Idea 27 of 500. Cluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
Mask carving workshops
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 mask carver whose workshop visitors can reach, and ask whether they would teach a half-day class carving a small mask blank. Photograph a finished student mask beside one of the master's, then show both photographs to three tour drivers who pass that way and offer them a commission per booking. Bookings from drivers within the month are the proof.
- Who pays first
- Tour drivers looking for a paid stop their clients will thank them for, and visitors who want to carve a mask, not only buy one.
- What leaves today
- Masks sell as curios for small sums; teaching the carving sells the tradition and keeps the carver's skill paid.
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
Idea 27 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.