CONTENTS

Synopsis

The Organisation

Objective of the project

Location and the people involved.

The Fibre

Existing Products.

Skills & Processing

The Design brief

Market Survey

Design Development

The Colour Workshop

The Dyeing Workshop

Design prototypes

Recommendations

SYNOPSIS

This project dealt with developing new products for the involved groups keeping in mind their resources, skills and the available raw material. The groups have been working on sisal products and they have been making the same type of products as available in jute or Banana fibre.

A market survey was done in the southern region to identify the available products and draw a requirement from the market. The survey pointed out the need for a new range of colours and contemporary designs.Also the international market indications showed the need for natural fibre products.

A number of sketches were made for concepts along with some samples for techniques and some of the concepts were taken ahead for prototyping.

An understanding of the problems faced during prototyping and design development enabled us to give a few recommendations which we feel are important for smooth functioning of the craft groups

The Organisation

Indo- Dutch Project Management Society was established in the year 1989 as a part of the co-operation between the Netherlands Government and the Govt. of Karnataka.

A not-for-profit organisation with its head office in Bangalore, India has Rural Development as its main objective. Various development programmes are planned and implemented by the Programme Management Unit of the the Society. Presently, the Society has taken up a Rural Small and Micro Enterprises Development Programme in two districts of Karnataka State. Special attention is given to women in rural areas. The programme Management Unit has over a period of time accumulated valuable expertise and on request provides advisory/ consultancy services in the development of Rural Small and Micro Enterprises.

The Project Management Unit of the Indo-Dutch Project Management Society (IDPMS) under the Rural Small and Micro Enterprise Development Programme (RSMEDP) in Mysore district chose to work with Sisal fibre products. In late 1994 the preparatory work was initiated and actual implementation was initiated and the actual implementation started in Jan’95.During this period IDPMS staff recruited two women trainers from Vimalalayam in Cochin to stay in the villages and train the women in the basic skill development and the women over a period of time formed their own association called the Sree Dodda Tayee Swa Sahaya. The project to date has been successful in empowering these timid illiterate women who have gone as far as Hyderabad,Bangalore and Mysore to participate in melas and market their products.

Objective of the project

In Mysore district, in the villages of Kuderumole, Dasanur and Nerale there are women making Sisal products.

This craft was introduced to the women so that they could supplement their income. Initially it was a large group of women who were trained but the numbers dwindled to a handful when orders for the type of products they were making were not regular or large enough to ensure constant work for all the women.

The Indo-Dutch Project Management Society (IDPMS) therefore approached NID to undertake a design intervention project for design development and for the upgradation of skills.

The objective of the project was mainly product development and skill upgradation.

The means to this end was done in five phases;

1. Information collection and market survey

2. Concept development of products with workshops on dyeing, the use of colour and quality control.

3. The development of products that had been conceptualised and created by NID designers.

4. Test marketing of the products at exhibitions and melas for market feedback.

5. Documentation of the project.

Location and the People

The women involved in this project are drawn from the villages of Kuderumole, Dasanur and Nerale which are in Chamrajpet district and they are about an hour and a half away from Mysore.

The people in these villages are illiterate and the women in particular. Most women of the younger generation have studied only upto seventh standard. The main source of income is from agricultural activities, wage labour and in some cases non-farm activities like Sisal rope making, silk cocoon rearing. Women also go out on wage labour duty during the agricultural season. The women have no control over the income they earn and whatever is earned is handed over to the male who is the head of the family.

The Fibre

Sisal (Agave sisalana) is one of about 300 species of plants belonging to the Agave family (Agavaceae), all originating in the tropical and subtropical parts of the Western Hemisphere; they have been introduced to other places, including East Africa, the West Indies, Indonesia,and the Philippines. The name sisal comes from the name of the port in the state of Yucatan in Mexico, from which the fibre was first exported. Production. The plant produces leaves two to six feet (0.6 to 2 meters ) in length, tapering off to a sharp thorn-like point. The growth rate depends on the availability of water, for sisal is a water-storing plant, growing when water supplies are available but stopping to conserve water in times of drought.

