Reimagining Traditional Bell Metal Handicrafts of Assam through Product Adaptation: A Study of Design Innovation, Consumer Preferences, Market Competitiveness and Sustainable Enterprise Development

The traditional bell metal handicraft sector of Assam, centered primarily in historical clusters like Sarthebari, embodies a vital repository of indigenous craftsmanship and socio-cultural heritage. While these crafts intrinsically utilize eco-friendly, a circular manufacturing framework such as metal recycling and low-energy manual forging, the enterprise model faces steep vulnerabilities (Bhuyan & Saikia, 2025). This paper structurally explores the strategic role of product adaptation, design innovation, and market competitiveness in transforming a generational occupation into a resilient, sustainable enterprise ecosystem. By examining the demographic configurations, product mixes, and structural revenue barriers of traditional clusters, the study analyzes the latent capacities of artisans to pivot toward contemporary consumer demands without eroding their core artistic identity.

Utilizing a mixed-method descriptive and exploratory design spanning 332 active practitioners, the empirical evidence demonstrates a highly significant association between product diversification and economic security. Artisans transitioning toward modern decorative and non-conventional forms register significantly superior monthly household incomes and robust annualized saving patterns compared to those locked within rigid utilitarian production lines (Bhuyan & Saikia, 2025). However, systematic impediments including acute raw material inflation, information asymmetry regarding digital platforms, and predatory structural interventions by intermediaries stifle broader entrepreneurial expansion. The study concludes that leveraging institutional research, formalizing raw material infrastructure and scaling targeted design and promotional support under the newly established Geographical Indication (GI) tag framework are imperative steps to transition the ecosystem from basic survival to dynamic, sustainable market competitiveness.