Face masks adorned with Madhubani paintings in demand

Madhubani-based artist, Raman Kumar Mishra, was flooded with orders for his handmade masks painted with Mithila artwork after word spread about his work on a microblogging site last week.

It all began with writer and activist Advait Kala praising the effort of the folk artist for making low-cost masks while seeking support for him.

“A poor Madhubani painter in Bihar ....reached out for help ...he said that he can send these masks by courier ...each three layered cotton mask costs ?50,” Kala had tweeted on July 5.

“Yes, I am too busy taking orders after someone posted a message about me on Twitter. Thanks to the guy, who came up with idea”, said Remant Kumar Mishra, a native of Jitwarpur village in Madhubani.

Mithila painting, also known as Madhubani painting, is done using fingers, twigs, brushes and nib-pens, wherein sketches are made with folk motifs of Mithila.

Kala’s post drew tremendous support for Mishra even as it got over 20,000 likes and 8,900 retweets within a short span.

Meanwhile, after getting flooded with orders, Mishra expressed his inability to take “orders on such a big scale” as the masks were handmade by his small team of workers.

He claims to have sold nearly 12,000 masks so far.

Mishra said he mostly gets orders from his customers on mobile through messages or on WhatsApp.

Till now, he has got orders mostly from Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai and Bengaluru. “These masks are supplied through courier agency or India post on ‘first come, first served basis’. The packaging is well sanitised before dispatch,” he added.

According to Mishra, nearly 250 families have been engaged by him in Jitwarpur as well as from neighbouring villages. He has also hired 15 tailors for the job work to stitch masks in view of increasing demands.