It may produce six to eight leaves per month during the wet season, and none in the dry season.

Sisal grows in areas where the rainfall and soil conditions are unsuitable for other species of agave, and under a much wider range of growth conditions than henequen. The life processes and activity of the plant depend on soil conditions and climate.There are two growing seasons per year in East Africa, as against one in Mexico, but the plants live through approximately the same number of growing seasons in both areas, producing fibres at a considerably higher rate in East Africa, but with the total yield per lifetime approximately the same.Sisal prefers dry, permeable soils, with some lime, but also grows on well drained, black, cotton land. Suckers (rapidly developing shoots) were formerly used for propagation because they can be planted immediately after their removal from the parent plant, but the modern practice is to use buds, or bulbils, for propagation, placing them in nurseries for about 12 to 18 months before they are planted in the field. Planting of the bulbils is usually done during the rainy season. Toward the end of its life, the plant starts to pole , and the pole can reach a height of 20 or more feet (six meters or more), being branched at the last five feet.

CUT SISAL LEAVES

After the pole stops growing, the branches throw out stems on which the yellow sisal flowers develop, eventually dying and falling off. The bulbils formed when the flowers die grow to a length of about four inches, at which size they are easily removed. The plant dies after the pole has developed bulbils, each pole yielding about 2,000.

The time needed before a new sisal plant is ready for cutting depends on the conditions under which it is grown. From two and a half to four years may be needed .Leaves that are ready for cutting are severed at their base with a sickle-like knife. Yields of 17 tons per hectare (seven tons per acre) can be obtained from properly cut plants. The leaves weigh between one and one and a half pounds each, and are tied into bundles of 30 leaves, with 70 bundles making up a task.Each leaf contains about 1,000 individual fibres.

Processing

Mechanical process

Fibre constitute about 2 to 5 percent of the weight of the leaves. Decortification of the leaves is carried out in large stationary machines that crush the leaf, scrape the fibre clean, and wash it to remove the remaining pulp pieces. Fibre intended for export is graded and baled. Grade designation and bale weight differ widely.

Manual process

For producing the fibre, these leaves are first allowed to soak in water for a week; thereafter they are takenout and beaten on a stone to remove the non-fibrous chemical substances.

FIBRE EXTRACTION MACHINE

FRESHLY EXTRACTED FIBRE AFTER WASHING

DRIED FIBRE

The remaining fibrous content is then collected and this is allowed to remain in the water for a day. Afterwards the fibres are taken out and set up for drying. The fibres have a natural shiny luster and are capable of further treatment with chemicals or natural dyes.

Fibre propertiesSisal is a white to yellowish fibre, three to five feet in length. One of the coarser hard fibres, it is strong but not as flexible as abaca. Commercial Sisal fibres, consist of strands conta-ining a large number of small indivi-dual fibres held together by natural gums. The average length of sisal fibres varies from three to four feet (about a metre) or longer. The strands are usually white and of high lustre. Sisal fibres have good breaking elongation, and high resistance to seawater.

Use

Sisal is mostly used for the manufacture of binder twine and bailer twine, although efforts are being made to find new uses, such as for matting. A weakness of sisal rope is a tendency to break suddenly without warning, in contrast to abaca rope, which show threatening signs before breaking.

World production and consumption. Total annual world production of Sisal was over 600,000 tons in the late 1960’s. Tanzania was the largest producer, with nearly 33 percent, followed by Brazil with nearly 30 percent, and then by Angola, Kenya, and Uganda. The largest importers of sisal were the Commonwealth countries, which imported 195,000 tons.

Existing Products.

The existing product range consists of one or two types of shopping bags, coasters and table mats in two or three sizes and door mats made of the waste sisal. The Sisal is also converted into rope and this rope is used as the weft to weave floor coverings and the rope is also used to weave the seat of low wooden stools. Many of these products or similar products are made in jute and other fibres in West Bengal, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Skills & Process

The women in these centres are skilled in cleaning and separating the fibre and they can make the three strand braid quite efficiently. All their products use the sisal braides as the basic raw material. The braide is stitched together to create discs or ovals that are embellished around the edge with loops of the same braid and this is the method in which they create coasters and placemats. The stitching is done with cotton thread which is usually dyed the same colour that the sisal is dyed. The stitching is quite neat.

