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. In May 2003, 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.

visitors 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.

maria

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.

spreading the paint with a fan

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.

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.

drying the paper sheets and marbling the sheets of paper

The last unit we visit 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.

Incense sticks are £1.20 for a pack of 12                                                                                 Incense Cones are £1.99 for a pack of 12
Gift Box with 12 mini sticks £3.95
Scented Sachets £2.99