@zulu I finally felt like doing this bit...I have already attached the religious thread here....
Ok here is my idea:
@Burāq OI @Murgah @PakSword @The Diplomat @fitpOsitive @baqai @graphican @Thorough Pro @Counter-Errorist
Möbius Curve
So, I have bounced this idea a couple of times...
I am interested in boosting the cottage industry (within Pakistan):
- stitching
- sewing
- embroidery
- wood craft
- marble craft
- shoe making
- clay work - dishes?
- glass work
- calligraphy
- silk painting
- lamp making
- camel skin products and hair products
- goat hair products like Pashmina has made a brand
- We have a large poor / working class population with unique traditional skills
- Women can work from home
- A new source of income
How (I think) this should run :
- EACH "artisan" will have their name signed on each product they make
- EACH"artisan" will get like 75% if product is sold at an expo/ display/ cultural village
- The quality would be maintained and the prices match export quality products - each "artisan" will be told at the end of each month that if quality is not met they are replaced (since we have a large population).
- The collection would be from all over Pakistan
I would suggest these things displayed and be sold at expo and also make a cultural village like with a small entrance fee like 50 -100 Rs (to help it run) and then whatever anyone
buys from there 75% goes to the maker and rest to run the "cultural village" (electricity/ stall rent/ advertisement). When I mean cultural village is not a village...But a permanent display expo in touristic spots...And make sure these are linked with travel agents who take tourists around.
They dont need to make MANY coz we arent aiming at large scale but we are aiming at custom/ original hand made products, which are unique and dont have another of its kind...Kind of like the batik of Indonesia which are "traditionally" hand made and each is given attention to detail and you dont get another one like it...Now a days machine made ones are available BUT people still prefer the traditional ones coz it makes them stand out!
- Open jobs
- This will help bring more women into the work force
- It will help promote Pakistani goods under the banner Pakistani and hopefully export some stuff
- It would be helpful in the long run for tourism
- Keep alive traditional crafts and make them money making art
This may require going talent hunting. Checking out sample. Maybe even training some for online sales (i.e.
http://aanganpk.com/ and websites listed below)?
I got this idea because once upon a time we used to see Pakistani textiles even British shops now we dont. I have seen indian "artisan" shops just start in front of me and expand from 1 to 2-3 shops! They display unknown brands but the bright colours and patterns make many Europeans buy them!
Many different old techniques like tie dye and stuff keep coming back in fashion...and I know Pakistani used to have alot of various ideas...and I am sure if groomed properly these "artisans" can be very creative!
@VCheng
I got this idea from reading these success tales that I and some other members posted here on PDF some years ago:
https://markhor.com/pages/our-story
http://www.popinjay.co/about/index.php
http://inaayaonline.com/shop/about-us/
I further googled and found these online stores
https://kaarvan.com/history/
https://www.pollyandotherstories.com/pages/about-us
https://www.tenthousandvillages.com/pakistan/dominion-traders
https://www.artisansgalleria.com/
https://www.gilgitbazar.com/shop/Hand-Made
http://www.vceela.com/
http://aanganpk.com/
https://www.jafferjees.com/jafferjees-history
These are very specific with what they work with - textile and jewelry...I would like to expand this to other areas!
If you notice almost all the good websites have their story and also the story of the "specific village or artists" written...or how a group of people got together and did something!
We have some training and expo:
http://www.ahan.org.pk/ahan-offers-...embroidery-adda-work-tailoring-and-stitching/
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2017/12/06/embroidering-new-future-pakistan-rural-artisans
We can also build up on religious tourism....but give it another name like a spiritual journey (Buddhism/ Sikhism/ Islam )- might help with soft image coz saying religious tourism in Pakistan would just sound weird/ scary or even not sell