Empowering entrepreneurship and self-employment of artisans

New Delhi: Antaran — Transforming Crafts, Tata Trust’s Craft-Based Livelihood Programme works towards strengthening the ecosystem and empowering entrepreneurship and self-employment of artisans from lesser known craft clusters in the country.

A curated exhibit of Indian handlooms inaugurated at Khazana at Taj Lands End, Mumbai, presented a handpicked collection of masterpieces created using traditional weaves of the regions. This will soon be available in other Khazana stores, which operate in 17 luxury lifestyle stores across nine cities with three stores opening soon in Chennai, Shimla and Bhopal.

This unique collaboration between Khazana and Antaran furthers the intent to impact the livelihood of thousands of weavers across Odisha, Assam, Nagaland and Andhra Pradesh. Initiated to bring seminal changes in craft development, Tata Trusts’ Antaran has in the past three years, nurtured around 1,507 artisans and has created 147 micro-enterprises across its six regions. The intervention aims to directly benefit 3,000 households involved in pre-loom, on-loom and post-loom processes, while also impacting the livelihood of thousands of other weavers in these regions. This unique initiative also presents designers and buyers an opportunity for creative collaboration with weavers.

At the launch of the showcase N. Srinath, CEO, Tata Trusts, said, “Tata Trusts’ Antaran initiative was established to shine a spotlight on hidden clusters of unique craft-forms across the country. In everything we do, our goal is to empower artisans through education, exposure and access to markets, such that they can build enduring sources of income. This partnership will offer these fine products, the true khazana of Indian heritage and culture, an audience hitherto untapped.”