At the third rung, heritage craft becomes regular work. You may run a home studio making to order, a small curated store of genuine Karnataka textiles and crafts, a workshop programme, or a mix. You commission makers, perhaps employ a helper, and need a name, a process and professional advice.

What you’ll learn

  • The shapes a small heritage craft business can take.
  • How to commission artisans and weavers fairly.
  • The price list method, order process and stock records.
  • The registration and labelling questions for professionals.

What this rung looks like

  • A making studio: Kasuti, Lambani-style or painted work to order on blouses, sarees, dupattas, kurtas and home pieces, by you and one or two embroiderers.
  • A curated heritage store: genuine Ilkal, Molakalmuru, Udupi and Mysore silk sarees, khun blouse pieces, Navalgund durries and Channapatna toys, each with its source, sold from home, at exhibitions and online.
  • Stitching with heritage textiles: garments cut and stitched from handloom, using Module 7, Cutting and stitching handloom: a studio guide, and careful remakes of heirloom sarees (Module 7, Reusing heirloom sarees with respect).
  • Workshops: regular classes in Kasuti or Chittara-inspired painting, and talks on buying real.
  • Small cluster visits: occasional, carefully planned trips for small groups, arranged with a cooperative and paying makers for their time (see Module 8, Visiting weaving clusters ethically).

Commissioning makers fairly

When you place an order with a weaver, embroiderer or painter, write down and agree:

  1. What: design, size, colours, materials, quantity, and a sample or photo as reference.
  2. Price: agreed before work starts, based on the true hours and materials, not on what you hope to pay. A fair piece rate = measured hours × a fair hourly rate for that skill + materials.
  3. Advance: for yarn or materials, where that is the custom, so the maker doesn’t fund your order.
  4. Date: realistic for the loom or the hand, allowing for festivals, harvest and weather.
  5. Payment: the date and method, kept without fail.
  6. Credit: how the maker or cluster will be named on your tag.
  7. Design ownership: who may make and sell the design afterwards. Ask a lawyer.

The four things every small business needs

  • A price list method: (H × R) + M + O for your own work; landed cost plus a written margin rule for sourced pieces.
  • An order process: enquiry → brief → sample or sketch → approval in writing → advance → making → check → care card → delivery → payment → follow-up.
  • Stock records: a tag for every piece – code, craft, maker or cooperative, place, date, cost, checks done.
  • A cash-flow habit: weekly, know what came in, what went out, and what is owed both ways.

What success looks like
  • Regular customers, many found through others.
  • A name customers recognise, with honest descriptions every time.
  • Makers who are glad to take your orders because you pay fairly and on time.
  • Few complaints, settled calmly using your records.
  • Your registration and labelling questions answered by a CA and a lawyer.
Skills to add
  • Curating: choosing a range that sells together, not only what you love.
  • Quality checking: handwork backs, weave faults, colour, finishing.
  • Design collaboration: adapting motifs for modern garments with the maker, not over them (Module 7, Heritage textiles in modern Indian fashion).
  • Teaching: planning a class that ends with something finished.
  • Basic bookkeeping and stock control.
Money and time, as a method
  • Stock budget, S: the most you will hold in sourced pieces at once. Buy within it.
  • Lead time, L: handloom and handwork orders take weeks or months. Order early for festival and wedding seasons.
  • Overheads, O: list monthly costs (space share, phone, packing, travel, exhibition stalls, helper’s pay) and spread them over expected sales or hours.
  • Workshop costing: (teaching hours + preparation hours) × R + kit materials + space share, divided by the expected number of learners.
  • Space: good daylight for stitching and checking, a dry, dark store with shelves, and a clean table for packing.
People and systems
  • Helpers and embroiderers: written roles, fair pay for the skill, paid on time, sensible hours and good light. Ask your CA or lawyer what your duties are as an employer, or when hiring on piece rate.
  • Makers: the commission sheet above for every order; a supplier list with each maker’s skills, contact and payment history.
  • Systems: order book, stock tags, care cards, written terms of sale, and a record of every maker credit.
Marketing and sales
  • A brand name checked with a lawyer before you print.
  • Tell the true story: the craft, the place, the maker, and how you work with them.
  • Exhibitions and craft bazaars where customers can touch the work.
  • Social media with daylight photos, process shots and named credits.
  • Partnerships with tailors and boutiques, with any commission disclosed.
Questions for your CA, lawyer or the office
  • Your CA: “What business form suits me? Do I need GST registration, and from when? How should I bill handwork, stitching, resale and workshops? Should I register under Udyam? What records must I keep for payments to artisans?” This course gives no tax answers.
  • A lawyer: “Can I use this brand name, and should I apply for a trademark? Who owns designs made with artisans? What may I say about GI and community names? What should my terms of sale and my commission sheet say? What are my duties when hiring?”
  • The office: the Geographical Indications Registry, and the registered GI proprietors, on authorised use; the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) on artisan identity cards and schemes; the handloom department on the Handloom Mark; your city corporation on trade licences.
Risks and mistakes
  • Over-ordering from makers and then cancelling. It hurts them badly.
  • Delaying artisan payments when cash is tight. Plan cash flow instead.
  • Changing designs mid-order without agreeing new price and date.
  • Vague labels that blur hand and machine, handloom and powerloom.
  • Treating cluster visits as tourism shows rather than workplaces.
  • Registering late. Ask your CA early.
Ready for the next rung?
  • Demand regularly exceeds what you and your makers can handle at your current size.
  • Your order process, stock tags and accounts run every week without rescue.
  • You have lasting, written relationships with several makers or cooperatives.
  • Your CA has reviewed your accounts, and you understand them.
  • Your brand is known beyond your own circle.
  • You have thought through a studio, a team and larger orders, and still want them.
Worked example

A made-up example. Nandini runs a small home studio selling khun blouses and Ilkal kurtas. She commissions khun from a weaver family through a cooperative, using a written sheet: design, quantity, an advance for yarn, a date after the harvest season, and named credit on each tag. Her records show that her kurtas sell well but delivery is slow because she does all the cutting. She hires a part-time tailor, writes down duties, hours and fair pay, and checks her duties as an employer with her CA. She also adds a monthly Kasuti taster class, costed by her workshop formula.

Check yourself
  • Does every commission have a written sheet with price, advance, date and credit?
  • Can you work out a fair piece rate as a method?
  • Does every piece in stock carry its maker and place?
  • Have you asked a lawyer about design ownership and GI names?
  • Do you pay every maker on the agreed date?
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