Alokya’s journey began at the local Hashtshilp Mela in 2022, where Simran and Subham, a brother-sister duo along with their family stumbled upon a dazzling display of products adorned with beautiful Pattachitra paintings. Beyond the colourful stalls, they found themselves drawn to the dedicated artisans behind the creations. These artisans weren't just sellers but the keepers of a rich heritage passed down through generations. As the brother-sister duo engaged in conversation, they learned about the hardships artisans faced. Despite their talent, they struggled to make ends meet. This stark reality prompted them to take action and thus, Alokya was born. Inspired to preserve our culture and motivated to change the plight of the artisans, Simran and Shubham were determined to make a sustainable business and designed their entire production line to be recyclable and reusable. Even the packaging in use is completely plastic-free. Our products are designed to be a symbol of hope for a brighter future. With every creation, Alokya takes a step closer to its vision of a world where art thrives, and artisans flourish.
Alokya addresses multifaceted problems in India, focusing on
1 - Addressing Declining Tradition and Culture: India boasts over 200 documented folk art and craft forms, more than 30 of which are at a high risk of extinction due to declining knowledge about these age-old art and craft forms.
2 - Employment of Rural Indian Artisans: Over the last decade, there has been a 30% decline in the number of artisans practising traditional art forms in India. The increasing unemployment rate contributes to the death of the art form.
3 - Sustainability and Access to Products: The current market is saturated with mass-produced goods that are not sustainable or eco-conscious. There’s a trend of overconsumption along with the inaccessibility of sustainable alternatives.
4 - Affordability and Quality: Premium and handcrafted products available in the market are sold at an exorbitant price, which considering the global economy, customers are unwilling to spend on.
5 - Creating Social Awareness and Encouraging People to Choose Better: There is a lack of awareness among consumers regarding the dire consequences of overconsumption or unethical production practices and their effects on the environment. In addressing these challenges, Alokya stands at the intersection of cultural preservation, economic empowerment, and environmental sustainability.
Alokya is a ‘functional art’ company that aims to popularise the numerous folk-art forms of India through handcrafted products. The product range involves combining tradition with innovation to produce unique collectable artisanal products. We collaborate with generational rural artisans to promote the declining folk art forms of India. By combining tradition and innovation, we give them relevance in modern times. Our products are exclusively handcrafted, hand-painted and consciously produced while keeping the betterment of the environment in mind. Every aspect of its product range is recyclable or bio-degradable and ethically sourced. The first range of products is the Pattachitra Collection where we collaborate with 8th-generation Pattachitra artists who create beautiful hand-painted pieces. We collaborate with local potters and bamboo weavers to promote these art forms as well. We plan to collaborate with generational artists of several other folk-art forms of India, like Warli, Madhubani, Phad, etc, and expand our range. Our current range of handcrafted products includes: Scented Candles in Terracotta jars Wood Coasters Wood Platters Wood Tissue Box Wood Cutlery Caddy Bamboo Utility Box
Alokya does the following to solve the above-mentioned problems:
1 - Addressing Declining Tradition and Culture: Alokya actively collaborates with generational Indian artisans to reverse the trend of dying art forms and preserve traditional art by creating innovative and functional products that can compete with the current market. We are actively working with 4 different art and craft forms and over 13 different generational artisans.
2 - Employment of Rural Indian Artisans: Alokya is committed to employing both female and male artisans, providing them bulk orders in the off-season, paying fair wages to them, and offering compensation significantly above the market average.
3 - Sustainability and Access to Products: Alokya promotes traditional sustainable crafts like terracotta, woven bamboo, jute, and wood through our products. We also use plastic-free packaging like seed paper, paper tape, honeycomb paper, scrap paper, etc. thus immensely reducing plastic waste generated.
4 - Affordability and Quality: Alokya ensures that customers receive premium quality products at an affordable price. While paying the artisans fairly, we ensure that our production quality is high, which reduces our rejection rate and enables us to price our products at a 50% to 60% margin compared to other brands in the market whose margins go up to 150% to 200%.
5 - Creating Social Awareness and Encouraging People to Choose Better: Alokya exclusively collaborates with sustainable and homegrown brands that champion local businesses; women-owned businesses, local brands and NGOs, to promote ethical and sustainable consumption among consumers.
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