Two women from Hyderabad turn messiahs for Kondapalli toys

Hyderabad: The very mention of Kondapalli, near Vijayawada, brings to memory toys made of wood and natural dyes. Alas, for all its popularity, by 2020 only a couple of artisans from the village were involved in the profession. When tourists visited stores in the town, they found toys from Ettikoppa and Chennapatnam outnumbered those from Kondapalli.

Even as the art was on the verge of dying, Abhihaara, a social enterprise initiative in the city, collaborated with the Institute for Advanced Studies in Complex Choices (IASCC) to help revive Kondapalli toy-making. It aimed to enhance the skills and market awareness of Kondapalli female artisans.

When Sudha Rani Mullapudi, CEO and co-founder of Abhihaara, realised that this traditional art was nearing extinction, she approached IASCC, founded by Prof. Anil K. Sood and Chitra Sood.

The team realised that the best way to carry forward the legacy was to train young women by way of workshops. This saw the birth of a first-of-its-kind Green Craft Store. They identified two families just before the pandemic hit, and took up a pilot project of training them in two skills — the art of chiselling, carving and polishing wood, and the process of natural dyeing.

All colours used for the Kondapalli toys are sourced from local plants.

"Men from the area kept migrating searching for jobs and women had very few options of moving out. There was a greater need for additional income. They showed interest in learning, provided that they would be entitled for a stipend, raw materials and a resource person. This was addressed when we roped in expert artisan Kotaiah Chary," Sudha Mullapudi told Deccan Chronicle

As of today, 10 women in the 20-38 years age-group make Kondapalli toys. The team hopes that this will get better through a second cohort of trained ‘artisans’.

Chitra Sood said that it was heartening to see women adopt natural dyes, though they were tedious and time-consuming.

"We are so excited to invest in something so environmentally sound and help preserve and sustain a rural economy, especially through women. We have already received sizable orders from various private and public companies. We are hopeful of scaling further," Sood said.

Reviving the art of Kondapalli toy-making

> All colours used for the Kondapalli toys are sourced from local plants.

> Green comes from sorakaya (bottle gourd), brown from Indian madder, red from pomegranate, yellow from turmeric, white from limestone, grey from ratanjot plant and different shades of blue from indigo.

> The collective has bagged corporate orders and from the handicraft corporations of the Telugu states, Lepakshi and Golconda.

> It has secured orders for popular toys like bullock carts, dasavatharams, Meena sets and village occupations

> The orders are enough work to keep the artisan families for six months.

> The collective next plans to produce golu and bommala koluvu.