Our journey so far…

In 2021, we started with four villages and eighteen artists from the Kutch region in the state of Gujarat (part of Western India). By March 2022, we have established our presence in eleven villages and are proud to have empowered forty-nine artists. To make things even more exciting, our collection of artisanal pieces has gone from twenty-seven in 2021 to sixty-eight.

Our continuing association with the original eighteen artists has instilled enthusiasm and confidence across other communities of artists in the nearby villages. This has gone a long way in building trust and allowing our presence to spread organically, through word of mouth. As a result, the initial reluctance in becoming a part of our efforts has waned significantly although the main concern remains - having a beneficial association with an organisation which can provide them a stable source of income throughout the year. We are working to build that trust, network and our growth targets and it is because of this promise and potential that artisans have started to welcome Herkala with more excitement.

We have also noticed that a considerable number of artists wish to work anonymously, due to personal reasons and one of our missions is to empower each of these artists to build their own brand under the Herkala umbrella. When we have helped these women understand the true reach of their potential, we can rest assured knowing that we did more than just enable them to earn - we also enabled them to dream and grow.

Our sales have increased from approximately INR 15,000/- (~USD 196) in Dec 2021 to INR 2,66,045/- (~USD 3,480) in April 2022. We are acquiring approximately 70% new customers month-on-month. Such results continue to inspire us to scale newer heights.

Soon, in our next blog, we will announce the launch of our next path breaking milestone in Herkala’s journey towards empowering the rural artisans. Stay tuned!