Brand building of Artisans Alliance of Jawaja (AAJ) across IIMA community, alumni base & corporate outreach

Abstract

Started from the vision of our esteemed first Director, Late Prof. Ravi J Matthai, the rural university experiment in education saw a great ally in the form of the Artisans of Jawaja. This bond between the IIMA community and the Jawaja artisans community resulted in a long-lasting relationship for decades, leading to mutual benefit in terms of cultural knowledge and institutional learning. The interventions and steps that were taken by the collaborators were to achieve objectives from the perspective of developing personal relations between the community, mutually benefiting from each other, developing ideas and drawing inspirations from each community that could spill over to the operational aspects as well. The Jawaja artisan's community is a community based out of Beawar, Rajasthan. They are Experts of grassroots knowledge and have expertise and skills, which they have been practicing for centuries and passed down to generations. The Jawaja Leather and weaver artisans are world- renowned, highly skilled artisans known for their excellence in fine arts and producing 100% handmade, organic leather and woven products.