Handicrafts

Spiti is home to some unique handicrafts such as thangkas (paintings on silken canvass), choksays (wooden carved tables), mane stones (carving on stones), Zama (Mud craft), lingzay (traditional shawls) and a whole variety of woolen products. Ecosphere in collaboration with its partner GERES have been keenly involved in projects on promoting and reviving these crafts. However, the major focus area in this initial period for the organisations has been the development of wool based handicrafts.

Wool – A Local Surplus

Many kinds of wool are produced in the villages of Spiti such as sheep, yak and goat wool. Since Spiti is primarily an agro-pastoralist community, wool is available in abundance.

Every Spitian family traditionally transforms it into different items such as clothes (socks, gloves, sweaters, etc), carpets, blankets, as well as shoes.

Wool transformation activities of the project aim to valorise local resources of Spiti by the transformation and commercialisation of woollen handicrafts such as shawls, carpets, bags and knitted products for both local and tourist markets.

Women’s Empowerment

In the last 2 decades the Spitian economy has transitioned from a subsistence based to a cash based economy. Consequently, providing the local people with opportunities for cash incomes has become an area that demands attention both from the government as well as development organisations.

Wool transformation activities provide opportunities to local women to earn cash income while staying in their villages. The flexibility of this self-employed activity doesn’t interfere with their daily household chores. In summer, their priority is the agricultural work and it is often the only opportunity to earn cash that they can find in the village. However, in the long winter months development of wool based products can be an important source of income for the household.

Through this activity women are also enabled to create links with other stakeholders and institutions outside the village. This better knowledge of their environment and exposure makes them more self-confident and involved in community decisions.

Appropriate technologies

In the winter months, women have a lot of time at their disposal, but due to inadequate heating facilities and the extremely cold climate they are able to utilise only a very miniscule portion of this free time to work on handicrafts. In order to improve their working conditions, Ecosphere has been working on the development of solar passive structures, which provide warmer temperatures for long periods of time without any burning and the smoke from the stoves.

Spinning and carding are two steps of wool transformation that are highly time consuming. Under the project, women have been trained to use manual and electric spinning wheels and carding machines. With these tools, women have been able to improve their productivity and the quality of their products.

A sustainable market approach

The project focuses principally on short marketing channels primarily targeting locals and tourists. Ecosphere assists the women groups in marketing their products and encourages them to market the same independently through hotels, restaurants, etc.

Markets are also being explored outside Spiti and professional designers have been engaged in developing and designing products with a mix of the modern and the traditional for such markets.