1990 is when it all began...

Craft Resource Center (CRC Exports) had the grand total of one full time employee and another working half a day... with only two producer group partners, dealing in leather and printed silks.

Now, 24 years later, we have 20 people working with us and 63 producer groups from all across the country, 36 of who deal exclusively in exports.

CRC believes that all human beings have three basic needs to survive - income, health and education. Once a secure income is assured, can a person be motivated to take care of his/her health and education. Additionally, for any social change to be successful, it has to come from the bottom, and only then can it be termed sustainable development.

From two kinds of products we have a whole range of fabulous creations now, in silk, cotton, paper, wood, semi precious stones, metal and of course leather. Hand crafted, using mostly traditional processes and indigenous resources, which are both eco friendly, and beautiful.

CRC grew organically with a desire to fulfill the needs of our target beneficiaries. While CRC's main objective was to create opportunities and improve the lives of socio-economically backward people, the company also absorbed those who were themselves in need of a steady income and opportunities to develop skills and inherent talents. Most of CRC’s members have been trained on the job and today are more than capable of performing their individual tasks without guidance.

CRC grew to its current size to keep up with the increase of the producer partners and their creative output. Added to this was the growing demand for their products from local and overseas buyers. CRC made a conscious decision to offer assistance only for the export market, where a certain degree of expertise and sophistication is necessary, insisting that the producer partners retain independent ties with local markets so as not be effected by the vagaries of overseas markets.

At CRC we believe in the value and importance of self-sufficiency, both in the case of our producer partners, and within the organization. Today, we are in a position to have our own corpus fund, and will soon shift into a self contained building of our own.