Setting up the Artisan Project: A Sustainable Development Initiative

In July 2008, I traveled to Bisan with two friends to set up the Artisan Project. The idea behind this project is to provide the community with the basic necessities that are needed to use their weaving talents productively, and help them to find places to sell their artisan products. There is a lot of talent in the community, but it is very difficult to sell things locally, since there are lots of artisans that sell locally but not many local buyers. I had talked with several people over the phone who were interested in weaving, but they said they just needed some yarn to get started.

When I arrived in the community, I asked if we could have a preliminary meeting with people interested in weaving. To my delight, 40 people signed up for the project. With the help of a generous donation, we went to the local market with several members of the community to select yarn. We bought 1.5 pounds of yarn for each person interested in weaving and I made a list of items for everyone to make. My hope is to use these items as samples to generate interest, and hopefully we can find people to regularly buy things from the community.