Etikoppaka Toy Craft
Why in news :
- The Union Government awarded Padma shri to Etikoppaka artist.
More about Etikoppaka toy craft :
- Etikoppaka is a small village on the banks of Varaha River at a distance of 64 Kms away from Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.
- The name Etikoppaka is synonymous with the beautiful wooden artifacts and lacquer colours.
- The toys are made with lacquer color and are traditionally known as Etikoppaka toys or Etikoppaka Bommalu.
- The village is very famous for its toys made of wood.
- The toys are also called as lacquer toys because of application of lacquer coating.
- The toys are made out of wood and are coloured with natural dyes derived from seeds, lacquer, bark, roots and leaves.
- The wood used to make the toys is soft in nature and the art of toy making is also known as Turned wood Lacquer craft.
Preparation of the toys :
- While making the Etikoppaka toys, lac, a colourless resinous secretion of numerous insects, is used.
- The already prepared vegetable dyes are further mixed to the lac, during the process of oxidation.
- After this process, the end product obtained is rich and colored lacquer.
- The lac dye is used for decorating the Etikoppaka toys, which are exported all over the world.
Usage of the toys :
- In the early development stages of the Etikoppaka toys, they were only used by children as toys to play with.
- The natural dyes and wood used in these toys made them safe to play with and durable.
- However, gradually the Etikoppaka toys adapted to a broad usage. Today, they can be used as toys, decoration items, utility items and even gift items.
Significance of etikoppaka toys :
- The town of Etikoppaka, where these toys are designed and crafted has gained its reputation as the ‘toy village’ of India.
- The Etikoppaka toys are considered to be ‘one with nature’ since they are made purely out of natural elements such as seeds, lacquer, bark, roots and leaves.
- The wood-derived to make these toys comes from the ‘Ankudi Karra’ tree (Wrightia tinctoria) thus, they do not contain any heavy metal or toxic item.
- This not only makes these toys environmental friendly and sustainable but also 100% safe for child usage.
GI Tag :
- Etikoppaka Toys have obtained their GI tag under Handicrafts category in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
- Agricultural, natural or manufactured goods are registered as Geographical Indications (GI) by the Geographical Indications Registry as per the provisions of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999.
Syllabus : Prelims + Mains; GS1 – Art and Culture
