What could we create using a lady's skills and resources that would be practical and profitable as a business venture? We looked into her services. She was willing to offer her painting and embroidery skills to anyone who wanted to make use of them. Putting that out to the people and publicizing her interests were only a part of the solution. We needed to think of something more innovative that would take it a step further. A lot of women have painting and stitching skills. What would make her stand out?
We examined our daily lives to see if a product or service needed to exist where it did not. It was extremely difficult to pinpoint such a thing. We didn't know in which direction to look. Should we look into the needs and create a product surrounding that, or are we to create a product building from the materials and skills? It was a question I grabbled with a lot in the time we spent ideating. In the end the product had to cater to the customers. It would make more sense to look into their needs and desires while designing a product. On the other hand, the products had to be focussed on the woman's skills and their application. Some of the other products seemed to stray from the lady's abilities and resources. The other approach tried was that of the materials involved. The idea was to identify the materials that she could possibly work on and work with, list its properties & characteristics and try to build a product out of that information. This too had its problems and we constantly had 'creative-blocks'.
We had initially thought about simply expanding her services to other objects than just the sari. We waded through thoughts of selling design patterns, teaching art to interested people and even simple products like unusual greeting cards, poster designs and painting on any products commissioned by customers. The USP of this system would be that she would remain open to a lot of different options for the people and would display an unusual mix of art and textiles. Being a very basic and simple strategy, we feared it would not be strong enough to achieve the desired results.
It was then that we were asked to look into technology as another option. After researching into the field of interactive textiles, we began to consider it a strong option. We came up with a couple of ideas that used LEDs, sounds, and other possible electrical interventions for art and crafts. Taking a few ideas ahead, we created sketches and iterations. Taking help from Victor, we began to realize the immense possibilities that lay before us within each idea. We recognized the most practical and decided to take it forward.
We decided to go ahead with this also because by making such a product the kind of clientele that aunty would serve to would broaden.
The lamp with a soft touch sensor and LEDs on its surface instead of the usual bulb inside, was the basic idea. Siting with Victor, we learnt that there was a lot more we could do with it. There were so many different sensor techniques that seemed exciting and unusual to us. We would first have to work on the LEDs. We got an extremely short and quick course on LEDs and circuits, to get us started. We worked on the circuits, getting the feel of it. We unsoldered and soldered bits together to form a circuit of LEDs and resistors. Seeing it work, we proceeded to work on the designing of the product. We went through quite a few textile books and patterns before drawing out a few patterns. We also made a note of techniques we thought of that might help enhance the lamp. Mirrors and sequins, for example, we hoped would reflect some of the LED light creating more brightness, while button holes would allow light to pass through the cloth itself. We made swatches of them to get a better idea of how possible and practical these techniques would be. We also created a prototype of the lamp on a small patch of cloth, hoping to see the effect of the LEDs through the fabric alongside embroidery. Apart from that, we worked on the logistics of it. We calculated the cost of the electronics, met an electrician ( Mr Pranabha, the owner of Classic Electrials) who has the resources to do the entire soldering work, and looked into availability of materials close by. We also kept an eye on shops in the city that sell such products, for later when we would require an ally for the sale of the final product.
The other products that incorporated technology in them were also considered and discussed. A book with an inbuilt bookmark cum reading light was one of the ideas we thought was interesting and possible enough. We worked on the basic prototype but did not go into the circuitry just yet. Knowing that it was possible to make and work was enough at that point. We also thought of other ideas based on need. We thought about having a purse with LED's in it. This idea stemmed from my mother's inability to find things in her purse in the dark. The presence of an LED inside would greatly help the situation. Yet, we had to think about how Krishnaveni aunty's skills could be made use of with this product. The closest idea possible seemed to be a cloth drawstring purse or a "bhatua". Yet, the mechanics of it are difficult and are still in the process of being worked upon.
We also realized, keeping our client in mind, that Krishnaveni aunty also wanted to make products that did not require any technology at all. We thought about various products and again wandered down the path of wondering which path to take to arrive at an idea. Do we work keeping the material in mind, the skills in mind or needs of the final customers in mind? Although all three need to be kept in mind, it was the question of where to start from. Jumping from one process to the other hoping to see them converge somewhere seemed to get us nowhere. Despite that, we did manage to get a few products into the list. The 'binder' was one that we took forward. Creating a long band of cloth with buttons and a loop on the other end was a simple enough product, but with en-numerous uses. It can be used to keep papers intact, clothes into a bundle or to hold multiple things together. It is aesthetically beautiful, simple to make, cheap, a novel idea and uses the skills of the lady while keeping it open for her to work on it the way she prefers later.
We thought of incorporating cloth and paper to create different kinds of greeting cards. With this product aunty had the freedom to do whatever she like on the cloth. It could be fabric painting, mirror work, different kinds of embroidery and others.
To broaden the variety of products we thought of making boxes for multiple uses with different materials and techniques.
We also decided to make a paper lamp using the paper cutting technique. Where the light would pass from the cut-outs in the paper.
This was also a new skill that Krishnaveni aunty was acquiring in the process.
