Craft Circle

So What Helped Me? Due to my skills in biz development, a majority of my work in the social development sector was with livelihood initiatives. Somewhere during the course of my work with social enterprises, I identified a need to bridge the gap between good quality craft and urban markets.

Here is the Core Problem Why We Don’t See Quality Craft in Urban Markets unless it comes with a Designer Label - A lot of artisan based non-profits, small craft groups and independent artisans are unable to tap into urban markets because the business model followed by a majority of retailers in Mumbai centers around a consignment model with a credit period of 2 to 6 months. This model is unfeasible for those producers who do not have deep pockets. Also ones who do not have the marketing skills and network to be able to sell their products directly to customers. Then there is an additional burden of product returns and how to dispose those.

One of our key convictions regarding hand crafted products is that they need to be inclusive and get as mainstream as possible. The ‘exclusivity’ tag that hounds handcrafted products leads to customer perception that hand made products are not affordable. This perception has been a key contributor to the dismal state the sector finds itself in. (There are of course, many others too. But that would be digression).

Craft Circle is an attempt to solve this problem.

Business Approach - I wanted to run a business which answers the following questions with a Yes -

A. Whether it solves an identified problem B. Whether it adds value through its existence and work. C. Whether it remains true to all its stakeholders while conducting its business and D. Whether it contributes towards community building.

In order to be able to fulfill the above, Craft Circle has the following key practices -

1. Makes an outright purchase with craftsmen, groups or organisations who do not have the sustenance to handle credit based payments. This ensures transfer of risk from the producer to Craft Circle.

2. Curation is at the center of the business which allows maintenance of a certain quality and aesthetic sensibility across products. And very importantly -

3. Maintain transparency in the biz especially about the source and specifically in the case of a non-profit or fair profit entity. The idea is to make such organisations known and popular so that customers can reach out to them directly if they so wish.

(I have been asked as to how I justify then the margins or the premium loaded on the product once the source is known. Well, the margin charged on the product covers cost of sourcing, a curation and discovery fee, costs that involve bringing the product into the store, salary, marketing costs, rent and other overheads. Most customers are able to see how substantial these costs are and appreciate the effort put into curating for them not only good quality hand made products but also good organisations doing meaningful work). Our willingness to share our sources (in the case of socially committed organisation) has lent us credibility and we have found that it actually helps in adding to our customer network.

That’s enough trumpet blowing! :)

Please do drop by.

Our Store address -

Craft Circle Store, Shop no.1, Suraj Venture building, Bhagoji Keer Marg, Mahim West, Mumbai - 400016. Landmark - lane between ICICI bank and Paradise Theatre.

Contact no - Rohini (+91) 9004352273