Idea 34 of 500. Cluster 2: Sell the making, not the object
Pluck, wither and hand-roll your own tea on an estate, and take home the tea you made
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
Ask a tea estate or a small grower whether visitors could pluck leaf in the morning, wither it and roll it by hand with a tea maker, and take home what they made. Agree a fee per visitor and a fair share for the workers who teach. Run it for a small group at a trial price. A full group, and a guest who asks to buy more of the estate's tea, are the proof.
- Who pays first
- A visitor in the hill country who has walked through a tea factory and wants to make tea with their own hands.
- What leaves today
- Visitors watch tea being made through a window and buy a packet; making it themselves sells the craft and the day.
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
- 22Kite-making on the beach: build a Sri Lankan kite in the morning and fly it at sunset
- 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
Idea 34 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.