An artisan’s skill is priceless, but its path to the world is often challenging. Yet, innovation is opening new doors. In Kochi, Kerala, a new kind of connection is being forged - not with a chisel or a loom, but with a laptop. Manoj Kumar Mahadevan is the man building that bridge, ensuring that timeless skill finds its rightful place, and its rightful price, in the modern market. This is his inspiring story.
In Kerala’s small workshops, the sound of chisels and looms still fills the air – soft reminders of traditions that have outlasted centuries. Yet, as modern life moves faster, these crafts risk falling quiet. Watching this change unfold, Kochi-based entrepreneur Manoj Kumar Mahadevan felt a need to act. Through his venture, Deva Craft, he now stands beside artisans along the Malabar coast, helping their craft find space, value and voice in the world of e-commerce.
“If you looked at my resume, you’d assume I was chasing a very different life. I have an M.Sc. in Chemistry. From there, my career was a straight line through the corporate world. I was in banking, selling loans. Then I spent a decade in media, advertising, and branding, followed by another decade in corporate brokerage.”
It was a life of spreadsheets and targets, far removed from the potter’s wheel or the weaver’s loom. “But I come from a family that appreciates art. My brother is a popular folklore artist. That love for heritage was always there, dormant in me. And then, I simply couldn’t ignore what I was seeing,” explains Manoj.
“I saw the artisans and their efforts, and how they were earning ‘peanut’ money,” adds Manoj. “I saw a systemic failure. The value chain was broken, and the people who held the knowledge were being left with scraps. My vision became clear: I had to build a platform for them. That’s why I started this venture. Deva Craft was born not just as a business, but as an intervention.”
His dedication continues to breathe life into Kerala’s traditional crafts, supporting artisans who otherwise remained underappreciated. Despite his impact, he considers himself a facilitator rather than a craftsman.
“I am not a craftsman. I don’t have their magic in my hands. I’m just a trader and a facilitator,” says Manoj.
In the 21st century, the “facilitator” is perhaps the most critical role of all. Manoj’s corporate background made him uniquely suited to build the one thing these artisans lacked: a bridge from their remote villages to a national marketplace.
“Most of the artisans I partner with come from remote villages. They have no framework for selling online. They don’t know how to manage logistics, pricing, or digital marketing. I’m giving them the infrastructure. I finance the raw materials, I handle the marketing, I manage the inventory and the sales. It’s a symbiotic relationship. They get a good, fair price for their work, and I get a margin to grow the mission,” explains Manoj.
This isn’t a typical workforce. It’s a fluctuating, seasonal, and deeply traditional community. At any given time, Manoj works with 10 to 15 artisans, but he has learned to operate on their terms.
“I have learned that the artisans’ basic nature is that they won’t stick anywhere permanently,” adds Manoj. “People come and go. That’s the reality of this community. You can’t force a corporate structure onto an artistic rhythm. I have accepted this as part of the journey.”
Within this community, there’s a beautiful, traditional diversity. “In weaving, especially for the Nettipattam (the ornate, gold-cased elephant caparison), women lead the category. But for elephant miniature making, the men take charge,” Manoj notes.
Initially, Deva Craft focused on corporate gifts and bulk sales during the festival seasons. But Manoj recognized a deeper, more emotional market: the nostalgia of the Malayali diaspora, scattered across India and the globe.
“They are ready to buy these items. I realized that they crave a piece of their home region,” he continues. “So, I onboarded to Flipkart Samarth program. I saw that there were no professional, large-scale sellers of these specific, authentic crafts. That was the gap. We wanted a presence everywhere and Flipkart proved to be the right platform.”
Today, Deva Craft has over 200 listed products on the platform, transforming fragile, handmade art into a sustainable e-commerce business. This digital leap, however, comes with its own high-stakes demands.
“Flipkart’s Big Billion Days Sale is a massive opportunity,” Manoj notes, “but it requires a military level of planning. If we participate, we get huge sales, but I have to plan at least three months in advance to build enough stock. You cannot, after all, rush an art form that takes days or weeks to create.”
This balance between culture and commerce is the central passion of his work. For Manoj, this is not just a business. It is a race against time.
“My biggest fear, the thing that drives me, is that the people engaged in this kind of skill are disappearing fast. It takes years, sometimes a decade, to properly train such an artisan. If they cannot make a dignified living, the art dies with them. It’s that simple. This is about preservation as much as it is about profit,” he explains.
This mission has become a family affair. His children, understanding the stakes, assist with the business in their free time. The validation for this difficult path came not as a balance sheet, but as a letter.
“My proudest moment,” Manoj recalls, “was receiving an official letter of appreciation from a senior dignitary in the defense forces.”
Manoj’s story is one of bridging worlds. He connects the ancient workshop to the modern consumer’s cart, the rural artisan to the urban entrepreneur. He is proving that for heritage to survive, it must be valued.
“We are just getting started,” he says, looking to the future. “We are planning to expand our inventories and list more products, including wood, clay, metal, and copper handicrafts.”
He has become an evangelist for the very model that saved his artisans, having personally inspired more than ten new sellers to begin their own e-commerce journeys. “That is the future. Don’t wait. Start now,” he asserts.
Through his work, Manoj ensures that these intricate, beautiful objects continue to narrate Kerala’s rich cultural story.
