Mala Handicrafts - the trading arm of Project Mala an educational initiative that was established in 1989 with the aim of eradicating the exploitation of children in the hand-knotted carpet industry in Eastern Uttar Pradesh India

Mala Handicrafts is the trading arm of Project Mala,an educational initiative that was established in 1989 with the aim of eradicating the exploitation of children in the hand-knotted carpet industry in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Mala Handicrafts was established in 1999 with the object of rehabilitating students emerging from Project Mala schools back into the carpet industry. It quickly became apparent that the carpet industry itself was in need of rehabilitation and we first had to improve the methods being used in the industry. The project that has evolved has addressed many of the inherent problems and eliminated most of the common faults that occur in carpet making. It has also improved the working conditions for the weavers.

The pictures above show a typical weaving cottage and loom.

Our prime objective was to transfer the weaving to purpose-built buildings which not only give better working conditions, but release the space taken up by the looms in the weaving cottage.

The pictures below show the much-improved working conditions in the Mala Handicrafts Loom house. All the people who work in Mala Handicrafts are given a free midday meal.

As Mala Handicrafts is a non-profit-making organisation, any surplus from the sale of the carpets goes back to Project Mala to provide more schools and medical facilities for children of the carpet-making community.

The pilot scheme for this venture has been financed by The British High Commission in India, to whom we are greatly indebted.

Copyright Mala Handicrafts 2005 - Site last updated 8 September 2005 by Peter Chapman