Idea 52 of 500. Cluster 3: Souvenirs that are actually from here
Custom wood carvings of the Lion's Paw and other motifs
The mechanism, from the book
The Zermatt water bottle. Sigiriya has not got a stone with its own name on it.
Every idea in cluster 3 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Ask a woodcarver to carve one small Lion Paw plaque as a sample, and to price a run of 20. Show the sample to three guesthouse owners near the rock, and send a photograph to a Sri Lankan gift shop abroad. Ask each for a trial order at the quoted price. Two orders, even small ones, prove the demand.
- Who pays first
- Visitors who have climbed past the Lion Paw and want it on their wall, and the guesthouses that sell to them.
- What leaves today
- The Lion Paw is photographed by every visitor and sold by nobody; a carving turns the image into income for a local maker.
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
The Matterhorn water bottle and the souvenir that is from there
More from cluster 3
Idea 52 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.