Expansion of Indian handicrafts.. local to global

Binjara Crafts and Café… a promise to keep… a dream to fulfil… support needy artisans…expansion worldwide.

This is not just a name of a business this is a dream, which me (Bijoyeta Chatterjee Saha) and my brother (Binanjan Chatterjee) both have knitted very carefully. Now when my brother has left us to travel to a different universe, I am here to fulfil our dreams not only for ourselves but also for all the dreamers around the world who think big for themselves, for their traditions, for their people and for their country.

Our aim is to expand the reach of Indian handmade craft items with some food & drink delicacies under our own brand.

Indian handicrafts are an art of making crafts by hand in India. In ancient India people lived in colonies called tribal and they were used to make utility items for their daily need, that art of making the crafts called handicrafts, the items called handicrafts goods and  the people create this crafts called Artisans. India has a long heritage of handmade crafts. The crafts are loved and appreciated by all over the world. But the condition of our artisans is not very sound as they are not getting the enough price and support for their skills. Some initiatives has been started to support the artisans, their skills and our age-old heritage but there is always more scopes of protecting and nurturing our rich culture. Moreover the demands for Indian Handicrafts are growing day by day all over the World.

We started Binjara Crafts & Cafe in the year 2017 with a small outlet in Kolkata. The crafts section is to support our artisans and our heritage includes Clay Crafts, Idols, religious frame, home décor items, scented designer candles. On the other hand, Café section is to attract more people through interesting Indian and other food-staffs.

Since the COVID-19 lockdown, most of the artisans have been out of work. Only 15 out of 40 workshops are operational. Stocks have accumulated and they are facing a severe cash crunch. The timing could not have been worse. A falling economy, unemployment, reduced spending, the pandemic and subsequent lockdown have had a devastating impact on the handicrafts sector.  Artisans and weavers are the third largest segment among the poor.

Binjara Crafts & Cafe ,as a enterprise ,are not able to pull their existing business as earlier due to the pandemic,hence we are not able to support the Artisans and their families involved with our business of Indian handicrafts.Our supplies are sourced from local providers, in order for us to create nationally accessible products while still supporting our local artisans. In the future, we wish to expand to ceramic works and clay pottery to expand our line, allowing a wider reach for us to have new customers not only in India but also in other countries.As of now we are dealing with only local orders for crafts. The fundraising will allow us to step into our big dream gradually from opening our own workshop cum cafe with local and needy artisans to enter into the International market through the process of export. 

The fundraising involves-

1.Procure a space for setting up our own workshop as well as cafe (Approx- $4200)

2.Buying raw materials and machineries for production of new line of Export quality products (Approx-$3000)

3.Packaging cost (Approx-$600)

4.Shipping worldwide.(Approx-$2500)