52 year old Nirmal Soren is a self taught artisan who has come a long way since he first started displaying his wares at the Sonajhuri haat nearly 2 decades ago. He was recently given the State Award for Handicrafts in 2022. Nirmal is a first generation artisan whose skills developed over a period of time through sheer determination and an innate sense of design. His forefathers were all agriculturists. 

Nirmal began his working life selling provisions and later, fish and vegetables as he found himself unfit for agricultural labour. He would barely make ends meet when in 2005, empathetic residents of Santiniketan invited him to be a part of the weekly Shonajhuri Haat which had just been created as an outlet for local tribal crafts. Lacking craft skills, he began by selling food and then gradually turned to modelling little clay figurines and later interesting terracotta jewellery, which was quite the rage at the time. His wife helped his little business weaving palm leaf mats for sale. Little by little, things began to look up, especially with the constant encouragement of kind people like his Lipi di, Rahul da and Shimuli di. 

Life plodded along for a few years until one day he came across a woven grass bangle lying on the road leading to the haat. He brought it home and together with his wife, figured out how it was woven.  It was a process of trial and error and after several false starts, Nirmal gradually started weaving, tentatively at first, and then with growing confidence, bangles from Bena grass whenever he got some free time. He also learnt by observing fellow Santali craftsmen like Debu Murmu who was also weaving intricate jewellery. The design he came up with eventually became quite successful at the haat. After a few years, satisfied with his newly developed skills, he began to experiment with necklaces, using bena grass, vines that grew wild and fine wire. The end product was a beautiful variegated choker – with matching bangles and earrings – and it is this which went on to win him his recent award, after so many years. 

He gradually began to get noticed.  He was sent to a fair in Kolkata by the District Industries Centre (DIC) for the first time and it was after this that his enthusiasm and his business grew. Over time, he collaborated with local and Kolkata based NGOs to train many students. A few of them have become successful in their own right. He has also travelled to the big cities across the country, participating in fairs and showcasing his craft.  

Nirmal obtains his raw materials with great difficulty. The vines and the Bena grass are procured from densely wooded areas and there is always the fear of snakes. The vines have to be harvested by mid July. He has also been trying to cultivate the grass alongside paddy fields. 

Today, Nirmal is a busy man and reasonably content with the way things have taken shape. However, he has been working overtime to meet demand and as a result, his son too has joined the family business – learning the requisite skills from his parents.