Be it Poompuhar, Sarvodaya, or even some of the retail outlets in the city, rows of colourful dolls occupy the shelves, ready to adorn the kolu steps.
Sales are on for more than two weeks now and new themes and characters from mythological and folk stories have been introduced. Made out of clay, paper-mache, wood, terracotta, and marble, these dolls come in sets depicting a story and individual pieces too.
S. Saravana Kumar of Rajavalli Shanmugham Arts says that production cost has increased 10 per cent this year as labour and material rates have shot up. While the smaller dolls are usually made of clay, the larger ones are made of paper-mache. Customers from nearby cities also come to Coimbatore to buy kolu dolls. Palani Kavadi, Sabarimala, and Kumbakarna doll sets are some of the fast-moving ones this year, he says.
At Poompuhar, the outlet manager R. Narendra Bose, says dolls made in Coimbatore, Kanchipuram, Puducherry and Chennai have been displayed for sales, apart from the dolls from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. “This is the peak sales time for the artisans and they prepare for it through out the year,” he says. The Poompuhar outlet here is targetting sales to the tune of Rs. 50 lakh this Navarathri as against Rs.31 lakh last year.
Customers ask for new dolls and some buy the regular ones such as the marriage sets to replace the old ones they have. This year, enquiry from institutions has picked up now. Apart from Kolu dolls, there is a huge market for return gifts too, he adds.
