Etikoppaka Toys Craftsman : Selected For Padma Awards
An Etikoppaka toy craftsman is one among the seven persons from Andhra Pradesh who have been selected for this year’s Padma Awards.
- Etikoppaka toys are traditional toys made by artisans of Etikoppaka village located on the banks of Varaha River in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.
- These toys are made out of wood and are coloured with natural dyes derived from seeds, lacquer, bark, roots and leaves.
- The artisans mainly use the wood from trees known as ‘ankudu’ (Wrightia Tinctoria) that is soft in nature.
- These toys have no sharp edges. They are rounded on all sides.
- Etikoppaka toys received Geographical Indication (GI) tag IN 2017.
- While making the Etikoppaka toys, lac, a colourless resinous secretion of numerous insects, is used.
- The already prepared vegetable dyes are further mixed to the lac, during the process of oxidation.
- After this process, the end product obtained is rich and colored lacquer.
- The lac dye is used for decorating the Etikoppaka toys, which are exported all over the world.
- Thus, the toys are also called lacquer toys because of the application of lacquer coating.
