Combined brief, specifically Devrai art village

Background-

Devrai Art Village is a non profit initiative to create space for tribal arts and crafts in modern living. A core group of Adivasi craftsmen and artists from the Gadchiroli region in Maharashtra are working in Panchgani to produce quality artifacts suited to contemporary needs and tastes. In this process local people also get trained and earn a livelihood.
Five Adivasi craftsmen under the guidance of Suresh Pungati, an international award winner from the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra have already made Panchgani their home and the work has started in metal and bamboo craft since Oct 2008.

Objective:
To promote the art village and help the Adivasi’s effectively create saleable products.

Products:
• The products can be a mix of modern and traditional designs.
• They currently produce mostly decorative items; we wish to expand into creating items of utility with aesthetic value. There is an increasing demand for those kinds of items.
• A more effective system of working can be designed for them to create more products in lesser time, with better technology and to optimize the use of their resources
• The Adivasis currently stick to either making only bamboo products or metal products. We plan to help them integrate the two along with other materials like textile etc.. to create highly finished products which would sell better.

Marketing:
• Identifying the target customer, and market.
• Attractive packaging, with well-designed tags
• To create a network of people who are willing to promote the products in various other outlets
• Advertisement plan including
• Exhibitions in cities to sell the products, and advertise the art village
• Cultural programmes organised to promote the craft.
• Creating a brand identity for the art village.
• Creating a documentary/ presentation to promote the art village and help gather funds
• Create a website so that people can buy their products online and also gather information about Devrai Art Village

Opportunities:
• Tourists can be major target customers as Panchgani is a hot tourist destination. We could create an outlet where the craftsmen can directly sell the products from the art village itself.
• Locals can be trained in the art like a vocational training to revive the dying art, and they can be put to work with the Adivasi’s and integrated into the system, to make working more effective and productive.