The Mother's Fragrances
A Visit to The Mother's Fragrances
Fair Trade importer Greater Goods has been trading with their partners in Pondicherry in South East India, since 2000. Earlier this year, Vince Smith and Christine Brittijn of Greater Goods visited the producers of their incense to see for themselves how The Mother's Fragrances are made.
As
we are driven through the streets of old Pondicherry, it immediately becomes
obvious where our incense is made. Parked bicycles are standing in neat
rows in front of the well kept, big old house. The bicycle project, which
helps employees to buy their own bicycle, is one of the initiatives of
MCC.vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvisitors
at MCC
Although
it is very hot outside, it is remarkably cool inside the thick walled
and spacious old house that we visit first. In the central courtyard about
20 girls are quietly rolling incense. The girls sit cross-legged and have
a low table in front of them. They roll the incense sticks with such speed
and dexterity that we have to watch the process a number of times before
we can identify the individual actions. It is pointed out to us that the
girls have been asked to take special care while rolling the incense sticks:
to roll them on the table an extra two or three times in order to guarantee
a smooth and even stick and to take extra care when finishing the top
of the stick. The girls here roll on average 2500 sticks per day, compared
to 8000 in the conventional industry.
rolling the incense
In
a room off the courtyard a woman is seated in between drums and plastic
containers full of different ingredients. Her name is Maria and she has
been working for MCC ever since it was started, 26 years ago. Maria has
always been in charge of mixing the ingredients, and she uses the tried
and tested formulas from her notebooks to blend the ingredients for the
different fragrances. Today they are making patchouli incense and Maria
carefully weighs all 10 ingredients on her scales in front of her, whilst
squatting in between her containers. She then gives the large bowl with
all the powders and oils to her helper who quickly kneads it to a large
and sticky dough ball.
In
the building upstairs, eight girls are busy making incense cones. Nowadays
there are machines that can do this work, but MCC will not use them, simply
because one of the company's main principles is to maximize employment
of local people. This approach stems from philosophy also adhered to by
Mahatma Gandhi, that states that as labour is in such surplus in India,
Indian manufacture should not focus on labour saving techniques like using
machines, but employ as many people as possible by using labour intensive
techniques. This is one of the reasons that The Mother's Fragrances is
packed in hand marbled packaging, which is extremely labour intensive
to make, as we will later see (the other reason of course being that it
is very beautiful).
usha rolling cones
After
visiting the rolling unit, we move on to the packing unit, which also
distinguishes itself from the other houses in the street by the neat row
of well kept bicycles in front of it. Our visit is expected, and to welcome
us the girls have made a beautiful kolam in front of the building.
This is a decoration of rice paste that is made on the doorstep of virtually
every house in the province of Tamil Nadu, to bring the good gods into
the home. Today, they are making a particularly elaborate and colourful
one.
laxmi making the kolam
In the large central room of the building, 30 girls are quietly working in groups of 5 to 7. Initially, as in the rolling unit, they are shy and concentrate hard, but as we stay longer and take an active interest in their work, friendly smiles appear. The atmosphere in the packing unit is relaxed and happy.
We
had not realized just how much care and attention is paid to packing our
incense. A good example of this is that the bottom of incense cones will
be sanded down before being packed, to ensure that they will not fall
over when they are burned. Because the quantities of any one fragrance
that MCC works with are relatively small, all the girls do a different
job. One girl will be glueing paper packaging, the next will be packing
cones of a certain fragrance. There are so many varied tasks that when
working in the packaging unit, no two days need be the same, and the girls
can even swap jobs throughout the day.
packing the incense - making fans
As
we are leaving the building, the girls and their supervisors leave their
work, in spite of the manager's half-hearted efforts to contain their
enthusiasm, and squeeze through the door to have their picture taken with
us.
girls in front of the packing unit
All the people working for MCC earn more than the minimum wage, and the girls in the rolling unit get an extra premium, as the charcoal used in rolling the incense easily soils their clothes. Occasionally overtime is needed, for which the pay is doubled. The girls' contribution to the income of their household is often very significant, and this shows in the nice clothes and jewellery that they wear. It is also reflected in the fact that they will marry at a later age than is usual for their social background.
Many
girls are taking part in the bicycle scheme, which helps them to pay for
their bicycles in instalments. The ownership of a bicycle gives the girls
great freedom and independence. The girls usually stop working for MCC
when they get married, but a few married women have stayed on. Women who
work for MCC for a long time are in line to be promoted to supervisor.
All the employees can take part in a savings scheme, which allows the
girls to save 10% of their income and their contribution is then doubled
by MCC. If a girl decides to leave the company, she takes with her the
money thus saved, which often amounts to a considerable sum.
putting the incense sticks in the packets
We are impressed with the working conditions and the well lit, spacious
and clean environment. All units work from 8.30 to 5.30 with an hour lunch
break and two tea breaks. As well as the bicycle and savings scheme, there
is also medical insurance in place for the employees of MCC. The company
does not employ children, and job applicants are required to show their
birth certificate as proof of their age.
The
Mother's Fragrances incense is packed in beautiful hand marbled packets,
and each fragrance has its own distinctive colour pattern. On the second
day of our stay we visit the unit where the marbling of the packaging
is done. Again, most of the employees are girls, and they use an elaborate
technique. The girls are each standing in front of a large tray of water,
on which they will spread the different colours of paint. The paint is
then fanned out over the surface of the water and a sheet of paper is
carefully laid on the water to absorb the paint, it is then taken off
and hung out to dry. It looks easy, but it is very difficult to get the
colour combinations and patterns as perfect as the girls manage.
spreading
the paint with a fanVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVmaking
the marbling pattern (top right)
and drying the paper sheets (bottom right)
Working
with the paint and water is messy. The girls are wearing t-shirts and
aprons provided by the company, so that they do not soil their own clothes.
Over the years, they have found ways to perfect their work, like using
fans to spread the paint over the water and using a second sheet on top
of the one that is being dyed to avoid air bubbles.
The
last unit we visit is where the printing takes place. All the beautifully
marbled paper that is produced in the dying unit is printed and cut to
shape, after which it is moved to the packaging units to be glued together.
The girls, working in groups of three, use a screen printing technique
which is another very labour intensive job. They operate at speed, but
the results are very good. Mr Jeyailumer, the manager of this unit is
keen to stress the environmental credits of the packaging. All paper is
re-cycled and biodegradable. He is very sceptical about the plastic packaging
that is used so much nowadays. Not only does it take less people to produce,
but it also pollutes the environment.
screenprinting
Piecing together all the information we gathered during our visits to the units, we begin to appreciate just how labour intensive our products are. Absolutely everything is done by hand. From the making and marbling of the paper for the packaging to the rolling, drying and packing of the incense. A quick calculation tells us that one packet of incense is the result of at least 100 different actions. Someone who visited the units a few years ago wrote: "I'll never throw an empty packet of The Mother's Fragrances away anymore", and we now understand why she felt this way.
We are very impressed with the working conditions and with all the care and attention that goes into the making of The Mother's Fragrances. The employees at MCC seem happy, healthy and content and work in a peaceful environment. On behalf of all those people making The Mother's Fragrances we'd like to say how happy we are to receive your orders and we hope that we can continue to grow and spread the happiness and joy of The Mother's Fragrances.