Reliance Retail to launch artisan-only store format ‘Swadesh’

Reliance Retail said on Thursday evening that it will embark on several new initiatives to showcase authentic handcrafted products and promote Indian art forms globally. The programme will be spearheaded by Reliance Retail’s brand, ‘Swadesh’, an artisan-only dedicated store format for handcrafted products from across the country. The initiatives, as mentioned by the company, are aimed to revive the various traditional Indian art and craft forms.

The first Swadesh store is expected to open in the second half of the current year. It will house a range of products including textiles, handicrafts, agriculture products and other artisanal merchandise. These items will be directly sourced from the artisans. Swadesh will also build a global marketplace to connect Indian artisans and sellers of authentic handmade products. 

Isha Ambani, Director, Reliance Retail Ventures said, “The future of Indian arts and crafts is poised at an exciting stage. Our past efforts towards development of a robust infrastructure towards reviving dying art forms and building and enabling ecosystem for local artisans, weavers and craftsmen have yielded encouraging results,” further adding that Swadesh will showcase everything from apparel, home textiles, home decor, furniture, jewellery, wellness products and more.

Reliance Retail will partner with various government organisations to help popularise local art forms, both nationally and globally. “Reliance Retail and Reliance Foundation have also aligned to identify core epicenters for the various indigenous crafts and will set up RiSE centres, a robust network of skill development centres to ensure reach at grassroots level and to contribute in sustaining artisan communities and art forms,” she said. 

RiSE – Reliance Foundation Initiative for Skill Enhancement – centres will be set up across states to promote India’s heritage. The company said that these centres will leverage the existing network and schemes of the Handloom/Handicraft ministry to provide maximum benefit to artisans. 

With Swadesh, Reliance Retail aims to create an ecosystem to revive languishing crafts and enhance the skills of creative communities by providing skill enhancement /design trainings and capacity building workshops, the company said.

The company has already signed an MoU with the Ministry of Textiles, enabling the sourcing of 100 per cent authentic crafted products directly from the communities. Another MoU has been signed with the Department of MSME & Textiles, Government of West Bengal to realise the vision of sustainable employment. 

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