Integrated Handicraft Park for chikankari Cluster, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Chikankari is a famous craft of embroidery from the Awadh region in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This traditional embroidery is a centuries-old art form which is still being practised and is trending in the fashion industry. But this traditional art form also has a dark side of the bad socio-economic conditions of the artisans, making them struggle even to survive. On the one hand, Chikan products have a very high market value having consumers all over the world and on the other hand, the artisans are struggling. The profit being made from the product is not benefiting the artisans. So there is a huge gap between the consumer and artisans which is resulting in the bad socio-economic conditions of them. These bad socio-economic conditions are forcing them to stop practising this centuries-old art form and to not let their children enter in the field. This is a great threat to the existence of the craft itself. The main reason behind this gap is the presence of middlemen in the process. The unstructured practicing has lead this craft and the artisans to depend on middlemen. The whole process of chikankari has around 7-8 steps which involve different stakeholders. In the current system after every step the product comes back to the middleman and then he/she passes it to the other. That’s how they create a monopoly and make the maximum profit out of it. So, the intent of this project will be to propose a suitable built infrastructure for the cluster in order to organise the industry and to integrate all the stakeholders in the process of Chikankari under one roof. This will eventually eliminate the role of middlemen and bring the consumers-artisans closer to each other, resulting in better socio-economic condition of artisans.