BRAIDING STITCHING

STITCHING UP INTO BAGS

WASHING THE FIBRE

DYEING THE FIBRE

PREPARING BRAIDS

The Design brief

The Design Brief given was to develop products and product mixes that had a better acceptability in the market. To provide support by imparting training to the craft persons in the areas of dyeing, colour usage, quality control and productivity.

Market Survey

The market survey for Sisal products was conducted in three cities - New Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The purpose of the survey was to check to see what sort of presence sisal products had in the stores that were visited, what sort of fibre products were available, it could be any fibre and to gauge what sort of products were stocked by the stores which could be made or reinvented if necessary in sisal.

NEW DELHI

In New Delhi the place visited as part of the market survey was The International Gift Fair organised by the Export Promotion Council of Handicrafts; this was a forum to examine the needs of the international market.

The International Gift Fair was organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts. This was an ideal opportunity to discover what fibre products were on offer for export. There was a dearth of fibre products although participants were getting inquiries for large and small containers and bags for various purposes. The products most in demand were shopping bags of various sizes and shapes.

Delhi Haat which is an open air craft bazaar where groups of craftspersons or individuals rent a space and sell their products. They are there for a short period of time for about two to three weeks at a time so non of the stalls there are permanent.

State government emporiums and the Cottage Industries emporiums are platforms for each state to display and sell the crafts from its state.In a place like Delhi one gets to sample all the crafts from all over the country within a small area.

Dastakar is a non government organisation that encourages the crafts and is really trying to give the crafts person a fair deal in trying to cut out the middle man.Delhi Haat has a number of crafts people coming to sell their wares from all over the country. There were some jute products but not of sisal.

The Cottage Industries Emporium is the largest craft outlet in the city but it contained stocks of sisal coasters and tablemats. The same products are being made by IDPMS. There seems to be no significant presence of Sisal in any of the State government emporia except for jute in some. Dastakar is quite a well known non government organisation that promotes crafts through Dastakar retail outlets. There were some fibre products and almost nothing made of sisal.

HYDERABAD

The shops visited in Hyderabad were Contem-porary Arts and Crafts, Cottage Industries Emporium, Kalanjali,35 Park Lane and Lepakshi.

Contemporary Arts and Crafts is store that has coasters, tablemats and door mats made of sisal but they are not displayed to advantage.

BANGALOREBangalore has a number of craft outlets and they stock a wide variety of craft products from all over the country. These outlets are Industree, Sabha, Cauvery, Raaga, Sasha and Fab India.

Industree promotes handicrafts from all over the country and is actively involved in designing and producing contemporary products using traditional craft skills so that many a craft gets a new lease of life.

Industree stocks and displays a number of fibre products but sisal products form a miniscule portion.Sabha is a craft outlet promoted by Action Aid and the shop displays a variety of crafts but a majority of them are from the north and west of India.They do not have any fibre products.The Cauvery handicrafts emporium is Karnataka’s state handicraft emporium which attracts a number of tourists The Emporia does not have sisal fibre products. Raaga is a small gift shop attached to the Casa

Picola chain of restaurants which are very popular with the college crowd who shop here for gifts. Here too there are no sisal products. Sasha is yet another craft shop in Bangalore. Sasha has a number of jute products made in Bengal.

A large percentage of Sasha’s products are from the east but Sasha has no sisal products.

GOA

It was seen that Goa being a tourist place sells a good number of Sisal products.The products are well taken and there is a demand for innovative products.

Fab India is a store for garments, furnishing fabrics and made ups which are all craft based. They do have a few products outside these three categories such as ceramics in the form of crockery, leather bags etc. but they don’t have any sisal products.

OBSERVATIONS

• The presence of Sisal in the market is negligible.• There is a demand for utilitarian products such

as bags, storage containers which can be made of sisal especially for the export market.

• Doormats, tablemats, coasters and a few bags made of sisal have become cliched. The discerning customer today wants something different everyday.

