A very Happy New Year to all readers! December means Christmas and New Year. And the most cherished months in the Kolkata calendar. The weather turns deliciously cool and colder. The winter sun exudes gentle warmth and the spirit is festive all around. This is also a time when the Sasha Shop sees the most footfall, thanks to the tourist thronging in and the general air of gifting.
Remembering Shabbi
Colleagues and Producer partners shared their memories, thoughts, and feelings about Shabbi. One thing they all have in common – from colleagues to Producers – is how they’ve been touched by her passion and exuberance. Some are remembered Shabbi in small ways and some in a life-changing role. People like Subhashini Kohli (Shabbi), are such visionary & innovators. She left an indelible mark on the organization and whosoever came in touch. She began small and turned it into something massive. She envisaged that crafts can be an instrument for providing sustainable income, building assets in the rural areas and curbing migration to the cities. She was a visionary with dynamism and astute business sense. A decade has gone by. Shabbi continues to inspire. On 30th December each member of Sasha family remembered her.
‘Tis the ‎season’ at the Sasha Shop‬!!
With the advent of Christmas and the New Year, Sasha shop was decorated in the festive spirit of the season. The Sasha Shop had loads of ‎Christmas‬ baubles, wreaths, garlands, ornaments, tableware, ‪#‎lights‬, stockings, and other ‪holiday‬ accents that can transform any space into a ‎festive‬ ‎wonderland‬……
We also participated in many exhibitions during Christmas.
Sasha participated in Ladies meet on 3rd December, All India Women’s Organization on 5th December, KIWC on 6th December. On 12th December Sasha participated in Loreto School Fest. Sasha participated in Aspiration-handicraft fair by Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture and Spice Bageecha on 13th December. Sasha also participated in Loreto TTC on 16th December, Christmas bazaar at Oberoi Grand on 21st December, Tata Center on 24th December and Tolly Club on 25th December. Apart from our regular Leather items, stationeries, Dhokra jewellery and figurines, soft toy hangings, product ranges specially developed for Christmas were well appreciated.
SSA and Sasha’s textile department organized a workshop with new embroidery groups to review the progress of implementation of the improvement areas. The meeting opened with a general introduction to participants by Roshni Mukherjee. Bijoli Mistry, the owner of Bijoli Enterprise discussed the role of producer groups as part of the supply chain of Sasha and explained Fair Trade. Bijoli also mentioned producer partner long-term reliance and business relations with Sasha. Six new producer groups were present in the meeting. Discussion also focused on artisans view about financial inclusion that was introduced in the last meeting. Group leaders requested to conduct an awareness workshop at the group level. Rita Naskar, co-ordinator of Textile department briefly discussed about the Quality Management System at Sasha with the groups and their individual initiatives to scale up the productivity of textile dept.