The purpose of the project is to make people aware of the importance of Nepalese handicrafts and the importance of ways how the products are made and to come up with new innovative designs to give Nepalese handicrafts an important aspect in new generations. The goal of the project is to revive the importance of Nepalese handicrafts and support the local people and Nepalese handicrafts the purpose of our project i.e. Sukul group is to bring the history of Sukul products from the Newari Community and support the young generation in knowing about the resources and give the concept of empowerment in Nepal.
The project aims to address the importance of the concept of Nepalese handicraft which is one of our treasures that has been passed down from our generation and to give them a new form with innovative ideas and designs. Sukul Industry which means the products are made from Hay or straw and are made from hands without any use of chemicals is popular among the Newari community in Nepal. In Nepal Sukul products are mostly used in the Newari community and mostly used during festivals and in their home where people sit at the Sukul and enjoy their meal. Sukul products are specially made in Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, and in Kathmandu but there have been fewer people involved in the Industry with growth in time and shifts in the generations, due to which there are less number of workers involved in making Sukul products. In our case too, we faced problems in finding an appropriate vendor due to less number of manufacturers and people who sell them. Sukul products are mostly found in the Newari houses in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur but are less found in normal people's houses, which has made less utilization and importance in Nepalese society. Preservation of such products has been done in restaurants i.e. in Newari restaurants and has also been used as aesthetic designs in modern Newari houses. In the present context, the Sukul products have been used by restaurants like Sasa and Lahana both at Kirtipur, and Triangle restaurant in Thamel, which has been able to preserve them using the products as aesthetics and support in the preservation of culture.
The target audience of our product is catering to restaurants that have been looking forward to making the restaurant look different, those restaurants that are looking forward to sustainable and biodegradable concepts, along customers who have an interest in using durable and sustainable products. From the feedback from the audiences in the Firefly Product showcase at King's College, with our presentation and showcasing of the concept of a restaurant setting, we met the requirements of our target audiences. Along with the feedback we were success in selling our products at college after the showcase and also got huge appreciation from our President Narottam Aryal Sir and our professors along with the guests at Firefly.
One of the most innovative aspects of new unique products is the integration of the Nepalese handicraft which has helped to utilize the concept of existing handicrafts and led towards modernizing the concept giving a new form to the Nepalese handicraft and the Nepalese market. There has been the concept of making the products innovative using ideas bringing the ideas out of the box from each team which has helped in making the Nepalese handicraft products different from the existing products. In the case of Sukul Brand, we focused on sustainability and durability by applying the concept of a restaurant setting which has helped to be different from existing Sukul-made products.
Biken Shakya, Sanskar Lal Joshi, Chirag G.C., Ojashwi Khanal, Nisha Rana Biken, and Sanskar were involved in the identification of the market and maintaining connections with the vendors Chirag was involved in designing the products and giving proper concept to the products Ojashwi was involved in management of the project including research work Nisha was involved in doing presentation designing of slides and ideations work.
