Sep 13, 2010

From India with handicraftsBy Philip FineMontrealGazette.com

Suzanne Drury and Roy Adams have picked up several – from their 30 years of importing fashion, gift and home items from India:

– Don’t go to Rajasthan’s capital, Jaipur, during its annual street-clogged camel fair.

– Most small Indian suppliers will try to sell more than they can actually deliver.

– If a few customers begin to notice an item brought back as a simple decoration, try to snap up a few dozen on the next trip.

The married couple run Galerie Indra, a wholesaler that has tapped into a Canadian niche market that likes its items funky, colourful and hand-crafted, while successfully harnessing the Indian handicrafts sector’s supply chain, which stretches to home-based workers in small villages.

From their warehouse in St. Henri, the couple ship to between 150 and 200 boutiques throughout Canada, and serve local boutiques that include Papillotte, Artizan and Au Papiers Japonais, as well as the gift shops at the Pointe a Calliere Museum and the Montreal Botanical Garden. They also hold two public warehouse sales a year of end lots.

Items they sell include kimonos, scarves, tin toys, jewellery boxes, earrings and stationery, with many of the pieces handmade and derived from recycled materials, like brass bracelets with camel-bone inlay and cloth-covered journals made from old saris. The company deals with about 15 suppliers in the Indian subcontinent, which provide such items as stuffed ottomans made from patches of discarded wall hangings or felt hats sewn by a co-operative of Nepalese women.

Read complete article.