Sunday, January 21, 2007

Soapstone Carvers: Tara Projects, New Delhi, India


This month at our Ten Thousand Villages store in Edmonton we will be featuring the Soapstone Carvers from India in our Valentines display. They have created some beautiful hearshaped boxes from soapstone that are inlayed with mother of pearl and other semi-precious stones. Pictured above is the rectangular shaped box that is similar to the heart shaped box.

Soapstone is a soft stone with a smooth soapy feel and the true colour isn't visible until they carvers have finished and polished it off. One small box can take up to twelve hours to complete.


Many centuries ago, when the Taj Mahal was being built, many soapstone carvers were recruited from Persia to work on the intricate carving on the building. The descendnets of these people still live in India today where they continue the tradition of working with soapstone and creating intricate inlayed designs. Despite the beauty and detail of their work, soapstone carvers have been exploited and many of them live in poverty. Many of them live in conditions around open sewers and drains.


Tara Projects began to work with stonecarvers in the early 1990s and they pay these stone carvers a fair wage. They have created pension plans for the elderly, they provide much needed medical care, and they even fixed the drains and sewers. Tara projects provides work for about 250 stonecraft artisan families.

Tara Projects began working in New Delhi in the early 1970s. The project was established by social workers and University students to help the "untouchables" in their area. Ten Thousand Villages Literature describes how "This organization has become a leading voice opposing the use of child labour, and promoting the rights and status of women". Some of the services they provide to their workers includes informal education for womena and children and training in health and environmental awareness.

Please check out the link on the left hand side of my website called the "TTV Mumbai Marathon Trip". There is a group that has gone to India to visit the various artisan projects there. They should be going to visit Tara Projects later this week - so I'm sure they'll have more pictures up from that soon. Their pics will definitely provide more insight than mine. Some of them also just did the Mumbai 1/2 marathon today to raise awareness for Ten Thousand Villages and Fair Trade!! Congratuations to all of them.

21 comments:

Amanda said...

so Aladin...i know deep, eh?

I think it's great that you're advertising for TTV. Steve and I are going to try and do our wedding gift shopping there.

cheers:)
God bless
manda

Anonymous said...

generic ambien buy ambien overdose do - generic ambien id

Anonymous said...

buy viagra viagra over the counter walgreens - buy viagra legally us

Anonymous said...

generic viagra online viagra for women results - is mail order viagra legal

Anonymous said...

buy soma what is soma muscle relaxer - buy soma online usa

Anonymous said...

buy soma online soma carisoprodol muscle relaxer - soma images generic

Anonymous said...

soma generic soma online pharmacy usa - buy soma watson brand online

Anonymous said...

buy cialis online cialis price philippines - cialis us

Anonymous said...

order tramadol online without prescription tramadol-no-prescription.us - cheap tramadol online

Anonymous said...

tramadol 50 mg does tramadol overdose feel like - can you buy tramadol online legally

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online cheap buy tramadol health solutions network - tramadol 50 mg 100

Anonymous said...

order xanax no prescription xanax mylan a1 - xanax yellow footballs

Anonymous said...

xanax online xanax dosage s 90 3 - xanax side effects for cats

Anonymous said...

buy cialis online buy+cialis+online+without+prescription+in+usa - cialis 800mg reviews

Anonymous said...

cialis online cialis make you last longer - buy cialis online american express

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol tramadol 100mg capsules - buy cheap tramadol cod

Anonymous said...

buy tramadol online ultramadol us tramadol buy - tramadol 50 mg webmd

Anonymous said...

http://buytramadolonlinecool.com/#59473 tramadol 60 mg - generic tramadol online no prescription

Anonymous said...

buy klonopin online klonopin 2mg images - snorting klonopin wafers

Anonymous said...

klonopin pharmacy klonopin dosage levels - klonopin 93

Anonymous said...

buy klonopin online klonopin dosage plmd - treatment for klonopin overdose