Idea 65 of 500. Cluster 3: Souvenirs that are actually from here
Beeralu lace from the south coast, on scarves, skirts, tops and table linen, made and sold in Galle Fort to its visitors, as the island of Burano near Venice does with its own lace
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
Find two or three Beeralu lace makers on the south coast who would make scarves, tops and table linen to a shared design, and agree a price per piece that pays them properly. Ask a shop or a cafe inside Galle Fort to give one maker a seat to work in view of the visitors. Put the maker's name on every card. The proof is the first week of pieces sold to visitors who watched them being made.
- Who pays first
- A visitor walking through Galle Fort who stops to watch a maker at work and buys the scarf she has just finished.
- What leaves today
- Visitors leave with souvenirs made elsewhere; a piece made in the Fort, by a named maker, keeps the craft and the money on the coast.
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 65 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.