers proactively to seed the next round of spirited innovation in the crafts space. We wish to build deeper engagement pipelines with corporate India to increase the awareness regarding everything that is Handmade, and organising a collective front for the Designer community that operates in the Handmade domain, as a means to ensure that ‘Make In India’ campaign scales the heights of success that it is meant to.”
Given that each handmade produce comes with a story behind it, not to mention hours of painstaking work and tremendous craftsmanship, Direct Create aims at bringing this aspect to the forefront and making these products more relatable for the consumers. This is especially done in case of individual customers, who are often emotionally invested in the purchase of such products.
Whether it is about the B2B segment or the B2C sector, Direct Create is building a bridge for the Handproduces to connect with the potential buyers via online as well as physical retail. This is true for both, off the shelf products as well as made-to-order items. Since the organisation brings all of it, on one single platform, the ease of use and convenience offered is truly unprecedented.
For all we know, the glory and fame that Indian Handmade Products deserve are not far behind, not anymore!
About Direct Create
Direct Create is a unique online and offline community that allows Makers, Designers and Buyers to connect, collaborate and co-create handcrafted products. Direct Create facilitates the customised path, by bringing the makers and curated crafts-persons of every guise onto the technology platform and creating a space where they can collaborate along with designers or with buyers directly to produce crafted merchandise with emphasis on local materials and traditional manufacturing methods. Direct Create’s impetus lies in providing a platform where everyone can access products carefully crafted by artisans tailored to their specifications, using indigenous techniques and conventional materials that are best suited to the environment we live in.