Guwahati: For first-time jewellery makers like Tinat Atifa Masood and Jahanabi Baruah, a recently concluded workshop here was not merely a skilling session it was a gateway to viable creative enterprise.
With ESG-aligned investments surging and the global fashion industry turning toward traceable, ethically sourced design, the North Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms Development Corporation (NEHHDC) has launched Northeast India’s first structured business incubation program for sustainable jewellery making. It aims to convert traditional artisans into circular economy entrepreneurs equipped for premium markets.
"This is a livelihood option for us," said Jahanabi, speaking to Business NorthEast (BNE) during the final product showcase in Guwahati. "Leftover materials getting refurbished and beautified into such unique things is indeed an innovative economy. With this, we can take Assamese traditional arts, motifs, and handicrafts to the global stage."
Masood, who transitioned from a writing career into handcrafted design, echoed the sentiment. “When we showcase our Okhomiya identity through jewellery, there's no competition,” she told BNE. “These pieces are not just accessories—they are cultural statements. NEHHDC has given us a platform to monetise our roots.”
Backed by the Ministry of MSME, the incubation program marks a strategic shift in Northeast India’s approach to artisan development placing equal emphasis on design infrastructure, sustainable sourcing, and commercial readiness. Held from June 23 to July 4 in Guwahati, the program is housed under NEHHDC’s newly launched Livelihood Incubation Centre for Jewellery and Handicrafts, which supports micro-enterprise creation in high-value creative industries.
"This is not just training it’s structured incubation with built-in design thinking, pricing logic, branding literacy, and market linkage,” said Sriparna B Baruah, Advisor to NEHHDC, in an interview with BNE. “We’re preparing artisans to scale beyond subsistence to tap into the ESG-driven global handmade luxury market.”
Tiered Skilling for Differentiated Market Readiness
NEHHDC adopted a three-tiered skilling model to address artisans at different stages of their business lifecycle:
13 seasoned artisans with more than five years of experience,
11 early-stage practitioners with 2–3 years of work,
6 newcomers, including fresh entrants like Masood and Baruah.
Each cohort received customized mentorship ranging from costing frameworks and market intelligence for veterans, to branding architecture and storytelling modules for emerging entrepreneurs. “We’re shifting them from survival-level production to strategy-led scale-ups,” Baruah told BNE.
Embedding Design as Business Infrastructure
The product development track was led by Neetu Gogoi, Assistant Manager and Lead Designer at NEHHDC, who introduced design-as-business fundamentals: mood boards, technical sheets, prototyping, and blueprinting.
“Design isn’t guesswork—it’s infrastructure,” Gogoi said in conversation with BNE. “We emphasized documentation, ratio calculation, and scalability because it’s the difference between being an artisan and a commercial designer.”
She noted that most participants lacked exposure to formal product development cycles often skipping planning stages that affect replication and price integrity. The workshop corrected these gaps, introducing artisans to iterative design, client profiling, and end-use forecasting.
Circular Economy and Sustainable Sourcing
A core peg of the program is its alignment with circular economy principles, focused on turning overlooked regional materials bamboo, cane, scrap wood, and handcrafted beads into premium jewellery components.
“These beads and elements had never been used this way,” Gogoi told BNE. “We transformed undervalued craft into design capital.”
Artisans were trained in raw material traceability, supplier engagement, and input pricing enabling them to develop reliable, transparent supply chains. NEHHDC has committed to offering these inputs post-program at cost but not for free.
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“This is a commercial model, not a subsidy chain,” Gogoi asserted. “We’re fostering win-win networks where both upstream and downstream actors earn fairly.”
Strategic Roadmap: From Craft to Commerce
NEHHDC now plans to launch Phase II of the incubation initiative paid business acceleration modules that will cover:
"We’re not just creating skilled workers we’re incubating cultural entrepreneurs," Baruah emphasized to BNE. "These are business owners who understand product-market fit, cost structures, and how to position their work for global visibility."
As handmade luxury gains ground and ESG metrics shape buyer behavior, NEHHDC’s model serves as a prototype for incubating regionally rooted, globally relevant creative enterprises.
"Global markets are pivoting to value-driven design stories. Our region offers that richness this program creates the structure to monetise it," Baruah concluded.
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