The deserts of Rajasthan have been home to the nomadic pastoralist community that engages in sheep breeding, washing and spinning of wool from Chokla sheep.
Traditionally, hundreds of nomadic families of the arid Bikaner region have been practicing pastoralism. This area is home to one of the best varieties of sheep breed known as Bikaneri Chokla. The Chokla flocks have extremely white and lustrous fleece.
However, the indigenous wool is slowly losing its value, where large amounts of the fleece are either wasted or sold at a low price due to less demand in the market. This has a direct impact on the livelihoods of the herder communities of this region. To address this, RangSutra Crafts partnered with URMUL Setu Sansthan in 2019 to work in these regions and develop products using the indigenous wool.
However, the indigenous wool is slowly losing its value, where large amounts of the fleece are either wasted or sold at a low price due to less demand in the market. This has a direct impact on the livelihoods of the herder communities of this region. To address this, RangSutra Crafts partnered with URMUL Setu Sansthan in 2019 to work in these regions and develop products using the indigenous wool.
Thus, the Desi Oon cluster was started in Rajasar region of Rajasthan. The idea behind this cluster was to create beautiful wool products made from the Chokla wool.
Areas of intervention at the Desi Oon cluster includes supporting pastoralists with washing, carding, shearing, segregating, rearing, spinning, processing after shearing and finally improving the overall quality of the Chokla wool.
The project also aims at empowering marginalized sheep herders and SHG women by providing them with technical knowledge & skills to improve and sustain their traditional business of wool and woolen products.
In the process of reviving pastoralism in this region, we have also set up a center which is specifically used for fleece collection, grading, washing and segregation for spinning and weaving. Our team has been actively involved in the last two years in training the pastoralist communities in skills such as weaving, crochet and felting as well as providing them with design inputs to make products from the wool that are suitable for an urban market.
Handspun and Handwoven Woolen Jackets from this cluster are available on our website and store in Delhi.