Channapattana is a city and taluk headquarter in Ramanagara District, Karnataka, India and situated at a distance of about 60kms from Bangalore is noted for its famous handmade lacquer wooden toys all over the world and hence popularly known as “Gombegala Ooru” or the “Toy-City” of Karnataka. Channapatna is located between Bangalore – Mysore highway. Happening place for the foodies and pit stop for night out goers. Hotels like Sahara Hotel, Taj Hotel, Zam Zam Hotel, Cafe Coffee day, Shero ki Hotel are few of the famous food joints. Nice place to hang out, just 60 km from Silicon Valley Bangalore and 80 km from cultural city Mysore.
The origin of the wooden toys date back to the period of Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore who was a great admirer of wooden toys. He took the initiative to invite artisans from Persia and train the local artists to earn the process of making of the wooden toys. The artisans still follow the traditional method of making the toys for nearly two centuries and the artisans are only using ivory wood for making the toys and very rarely rosewood and sandalwood are used. But slowly the artisans have also started to use other woods like teak, pine, rubber and cedar wood.
Manufacturing
The craft has diversified over time; in addition to the traditional ivory-wood, other woods—including rubber, sycamore, cedar, pine and teak—are now used as well. Manufacturing stages include procuring the wood, seasoning the wood, cutting the wood into the desired shapes, pruning and carving the toys, applying the colours and finally polishing the finished product. Vegetable dyesare used in the colouring process to ensure that the toys and dolls are safe for use by children.As of Oct 2006, more than 6,000 people in Channapatna, working in 254 home manufacturing units and 50 small factories, were engaged in the making of these toys. The Karnataka Handicrafts Development Corporation (KHDC) provides assistance with marketing efforts. Most oldest and popular manufacturing unit Bharath Art and crafts help develop innovative products.
