Date:03/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/03/stories/2009010354720500.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Eco-friendly handicrafts on display

Nivedita Ganguly

. —Photo:K.R. Deepak

Wide array: Tourists from Sweden buying stone jewellery at the ongoing Gandhi Shilp Bazaar in Visakhapatnam

VISAKHAPATNAM: With the focus increasingly shifting to sustainable craft development with locally available material, many self-help organisations are being set up in remote corners of the country. Many such groups have set up stalls at the ongoing Gandhi Shilp Bazaar at Viswapriya Function Hall.

One such stall is of banana fibre products crafted by a group of women artisans from Ravulapalem near Rajahmundry. Here, around 30 women members have formed a self-help group called Tejaswini Banana Fibre, under the aegis of Byrraju Foundation, who make banana fibre into functional products.

The foundation operates in 198 villages in over six districts of Andhra Pradesh - East Godavari, West Godavari, Guntur, Krishna, Visakhapatnam and Ranga Reddy.

There is an arresting range of bags, including crochet worked shopping bags, handbags in various shapes and sizes as well as rucksacks. Also available are woven tablemats and pouches.

Says Lakshmi, one of the members of the group, “Sales at the exhibition has been quite encouraging.”

The artisans say that weaving banana fibre is difficult and even more difficult is extracting banana fibre. “It is difficult because machines in the market are not good enough.”

Some of the other items drawing crowd at the expo are the ceramic potteries of UP and artificial stone jewellery. “Many foreign tourists too have purchased in bulk these stone jewellery of Lucknow,” says one of the artisans. The expo is on till January 5 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.