Cottage Industry

cottage industry Definition An industry where the creation of products and services is home-based, rather than factory-based. While products and services created by cottage industry are often unique and distinctive given the fact that they are usually not massproduced, producers in this sector often face numerous disadvantages when trying to compete with much larger factory-based companies.

Cottage Industry is a specialized form of small scale industry where the production of the commodity takes place in the homes and the labor is supplied by the family members only. The machineries or means utilized for the production of the commodities generally are the common ones used at homes. The basic characteristic feature of Cottage Industry is that it is basically unorganized in nature and come under the group of small scale industry type. The commodities that are being produced by these industries are basically consumable ones and are produced through the utilization of the traditional techniques. Cottage Industry especially started its function in the country sides of a country where unemployment along with under-employment are prevalent. Thus, this industry helps the economy by absorbing a huge amount of surplus labor of the rural economy. Another glaring feature of Cottage Industry is that it is not a mass producer of commodities. The main risk that is being faced by this industry is from the factory based medium or large industries which are again capital intensive in nature. This is because of the fact that these large industries utilize all sorts of cost effective technologies which enable them to supply the products at low price. On the other hand, the Cottage Industry is basically

labor intensive and utilizes traditional techniques in production process which are generally not cost effective in nature which escalates the price of their product. The products supplied by the Cottage Industry thus face risk of extinction if they don't receive enough financial or other form of support from the government. Cottage Industry is often characterized by its enormous potential for employment generation and the person getting employed is basically regarded as a self-employed one. It has been empirically found out that Cottage Industry has given economic independence to the women in the developing as well as developed countries. The most common form of support extended by the governments towards this industry is through forwarding of capital subsidies.

Cottage industry A cottage industry is an industry—primarily manufacturing— which includes many producers, working from their homes, typically part time. The term originally referred to home workers who were engaged in a task such as sewing, lacemaking or household manufacturing. Some industries which are usually operated from large centralized factories were cottage industries before the Industrial Revolution. Business operators would travel around, buying raw materials, delivering them to people who would work on them, and then collecting the finished goods to sell, or typically to ship to another market. One of the factors which allowed the Industrial Revolution to take place in Western Europe was the presence of these business people who had the ability to expand the scale of their operations. Cottage industries were very common in the time when a large proportion of the population was engaged in agriculture, because the farmers (and their families) often had both the time and the desire to earn additional income during the part of the year (winter) when there was little farming work to do.

The use of the term has expanded, and is used to refer to any event which allows a large number of people to work part time. For example, eBay is said to have spawned a cottage industry of people who buy surplus merchandise, and sell it on their auction system.

History of cottage industries

19th c. ox powered double carding machine

Reine Berthe instructing girls to spin flax on spindles using distaffs

Hand loom at Hjerl Hede, Denmark, showing grayish warp threads (back) and cloth woven with red filling yarn (front). Cottage industries were the precursor to the factories that would characterize the Industrial Revolution. Their formation was prompted largely by the enclosing of the common lands. Common lands were lands set aside for the common people on

which to garden or graze their livestock. Over time the rich aristocrats enclosed the common lands, largely without censure or punishment of any kind, leaving the poor people in a major predicament. Bear in mind that if one was not a land owner, highly skilled, or highly educated there were few opportunities to make a good living. Cottage industries were the solution that solved this problem and saved many of the common people. Most of the work was carried out in the home and was often combined with farming. There were three main stages to making cloth: carding, spinning and weaving. Most cloth was made from either wool or cotton, but other materials such as silk and flax were also used. The woven cloth was sold to merchants called clothiers who visited the village with their trains of pack-horses. Some of the cloth was made into clothes for people living in the same area. However, a large amount of cloth was exported. The process of the cottage industry involved the entire family as most work performed in the 18th century did. In fact the entire process moved from child to the mother then to the father. First was the process called carding. Carding was usually done by children. This involved using a hand-card that removed and untangled the short fibres from the mass. Hand cards were essentially wooden blocks fitted with handles and covered with short metal spikes. The spikes were angled and set in leather. The fibres were worked between the spikes and, by reversing the cards, scrapped off in rolls (cardings) about 12 inches long and just under an inch thick. The second process was known as spinning and this was performed by the mothers. The spinning of wool, cotton or flax was originally done by the spindle and distaff. The distaff, a stick about 3 ft long, was held under the left arm, and the fibres of wool drawn from it were twisted spirally by the forefinger and thumb of the right hand. As the thread was spun, it was wound on the spindle. The spinning wheel was invented in Nuremberg in the 1530s. It consisted of a revolving wheel operated by treadle and a driving spindle. This slow process of spinning was a tedious process that remained

unaltered until the invention of James Hargreaves who invented what is known as the Spinning Jenny. It is claimed that one day his daughter Jenny, accidentally knocked over the family spinning wheel. The spindle continued to revolve and it gave Hargreaves the idea that a whole line of spindles could be worked off one wheel. The machine used eight spindles onto which the thread was spun from a corresponding set of rovings. By turning a single wheel, the operator could now spin eight threads at once. The last process was performed by the fathers or the men of the household, this process was called the weaving. The weaving was done on a machine known as the handloom weaver so weaving was also referred to as handlooming. The handloom was devised about 2,000 years ago and was brought to Britain by the Romans. The process consisted of interlacing one set of threads of yarn (the warp) with another (the weft). The warp threads are stretched lengthwise in the weaving loom. The weft, the cross-threads, are woven into the warp to make the cloth. Like the process of spinning, weaving remained unchanged for a great period of time. Then the twelfth child of a Yeoman farmer, John Kay invented the flying shuttle, which enabled a weaver to knock the shuttle across the loom and back again using one hand only. The speed of weaving was doubled; and a single weaver could make cloths of any width, whereas previously two men had sat together at a loom to make broad cloth. Unfortunately John Kay had to fight for the royalties of his invention his whole life and died a poor man. Recently cottage industries have been encouraged by environmental groups to preserve areas of the rainforest by aiding the local tribes in a sustainable way. The Maisin tribe and others in Papua New Guinea is a notable example to sustain the rainforest for future generations.

Handicraft and Cottage Industry Puri The economy of Puri is largely dependent on the Handicraft and Cottage Industry, Puri. Many of these industries in Puri flourished because of the tourism industry that revolves primarily around the Lord Jagannath Temple. The temple has also encouraged the art and craft of Puri, and the Puri handicraft and cottage industries are no exception in this regard. One of the most important cottage industries in Puri includes the textile manufacturers. Kotki, Bomkai and several other traditional saris and dress materials, in silk and cotton, are renowned all over the country. Applique work of Puri is also reminiscent of the temple art where small pieces of colored clothes and tiny mirrors are shaped and stitched together in various motives. These make wonderful umbrellas, canopies, bags, lamp shades, wall hangings and other utility items. The traditional Patta painting is also unique to Puri city and is a product of the cottage industry of Puri. Animals, mythological figures, flowers and trees are brightly painted on a specially treated surface or patta. The traditional set of 96 circular playing cards with paintings is done by etching palm leaves and stitching together in rows. These cards known as Ganjappa are fine examples of the traditional handicrafts of Puri. Puri handicraft is also known for the delicate filigree works in silver. Exquisite jewelry boxes, cigar boxes, decorative trays and other items of silver filigree are among the best in the world. Laquer work, bone carving, bamboo work, stone carving and artifacts made with sea shells are popular products of the Handicraft and Cottage Industry of Puri.