• Products which could be developed using sisal - floor coverings, space dividers, footwear, furniture, and home accessories.

Design Development

The Initial concepts were developed based on the information gathered during the market survey. Certain types of products were chosen to be developed. This existing method of braiding and stitching is quite limiting. Therefore it was important to introduce other simple skills such as creating multiple strand braids, or a simple weaving of sisal rope with the aid of sticks.

It was decided that concepts for floor coverings, bags, storage containers, would be the main focus but there were some other products that were conceptualised such as footwear, ladders and swings, lamp shades and so on.

In the process of conceptualising on one hand the products developed were such that sisal would be the only fibre or material used and on the other hand there was a conscious effort to combine more than one material.

This effort to combine more than one material in one product was done for three reasons :

• One to use the properties of one material to offset the lack of those particular properties in another material and therefore compliment each other. An example would be the containers developed with sisal rope and bamboo. The bamboo gave the container a stable form and the sisal rope was pliable enough to bend around the bamboo strips so a basket could be woven which was sturdy, novel and an object of simple beauty·

• Two, to use the skills of more than one type of crafts person and combine them in one product.

• Three, to make the sisal fibre more suitable for just about any category of product.

A presentation of these initial concepts or ideas was made to the staff of IDPMS for their feedback before the prototypes were begun.

DESIGN CONCEPTS

DESIGN CONCEPTS

DESIGN CONCEPTS

DESIGN CONCEPTS

DESIGN CONCEPTS

DESIGN CONCEPTS

The Colour Workshop

Colour is extremely important and more often than not a product sells because the colour is right. Colour and the theories of colour are complex subjects that require a great deal of study and experience to be able to make the right choices. Therefore to teach a group of women enough about colour in a week’s time so that it would make a difference to the products they made was quite a challenge..

To introduce then to the subject of colour we gave them a warm up exercise. large selection of coloured paper cut into squares of one standard size was given to them and they were asked to choose any number of squares of any of the colours and stick them down on a sheet of paper such that a large square composed of seven rows and seven columns was created. This was composition 1.

Next a few magazines were given to them and they were asked to choose one picture or image and observe how many different colours there were and the placement in the picture. Next they were asked to choose square bits of coloured paper and recreate the picture only in terms of the proportion of colour asthey were in the picture and in terms of the colour placement. This was composition 2. Once this was done the two compositions were compared.

This exercise was done to make the women aware of the proportion of colour and how these proportions were vital in making a pleasant and balanced composition. It was also pointed out that a picture that they took a liking to for its use of colour could be translated in this fashion.

They were introduced to the colour wheel, the three primary colours and how two primaries when mixed in equal quantities would result in a secondary colour.This was explained by asking them to colour the same patch on a piece of paper with felt pens of any two primary colours . In this manner all the women mixed the primaries red and blue to get the secondary colour purple, blue and yellow to get green and red and yellow to get orange.They were introduced to analogous colours and they were told that using analogous colours was a safe choice because analogous colours are harmonious and work well together irrespective of the proportion in whichthey are used. They also did an exercise where they chose a set of analogous colours and created a composition.To use colour successfully requires practice and there are individuals who are naturally better at choosing colours and it would be suggested that such a person should then be given the task of choosing and matching colours

The Dyeing Workshop

The dyeing workshop was held in Chamrajnagar one of the towns where the women make sisal fibre products. For the dyeing workshop Direct dyes were chosen because• they are suitable for dyeing sisal which is a cellulosic material• direct dyes are relatively inexpensive and readily available• the colours are bright• there are a number of shades which

are available• the method or process of dyeing is a

simple one and requires simple calculations which the women can cope with.

• not many chemicals are required and those which are required are readily available and do not require to be stored under special conditions.

