It’s that time of year when you are busy with your last-minute shopping for Diwali gifts and are finding yourself in splits deciding on whom to gift what! But if you want aesthetic home decor items and believe in conscious buying, the women-owned social impact brand Studio Coppre might be the one-stop destination for all your shopping woes. From hand-crafted dining essentials to hand-woven home linens – the brand offers a wide range of gift options to choose from.
But what sets the brand apart from most of its contemporaries is not just the design of its products but also the philosophy behind its design. Studio Coppre works towards preserving and promoting heritage crafts by retaining traditional crafting techniques and designing contemporary wares. According to Studio Coppre Cofounder Seemantini Mihir, their products are meant to enhance the homes and identities of people through their rich cultural narrative.
But how do they translate this philosophy into tangible designs? Seemantini says,”We realised over a decade ago why people were walking away from handcrafted products – they weren’t relevant anymore. The artisans started using low-quality raw materials to compete on price points without any design intervention. Thus, the products were not appealing to the new generation of city dwellers.” That is when they realised the huge potential in terms of reinventing the old for the new and using the best quality materials.
However, creating designs that blend traditional aesthetics and modern functionalities comes with its own challenges. Understanding a crafting process is crucial to design the contours, shape, and functionality of products. This is a time and resource-intensive process in a world that is fast-paced and expects record turnaround. The receptivity of artisans to new designs – to understand and accept modern designs and to be able to craft them is a huge challenge,” says Seemantini, adding, “The production processes also are set for different times, ages and audiences altogether.” The paucity of resources, both in terms of human resources and financial resources, is also a challenge.
The brand also addresses the need of bringing highly skilled artisans into the economic mainstream, by remunerating them per piece of product crafted rather than per kilo, which has been the usual norm in the copper artisanal market. Recently, the brand has also received the NEST Seal of Ethical Production, a New York-based nonprofit that requires compliance with more than 100 parameters of Ethical Production. To date, the brand has impacted the lives of close to 350 Indian artisans and makers, including metal-working artisans in several states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Kashmir, and Rajasthan.
Studio Coppre has close to 200 products in its portfolio. Some of them include unique options like the Karanji Diwali Tealight, a tealight made of copper with a clear lacquer coat; the Malabar Davara Coffee Set, a vintage handcrafted filter coffee set made of pure brass; the Rangoli Diwali Tealight, a floating brass diyas (lamps) are placed on kolam or rangoli designs for festive decorations; the Mithai Tray, a tray handmade from pure copper; and the Stambha Tealight Holder, a tea light holder that can be easily switched into a candle holder.
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