The Saturday play corner: what to expect
Every Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm, children can play with any toy in the shop. Here is how the morning works.
Where the money goes in a ₹690 set of nesting dolls
Wood, lac, a turner’s day and our shop: a plain breakdown of what you pay for a Channapatna toy.
Our Channapatna nesting dolls, a set of four, cost ₹690. Customers sometimes compare that with plastic toys of a similar size that cost less than half. We think it is fair to explain where the money goes, especially to the families who make them.
The workshop sets its own price, and we pay it on delivery, not after the toy sells. For this set, the price is ₹330. Out of that, the family pays for the ivory wood, which has become expensive as the trees grow scarcer, about ₹45 a set; the lac sticks and pigments, about ₹35; and electricity for the lathe, about ₹15. The rest, around ₹235, pays for the time of the turner and the family members who sand, polish and check each doll. A skilled turner makes about 20 sets a day.
From our side, transport from Channapatna to Mysuru, our monthly visits and the occasional sample sent for colour testing add about ₹35 a set. Packaging in paper and a cloth bag, with no plastic, costs ₹30. Rent for our shop on Kalidasa Road, our three staff, payment fees and free gift wrapping come to about ₹140. GST is included in the price.
What remains, about ₹80, is our margin. It is modest because we would rather sell a fair toy at a fair price than mark it up. The nesting dolls are also built to last through siblings. A set that is played with for six years costs about ₹115 a year, or less than a rupee a day.
