Bizarre Situations. Bazaar Solutions.

This pandemic has gotten the more privileged of us living our best lives. There’s a strong sense of focus on what truly matters. With clubs and cafes shut, we’re spending more quality time with our families and seeking out nature. Entering Zoom meetings to be confronted by toddlers and cats still remains a very real thing, but we’re embracing these bizarre situations, chugging along, keep on keeping on.

Of course, this isn’t the case with the less privileged. The artisan community was severely impacted by the pandemic — with halts in production and sale.

There was an immediate need to solve this problem in order to sustain the livelihoods of India’s 10 million artisan population.

Our client GoCoop had been working with artisans across the country to take their sales online — direct to consumers, without the middlemen that eat into the artisan’s margins. And their offline efforts — GoSwadeshi — a travelling event where artisans could sell directly to customers, was cancelled indefinitely.

These offline events were key to capturing a segment of handloom lovers that enjoyed the tactile experience of hunting down a new and exotic handloom.

Here’s how we took the experience online:

Recognize the opportunity:

In the past, these physical events had to be designed around space constraints. The halls in each city had their own fixed infrastructure, and space limits that rarely allowed for interesting storefront experiences at each artisans stalls, or discovery experiences for the customer. Online, we had gigabytes of endless space available at our disposal.

Define the experience:

With artisans signing up from across the country, the event boasted variety and authenticity, that was unparalleled. We played off the concept of “swadeshi” meaning “local”, to create a landing page experience that allowed audiences to explore crafts by regions in India, and then by craft. This was an organic way for shoppers to learn where their products came from, while developing an appreciation for the aesthetics of various regions.

Empower the seller:

We then gave each seller a storefront that reflected their craft, and a face to the products (quite literally in the cases of the more extroverted artisans). Each storefront would link to their own page, where they could tell their own story. Allowing them to hold space with each other and their customers, despite living in an isolated world.