Kondapalli toys get a new lease of life
The Hindu
An incentivised training programme is helping a quiet revival of Kondapalli toys, and at the fore are craftswomen
Did you know that some of the toys sold as handmade Kondapalli toys might be machine-made replicas in a mix of wood and plastic?
Made-in-China imitations masquerade as original Kondapalli toys and are found even in the stores in Kondapalli craft village, Andhra Pradesh, reveal Abhihaara Social Enterprise co-founder and CEO Sudha Rani and Institute for Advanced Studies in Complex Choices (IASCC) co-founder Chitra Sood. The IASCC and Abhihaara mooted a training programme for women of Kondapalli in the summer of 2022, with the aim to revive Kondapalli craft.
So far, they have trained 15 women to chisel, carve and design Kondapalli toys using the malleable tella poniki (white sander) wood, and polish and paint the toys using natural dyes. The products range from Hanuman dolls for cars, decorative bullock carts, village occupations and Dasavataram sets for bommala koluvu (doll displays for Navaratri celebrations).
The products are priced upwards of ₹500 and are stocked at the Green Craft Store in Kondapalli village, Lepakshi, and Golconda handicraft showrooms run by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments, respectively.
IASCC and Abhihaara hope to train at least 100 women to make the project self-sustainable. As production steps up, the products will be available on e-commerce platforms.
Ms.Sudha, who has been working with handloom clusters in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, observes that in early 2020, only two or three families were making traditional Kondapalli toys: “Not many craftspersons follow the older technique of using natural dyes. Synthetic dyes took over in the last three decades.”
The need for a training programme to revive the craft was felt. The IASCC, co-founded by Anil K. Sood and Chitra Sood, stepped in to help. They roped in veteran craftsman Kottaiah Chary who is adept at using natural dyes for Kondapalli toys.
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