Pine Cone™, a brand by Folkloric (OPC) Private Limited, today conducted a workshop for the artisans of Bina Chabhari (Palm leaf craft) in collaboration with J&K, NRLM Reasi and office of the Assistant Director Handicrafts Reasi in presence of Deputy Commissioner, Babila Rakwal.
The objective of the workshop was to share knowledge with the artisans on design and innovation, skill up-gradation, market trends and overview of global market and scope of handicraft products on the online platforms/ marketplaces to enable them to enhance the scope and reach of their products and income and to take the crafts of J&K to a wider audience.
The women artisans participated wholeheartedly and were acquainted with many other such natural fiber crafts successfully practiced in other rural areas of India.Pine Cone™ is a craft based home decor bootstrapped startup by Nitika Gupta, who is working on reviving lesser known/ dying crafts of India by design intervention, value addition, value engineering and transforming these into contemporary home décor products with Scandinavian aesthetics and utilitarian elements. It celebrates the lesser known crafts of India, handmade with love by the artisans in remote parts of rural India.
Born and brought up in Jammu, Nitika brings with her an experience of 12+ years in the corporate sector where she worked in different roles across industries right from product designer, to product manager to brand manager.
Nitika is a lifestyle product design graduate from National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Gandhinagar, and an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC), working directly with traditional artisans of the crafts in rural India.
She is also an empanelled designer with the Ministry of Textiles to undertake design projects and workshops in Indian crafts and conducted the workshop and training session voluntarily (free of charge).Pine Cone™️ engages with artisans of age-old crafts (90% of them are women), help them to upgrade their craft and skills to make the art more utilitarian and commercial and to transform the craft into beautiful home decor pieces that would decorate Indian homes and beyond.
These products are given a contemporary feel and Scandinavian- bohemian aesthetic flavor to appeal to minimalists and maximalists alike.As per Nitika, Pine Cone showcases completely handmade and handcrafted products in India and is working on various crafts from different parts of the country including Assam and Manipur, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu region.
These artisans work with materials - Bamboo, Kauna (water reed) grass, Water Hyacinth, Cane and Salt Reed (Kusha) grass. The techniques are basketry, weaving, cane webbing, coiling, stitching and macrame`. All products are handcrafted with age-old traditions and techniques but given a contemporary appeal by making them functional and aesthetic All these crafts and products are made from natural fibers, and are eco-friendly and sustainable.