Varnam - an handicraft endeavour
Guess what this is ? Clue is at the end of the post.
Today we happen to visit an excellent artisan's gallery / shop belonging to an organization called "Varnam" (which means colour.). They are located in Indiranagar, Bangalore.
From their website's about us section
Varnam (meaning ‘colours’) is a multi-award winning social enterprise that has been working with artisans in Channapatna, Karnataka (India), for over 4 years. The toy town or 'Gombegala ooru' is primarily known for Channapatna toys. However few have explored the true potential of the very versatile channapatna toy craft.
Channapatna is a small village in which specializes in making toys made of wood. Varnam apparently is innovating on the style.
We have produced a series of designs interpreting the 200-year-old channapatna toy-making craft in the home and lifestyle, women’s accessories space, giving tradition a contemporary twist. Using the traditional lac-turnery method popularised by the traditional channapatna toys range, we have produced home and lifestyle products, toys and jewelry.
Their Mantra is to use eco-friendly, locally available and sustainable raw materials. The quality of the products is amazing and I must say that its like a curated version of the Channapatna style. Varnam doesn't stop at curation but they are also innovating.
The unique value proposition design seems to be based on :
- curate the existing style of channapatna
- enhance and empower the artisans and provide means to sell the products to the rest of the world
- create innovative products using the existing work force
- use of woods/raw materials etc are carefully planned
- very transparent
- quality assurance
- excellent packaging & presentation
Below is a collection of some of the excellent work from their collection.
Proudly local is their motto
Apart from the wooden toys, they have pillows, peculiar bags & few shirts
## Some of the signature works :
The serious lady ?
One of the impressive part is they have came up with board games - ie chess and similar games by making unique pieces.
But they have not just stopped at the toys. To my surprise they have made tools, usual ones but using the skills of the artisans the result is very impressive.
Some of the peculiar examples are the cork / bottle openers, spoons etc
The most impressive yet simple utility was the cloth hangers
Cute, yet elegant was the following. Can you guess what it is ? I am sure this is going to the cutest tool one will ever find!
(This a door stopper!!!)
The interior of the shop, including the soft warm light gives an welcome, homely feel. I appreciate the use of the warm lights which is very soothing. (I must also add that they have a very clean rest room as well - this is a rare case in India. Unfortunately.)
The materials used to hang the toys, ear rings, necklaces are all either wood or traditional utilities. By showcasing the tools and artisans at work, they make us feel as if we are communicating with the artisans. This brings a sense of trust to the products. Not sure whether thats was the interior design idea, but they have succeeded making one feel home and close to the artisans.
Season's special
Attention to detail and careful observation to international trends, festivals and needs is visible in the creation of special toys and decorative items for the Christmas season. Their Chrismas galore enough get Santa himself spell bound. Such attention and innovation addressing the market needs (ie meet the demands) makes sure that Varnam and its products has value across entire 365 days.
Some of the items like the door stopper was cute and utilitarian. But the cutest of all was the dragon - infact the dragon photographed below is the cutest dragon I have ever came across.
**Initiatives like Varnam & highly appreciative & we should try to buy gift items from organizations like this one as it can support the local communities and creates sustainable models.**
Here is a different view of the toy or rather, here is a photo not-through the looking glass-toy.
Varnam has an online shop https://www.varnam.co.in/ & I highly recommend them for unique gift ides.
PS: I am in no way associated with "Varnam" or I don't endorse or I have not verified the claims mentioned. This is a recommendation only and purchases and other details must be carried out after due-diligence.
All photographs taken with an iPhone 7 & are released under CC-SA-3.0
Great colors and amazing detail with which you have shared the imagery. Here from #steemitbloggers
all credit goes to the artisans :) thank you for dropping by
It sure does. You're welcome.
Channapatna and Channapattanam are different. till now we were under the impression that Channapattanam means Chennai (Madras). good article. post serves good purpose because the artist also get known to the world. that gives some marketing help to them. interested poeople can contact them and their sales will improve.
nice photos.
Thank you. I didn't knew about Channapattanam :-)
Yes, I wish this helps them. Their initiative sounds very impressive.
This simetjing very unique....good to familarise us...👍
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craftsman who is extraordinary.
The picture quality is amazing. My next phone will be iPhone. :D
The plus models have even better quality. The above is with no editing whatsoever. Also just random clicks. I also own a 1.65 lakh full frame camera but you need to put serious effort and editing to get an output like this. This is like no brainer ...
Wow I have a lot to learn about cameras. I never put that much thoughts on thepics that i use take until recently when I see people on steemit is cooking something serious with mobile cameras.
Maybe you can put a review on plus series vs iPhone product
well, I have many difference of opinions about apple like their treatment of repair, battery issues etc. So writing the review may end up the opposite. I consider Android as a "closed" opensource project and decided to go with something thats straight and thus iOS. Also the build quality is quite good. I think my review may end up in a very different way. I am also not happy with the face recognition feature, though I am not using the finger print - its possible to break it and shown in atleast one case ... so you get it :)
beautiful work.
thank you
All these thing made with wood ,this is very nice to see hear.They are very beautiful ,i like the hangers.
well done bobinson, once again!