The recipe for the preparation of the dye solution and the salt and soda solutions were given.So by this method they just have to prepare the dye solution and refer to the shade card and if it is Shade No: 20 that they want to achieve they need to combine 5ml of Brown with 5ml of Green.This also allowed them to dye a greater number of shades because by varying the proportions a whole number of tonal variations can be achieved. THE DYEING PROCEDUREPrepare the dyebath and heat it till it reaches a temperature of 40C. Add the requisite amount of Soda solution and then put the material into the dye bath. Raise the temperature of the dyebath until it is 80C. All the while care should be taken to see that the material in the dyebath is stirred from time to time so that the dyeing is even. Once the dyebath reaches 80C add the salt solution to the dyebath in three equal installments at 10 minute intervals. .

Continue to stir the material in the dyebath from time to time. After the last installment of salt allow the material to remain in the dyebath for a further 30 minutes Once the 30 minute period is over remove the material from the dyebath and wash the material in water and dry in the shade.

A simple shade card was prepared to serve as reference in the future and also help to standardise colours so that the women could refer to the shade card and reproduce exactly the same colour should there be a repeat order for one of the products. The women who attended the workshop were introduced to the concept of a shade card and the importance of achieving a standard colour. The women dyed a number of colours as well as dyeing various quantities of the sisal fibre so that they could tackle the simple mathematics involved in calculating the amount of dye, salt and soda

solutions required for a particular quantity of Sisal fibre.

The dyeing workshop was a good idea and a good experience for the women because they did get to put their learning into practice soon after when they got an order for sisal shopping bags from Industree and there were two to three colours that the sisal had to be dyed.

What was important was that the entire quantity of sisal which had to be dyed a particular colour could not be dyed in one lot. Instead they had to be dyed in a few smaller lots but the colour had to remain the same and the women managed to do that successfully.

TO MAKE SODA SOLUTION

Weigh 10gms of Soda Ash and dissolve it in 400ml of water and stir well until it is completely dissolved.

THE AMOUNT OF SOLUTION TO BE TAKEN ON THE WEIGHT OF THE MATERIAL

Dye: 1.5% = 15ml of dye solutionSoda: 1.0% = 10ml of soda solutionSalt: 12.0% = 12ml of salt solution

The most significant point of this dyeing workshop was that the women did not have to work with calculations that involved working out the percentage of dye- stuff to the quantity of fibre to be dyed. Instead a method that involved proportions was developed because women understand proportions as they use them daily in their cooking and therefore could relate to this concept easily.

TO MAKE DYE SOLUTION

To make 400ml of dye solution:

Weigh 10gms of dyestuff and make into a paste with 50ml of luke warm water.To the paste add 350ml of water to make the dye solution.Stir the solution well until the dye is completely dissolved.

TO MAKE SALT SOLUTION

Weigh 80 gms of common salt and dissolve it in 400ml of water and stir well until it is completely dissolved.

Design Prototypes

Design Prototypes

FLOOR MATS

Design Prototypes

BAGS

Design Prototypes

BAGS

Design Prototypes

BAGS

Design Prototypes

CHIKS

Design Prototypes

Design Prototypes

Design Prototypes

DUSTERS

TABLE MAT

Understanding gained during the various stages of Design development has enabled us to make a few recommendations for good and smooth working of the craft groups .

• The craftpersons should be actively involved in the selling and developing new products.

• An interaction and exposure programme should be built-up for the groups so that they can learn new techniques from the other groups who are making fibre products.The craft groups should be exposed from time to time to the international fibre requirements and the products.

• There is a need of research and development in the field of fibre extraction and processing. Some mechanisms should be organised for these functions.

Recommendations

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mr. Aditya H.R.(IDPMS) for his active participation and cooperation at every stage, Mr. Sadananda (IDPMS) and his team for extending their help throughout the project.

We also would like to acknowledge the help and cooperation extended to us by Mr. Anath Panth, Mr. Varchasvi Manapure, Mr. Tippesh, Mr. Manjunath, and the rest of the fieldstaff on the project.

We are also thankful to Rani Vincent and Rajeshwari of YMCA Kanyakumari for their contribution in making of the prototypes.we are thankful to RDTDC, EPCH, and INDUSTREE Bangalore for extending their help.

We would like to thank specially the women from the workgroups in Nerale, Kuderumole and Dsanur who worked with us to make the project a success.

We also acknowledge the support and feedback from the faculty members of NID.