(Project executed as Box – a collaboration between Quicksand & Codesign)

Explore Rural India is a project jointly funded and managed by Ministry of Tourism of the Indian Government & the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It is an imaginative and effective project that seeks to promote rural development through the twin means of Sustainable, Rural Tourism and indigenous crafts based Livelihoods promotion.

30+ villages across India were selected on the basis of their crafts and also scenic beauty. At each of these villages, village homestays & craft interpretation centers were created and residents received training in hospitality.

As the next step, UNDP wanted to use design thinking and brand building to create a superior experience for tourists (and craft buyers) coming into these villages. Quicksand was commissioned at the consultant to design and host a day long workshop for artisans from over 20 of the Explore Rural India villages which would introduce these artisans to

• The urban consumer’s situation & psyche and the role that crafts plays within their purchase patterns
• From this understanding, explore how they could create new, innovative products with functional (and not only aesthetic) value to urban & international consumers
• Understand the benefits and approach to branding their crafts in order to enable higher pricing and margins on their crafts

Quicksand prepared for the workshop through a week-long immersion into the retailing of crafts in New Delhi. A team of design researchers + brand specialists visited craft retail hubs such as the Cottage Industries Emporium & Emporiums of different states in India. Rich media documentation of these outlets allowed us to understand both

• Product innovation patterns within handicrafts: we evidenced several instances where products of urban household consumption had been created using
• How branding was being used to add both a narrative (crucial to craft retail) and perceived value

Based on this research, we designed a day long workshop which comprised of a presentation and several co-design activities with the participants such as creating a brand for their products, a market immersion comprising of these artisans visiting several of these craft retail outlets and understanding how their products were being sold in urban areas.

Key deliverables from the workshop to UNDP were a book that laid out principles for using design more effectively to promote crafts under the Explore Rural India program and also a film about the whole exercise. Click here to download a copy of the workbook.