Lounge Loves | Sleeping Lady With Book
A Bhubaneswar-based NGO popularized this figure in an effort to promote female literacy
Solitary reader
One of the most popular items on iTokri, a website selling traditional Indian craft items, goes by the title Sleeping Lady With Book. It’s the Dokra figure of a tribal woman flopped on her stomach and reading a book. Sometimes, she lies on her side and jauntily holds up her reading material. The reading woman, the product of an ancient technique of lost-wax casting that results in metal figurines with angular faces and bodies, fine ridges and minute detailing, is a fast-selling product for the Dokra tribe that specializes in them, says Pradeep Kumar Sahoo, the chief marketing executive for north India at the non-governmental organization (NGO) Anwesha.
The Bhubaneswar-based Anwesha, which works with over 1,500 artisans, is among the NGOs helping keep alive a craft tradition that stretches back into time. Traditional Dokra figurines include men playing musical instruments and women combing their hair or caring for their children, while recent additions include animals and birds in the shape of candle stands, door knobs and vermillion boxes. The reading woman, however, is as contemporary as they come. “I don’t know when the idea came to our craftsmen, but it was to promote female literacy," Sahoo says. “We have been making what we call the Side-Sleeping Lady Reading A Book for many years now. It sells very well and everywhere."
Anwesha supplies its products to the annual Nature Bazaar organized by the NGO Dastkar in Delhi, crafts emporia and websites like iTokri, where the reading woman disappears soon after she is put on display. “She is a superhit," says Nitin K. Pamnani, one of the founders of the Gwalior-based website. “The item goes as soon as it comes, and we don’t even need to push it. It keeps getting sold over and over again."
The Side-Sleeping Lady Reading A Book, priced upwards of ₹ 399, is available on www.itokri.com
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