Made in Kashmir. Shared together.
Palsee Kashmir began with two products we buy directly from farms. We would like it to hold room for what Kashmir's artisans make by hand, papier-mache, woodwork, weaving, whatever a craft is proud of, especially where a skill is at risk of dying out.
The idea is simple.
If you make something in Kashmir by hand that you are proud of, bring it to us. If we would happily keep it in our own home, it gets a chapter here, with your name beside it.
Then we sell it for you. We photograph it properly, list it, find the people who will want it, and handle the order. You get the reach and the sale. Then the profit is shared.
Three steps.
- 01
Bring it to us
Tell us what you make, where, and how. A few photographs help, but they do not need to be perfect.
- 02
We try it
Bupinder uses it the way a customer would. If it is something we would keep in our own home, it earns a place.
- 03
It gets a chapter
A page of its own, with your name on it, and we sell it from here.
50%
Half the profit goes back.
On every artisan product we sell, half of our profit goes into a community fund. Say we make fifty rupees on a papier-mache box: twenty-five goes to the fund. Once a year, when we close our books, the fund is paid out to the artisans signed on here, so the crafts at risk of dying out are worth doing again.
This is the plan, and the door is open. No artisan has joined yet, and our Kahwa and chilli, bought directly from farms, sit outside it.
How the fund is held and paid out, and the wording of the pledge, are being finalised. Both will appear here, along with what has been paid, once a year.
Your community can join the same way.
Kashmir is where this began, because it is home ground. It is not where it has to stop.
If you make something you are proud of somewhere else, and your community would like to bring it here the same way, the door is open: the same three steps, the same fund, and half of our profit on what you make going back to your community.
Common questions.
- How does the Palsee Kashmir community work?
- A Kashmiri artisan brings something they make by hand. If it is something we would keep in our own home, it earns a page here with the maker's name on it, and we photograph it, list it and sell it. Half of our profit on it then goes into a community fund.
- Who can join?
- Artisans and craftspeople in Kashmir who make something by hand: papier-mache, woodwork, weaving, whatever a craft is proud of. It is aimed particularly at skills at risk of dying out. Communities outside Kashmir can join on the same terms.
- How is the fund paid out?
- Once a year, when the books are closed, to the artisans signed on to the community. This is a plan rather than a running programme: no artisan has joined yet, and the Kahwa and chilli, which are bought directly from farms, sit outside it. How the fund is held is still being finalised.
Made something in Kashmir?
Tell us about it. We reply to every message.
Palsee Kashmir, Nigdi, Pune