As the United Kingdom (U.K.) was getting ready for its new king, a quiet neighbourhood near the Taj Mahal in Agra was busy burning the midnight oil. They were quickly churning out two lakh car hangers designed like the crown that was to be worn by King Charles III at his coronation.
Made with the intricate zardozi embroidery technique that uses thin metal threads on silk, satin, or velvet, the car hangers needed to reach the U.K. within a month, as memorabilia to mark the event there.
Returns from the labour-intensive cottage industry — that has been around since the 12th century — had been diminishing. With the artisans’ livelihood under threat, the Agra Smart City Mission undertook an exercise from 2019 to reorient products to suit the export market, inbound and domestic tourist retail, and niche corporate gifting needs. They set up four micro skill development centres across the city for this.
