The Impressions Project

Moving beyond data points to understand the lives, strategies, and resilience of artisans

About the Impressions Project

Hand block printing is a heritage craft that has been practiced in India for centuries. This rich tradition thrives in numerous craft clusters across the country, from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat and West Bengal. Over time, the craft has evolved into a highly specialized, distributed, and efficient ecosystem. However, this intricate system is often inaccurately classified as informal or unorganized.

The Impressions Project challenges this conventional view by showing the inherent structure and order that underpins this seemingly chaotic sector.

The Why: Our mission and gaps

This project is grounded in the belief that hand block printing is a canvas where pressing issues of economic growth and social change play out. We examine this craft at the intersection of:

Financial Inclusion:

How do artisans manage cash flow, access credit, and navigate both formal and informal financial systems?

Technology Adoption:

What role do smartphones, social media, and digital payments play in their businesses, and what are the barriers to full adoption?

Market Access:

How do artisans find and connect with new clients, and what are the limitations of traditional and digital marketplaces?

Gender Equality:

How do gender roles within the craft shape a woman’s agency, autonomy, and access to resources?

Entrepreneurship:

How do artisans, regardless of their scale, demonstrate the core traits of entrepreneurship in a seemingly "unorganized" sector?

We have chosen hand block printing as our focus because it allows us to uncover the micro-level realities that impact these global issues. Our mission is to move beyond superficial data and provide a nuanced, human-centric understanding of the craft and its practitioners.

We believe that to solve complex development challenges, you must first understand them on a human level. The Impressions Project was born from a realization that conventional data—while useful—often tells an incomplete story. It captures the numbers but misses the context, the nuance, and the lived reality of those it seeks to serve. Our mission is to bridge this disconnect.

Our research is grounded in the belief that effective solutions require a deeper understanding. We are not just collecting data; we are filling critical research gaps to build a new, more effective framework for development.

Empirical Gap

Traditional research on informal economies often relies on broad surveys, creating a significant gap between data and reality.

We go directly to the source, providing on-the-ground evidence that uncovers the hidden structures, strategies, and day-to-day business decisions of artisans.

Knowledge Gap

Existing frameworks tend to treat informal businesses as a single, homogenous group, leading to a "one-size-fits-all" approach to interventions. Our work challenges this by identifying six distinct archetypes, from the highly formalized to the most vulnerable. This new typology provides a nuanced view that more accurately reflects the diversity of the informal economy.

Theoretical Gap

Dominant theories often view informality as a problem to be solved through formalization. This project offers an alternative perspective, demonstrating that many artisans have developed sophisticated, hybrid business models that strategically use both formal and informal systems. We seek to contribute to a new theory that recognizes and validates these complex, rational choices.

Our Methodology

We are following a phased research approach to achieve our mission.

Data Collection:

We are gathering in-depth qualitative and quantitative data about individuals, households, and enterprises engaged in the craft through a series of on-the-ground interviews.

Vulnerability Mapping:

We are identifying and analyzing those who are most vulnerable within this ecosystem, with a specific focus on the unique challenges faced by women.

Typology Creation:

We are creating a typology of the different types of enterprises and workers, revealing a spectrum of business models that are often overlooked.

Intervention Design:

We aim to use our insights to design interventions that are meaningful, relevant, and can result in positive social and economic impact.

ARTISAN PROFILES

This section feature profiles of the artisan entrepreneurs involved in this project.