Innovation burdens among handicraft workers

For this project, I spent three weeks traveling around Karnataka, India meeting with artists, academics, community organizers, crafters, and business owners. My location ranged from bustling Bangalore, to small villages surrounding Tumkur, tribal lands outside of Hampi and herding regions near Belgram. Along the way, I conducted ethnographic research, spending my days with embroiderers, weavers, painters and carvers and conducting in-depth interviews. 

Through this immersive research, a key theme emerged. Crafters faced a significant “innovation burden” when trying to create new products or alter existing ones. These independent crafters struggled to enforce contracts and faced financial burdens from unsold inventory. More educated crafters mitigated risk through sampling and pre-orders. Factors like educational level and social networks made the mechanisms available to successful crafters difficult to translate to those at lower socioeconomic levels. Illiteracy prevented some crafters from using pre-orders and contracts, or exporting without an expensive middleman. However, alternative models, like the non-profit craft center Jinatsu, emerged to off-burden risks faced by individual crafters through modest stipends and community organizing. 

The results of this research are available in a report here.