The idea of bringing in an exchange of culture, communities and ideas. In any other scenario, these two groups are unlikely to meet. Located in Dausa; about 300 kms from Rohtak, lies a Jawaja leather craft cluster that is skilled in making leather shoes and bags.
We also happened to know a group of Royal Enfield bikers in Rohtak who were looking for a winter ride with a fun twist. We hoped to bring them together to bring out colors of community, culture and design interwoven into an exclusive experience.
The villagers said that there weren’t many who were interested in the leather craft business or were interested in picking it up. Some were into agriculture and some fathers were out of station for work. Bishanpura, at present, is facing acute
shortage of water and electricity was present only at night. We discussed the craft of leather making with Keshavji, his wife Anitaji and the rest of the family and our bikers got hands on with some products, tweaking and customising them to go with their bikes, while some bought products for their kids and wives.
We toured the village and went to Susheela kaki’s house to see everyone working together in the sun with a handful of other artisans working on designs for bags and ‘mojris’(Rajasthani shoes). Seeing this sight was quite something. From different embroidery styles and leather stitching techniques to discussing their process and willingness to adapt to the contemporary ways was refreshing. From what clicks with a contemporary potential customers, a little awareness session by our group and assistance on amazon’s feature for artisans. Some of us were potential customers and picked up a few bags made by the artisans in the village.