Idea 22 of 500. Cluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
Kite-making on the beach: build a Sri Lankan kite in the morning and fly it at sunset
The mechanism, from the book
The craft cannot be copied and the object can. In Europe people queue to watch glass being blown and then buy the glass.
Every idea in cluster 2 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Find a kite maker who still builds kites by hand from paper, sticks and string, and agree a fee for teaching one morning. Ask a beach guesthouse to offer a trial session to its guests: build a kite in the morning, fly it at sunset. Charge a trial price per family. Six families who pay, and a guest who asks to take a second kite home, are the proof.
- Who pays first
- A family staying at a beach guesthouse who want something to do together that their children will remember.
- What leaves today
- Visitors buy a toy kite or nothing at all; a kite they made themselves is a day on the beach and a souvenir with a story.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. FiveThe Most Photographed Rock in the World
Courses instead of meals, the one the book would build first
More from cluster 2
- 21Cooking classes, from a half-day of two curries and rice to a week-long residency
- 23Your own perfume, blended from Sri Lankan cinnamon, vetiver, citronella and sandalwood oils, in a bottle with your name on it
- 24Batik workshops where you take home what you made
- 25Pottery workshops, your own signature on the base
- 26Handloom weaving demonstrations and short courses
- 27Mask-carving workshops
Idea 22 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.