Dastkar launches appeal to aid craftspeople, plans August shopping fair

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jul 19, 2022

Crafts enterprise Dastkar has launched an online appeal to raise funds to enable it to continue to aid craftspeople as it continues to onboard artisans across the country. Dastkar will also hold a shopping fair this August. 

“As Covid turns from deadly pandemic to a less life threatening endemic, the impact of those two missing years pervades our lives and economy,” wrote Dastkar on Facebook to launch the appeal. “Trying to provide craftspeople the tools and marketing platforms to survive in today's shrinking marketplace, Dastkar itself is struggling.”
 
“We exhausted all our reserves keeping the organisation and our staff afloat,” wrote the enterprise. “We need now to travel again to our crafts groups, assess their needs, do workshops and skilling, develop new products and designs, provide them with digital marketing platforms and teach them to deal with the challenges of this online age, raise awareness, and reach out to other marginalised artisans and weavers.”

Along with its appeal, Dastkar is continuing to partner with local craft-based businesses in sectors including garments and accessories, home furnishings and decor, toys, stationery, and folk art among others. Recent brands Dastkar has promoted include Assam-based homeware and accessories brand Bent Handicrafts. 
 
The business will return to offline shopping events following the monsoon season, it announced on Facebook. From August 5 to 6, it will showcase a wide array of clothing, accessories, homeware, and more at New Delhi’s Nature Bazaar. 
 
Dastkar was founded in 1981 by six women working in the craft and development sectors, including current chairperson Laila Tyabji, according to the brand’s Facebook page. The enterprise is designed to promote ‘craft’ as a social, cultural, and economic force and empower artisans to support themselves and their communities.