Asha from Jaipur
At 6 a.m. on Jaipur’s desert fringe, Asha checks a cooling kiln while her phone lights up with a Diwali pre‑order from Gurugram; clay dust hangs in the air as rows of fresh diyas line a wooden plank, each one hand‑smoothed the night before.
It wasn’t always like this—before Artisan Touch, middlemen offered ₹12 for a diya that retailed near ₹30, fairs were the only hope, and the wheel sat idle for months after the season. Cheap, mass‑made decor undercut prices, and without a digital presence the group depended on a few bazaars to clear stock before winter.
The turn came in August, when a local volunteer helped Asha onboard to the Artisan Touch platform built during the Viksit Bharat Buildathon. They started with a single “Maru Mitti” diya set and a simple origin note on desert clay and sun‑drying. Clear tags like “Diwali,” “terracotta,” and “handmade,” plus noon‑light photos against a white wall, showed true color and texture. An in‑app pricing helper nudged her to price by hours and material cost plus margin, not by copying bazaar tags.
Catalog tools standardized sizes, a minimum order of 24 saved packaging time, and shipping presets with a fragile‑item tip sheet reduced breakage. WhatsApp auto‑replies connected to her storefront handled the two frequent questions—“Will it chip in transit?” and “What’s the exact diameter?”—even while the kiln cooled. A festive “6‑piece eco gift set” template bundled recycled filler and a short story card.
Impact arrived in the first Diwali week: the listing drew a few thousand marketplace views, a Pune boutique placed a 500‑piece order, and net per‑piece earnings rose well above the old ₹12 middleman rate after fees. The workshop moved from two days to a steady five‑day schedule with orders from cities they’d never visited, and for the first time production extended beyond the festival season—guided by the platform’s demand calendar for gifting peaks and wedding months.
“Artisan Touch is like the fair coming to our doorstep every day,” Asha smiles. “The app taught us fair pricing, buyers could see how we make each diya, and payments arrived on time. I wish we had this three years ago when we struggled to sell after Diwali.”
“Every artisan like me should join Artisan Touch,” she adds. “When we list together, buyers find us faster, bulk orders become possible, and our craft finally gets the respect—and price—it deserves.”
“We don’t wait for the fair anymore—the fair opens on our phones,” Asha laughs, swiping to print the next address label before sunrise. Next up on Artisan Touch: a standardized gift box with a postcard on Rajasthan’s terracotta tradition, plus a short making‑of reel to reinforce premium pricing.