Top 4 reasons to start the blog Global Crafts Buddy

Top 4 reasons to start the blog Global Crafts Buddy

My wife and I immigrated to USA towards the end of 2008. At present we live in Newton, near Boston, Massachusetts. From July 2009 to May 2014 I worked as an Employment Specialist in a Federal Program in Boston.

Having been my own boss for over three decades, this was a new but pleasant experience.

Through this job I met hundreds of Americans and nationals from all other continents, most of whom I could help with individual goals' setting, counseling, joint talent assessment, skill-set evaluation, job search, employment assistance, case management and placement.

Later some of those I helped acknowledged with tears of gratitude the positive impact I brought to their lives. Those were moments of self-realization for me; finding purpose of my own life. Help as many people as possible by doing something that I really enjoy doing!

Once when my contract period in that job ended I kept pondering.

What are my strengths? What do I know? What will I enjoy doing at this stage in my life?

My niche was crafts. Innovation, design, production, sales and market development of artifacts and leading a small team of dedicated workers were what I did for over 30 years. I had good periods and extremely bad periods in my chosen business life. I consider lucky to have survived from business disasters without much negative impact except a lot of emotional turmoil. A short outline as to how I came out of a million rupee debt burden is in My Complete Profile.

I had met thousands of artisans and crafts people, visited several craft-clusters and conducted a few handicrafts exhibitions. Media coverage and direct or indirect support from many prominent individuals had helped make those events very successful.

When I looked back at my past life and attempted to map the road to travel further I discovered that the world of crafts is where I belong. Also I enjoy reading, writing, doing research and travel.I am basically a people's person.

On that morning of introspection, to the list of my enjoyments I added that new found item - I enjoy helping people; it gives a lot of inner pleasure. A few days later I came across the following sentence from Albert Einstein’s essay, “World as I See”:

“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead and I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving…”

Thus my own thoughts and those great words motivated me to start this blog.

So, top 4 reasons for this blog are:

1. To give back to the global craft community in my own way.

2. To connect and network with important people engaged in the field of my target group 

3. To update my own knowledge about global crafts, its makers, markets and the consumer likes and preferences

4. To read, write and engage in an ongoing dialogue with readers of this blog

Opinions or insights of all readers are valuable.  Please keep coming back; better still subscribe to this blog, now.

My Profile - Part 1

I was born in Kerala State of India. Following High School and two years of college I cleared a series of exams equal to that of a Chartered Accountant. Immediately I was promoted to an officer's position in a central government audit office.

Five years later in 1975 I quit the job to pursue my passion for arts and handmade items. I designed articles like ladies clutch purses, cylindrical pencil boxes, coin purses, screen printed and hand-painted wall hangings. A three dimensional home decoration item that I created using peacock tail feathers on natural beige reed mats became a big hit in the 80s.

My business employed over a fifty fun loving young men and women to assist me in production needs.  Sales volume grew. Markets grew. We appointed regional sole distributors. With the aid of fast selling gifts and handicrafts from our organization and their own hard work, two of our distributors became millionaires.

When revenue showed regular increases, my firm entered a real estate partnership. Due to lack of knowledge and experience of the partners, the venture failed in less than four years.

Diversion of funds and lack of sufficient personal supervision of my craft business for four years became disastrous. Production suffered, innovation came to a halt and competitors took over important market segments.  I ended up with over a million rupees in debt.

It took another sixteen years of hard work to wipe out the liabilities. I made several short trips across the length and breadth of India to promote and sell new artifacts I made.

During those years I might have met over 500 retailers to know their purchase preferences. One stock question I invariably used to ask was what type of gift or craft they would love to sell. 

I had also visited over a hundred artisans at their homes or production centers in search of items and processes from which I could ignite my creative instincts. I came out with new products. Some had short lived successes while roughly four out of five experiments ended in failures.

Nationwide contacts developed with craft makers during those years helped me organize a few state level exhibitions. By that I could help many artifact producers. I too benefited from all those activities.

In the year 2000, I took an interest in production of artistic home furniture. Without any special training, I became an interior designer.A few friends who trusted my abilities and their friends entrusted me with complete furnishing of their apartments. Most of those early customers loved my work and recommended and sent new clients my way. This continued until 2008 when I came to USA.

Life in USA from 2008 to 2014 clarified purpose of my life and provided me with <a href="Top 4 reasons to start Global Crafts Buddy"</a> a window to the world of handicrafts, its makers, markets and you the consumer.

Hobbies

Book lover - Reads at least a book a week

Chess Player -  On line & OTB

Other Interests

International Travel

Long Road Trips

Drawing

Painting