While the local arts and crafts masters of Cambodia are capable of creating outstanding artworks that reflect many centuries of cultural richness, they also need to be equipped with modern business concepts and marketing strategies to bring out the full potential of their products.
So said Pierre-Andre Romano, an advocate for Cambodian artistic handicrafts during an exclusive interview with Khmer Times yesterday.
Hailing from France’s capital city of art, Paris, Pierre-Andre has been travelling the world to seek out arts and crafts, but it was Cambodia where he finally found his second home.
“This year marks my 10th year in Cambodia,” Pierre-Andre said on yesterday’s episode of Cross-Talk.
“But I came here for the first time in 1993, fell in love with the people, and have gone back and forth until I decided to settle in 2014, initially to manage a travel agency, while my eyes were actually on Cambodian craft culture, which I am passionate about.”
In 2017, he moved to Siem Reap to take over the CEO position at Artisans Angkor, a handicrafts company, which he described as “my dream job”.
Unfortunately, since the COVID-19 pandemic struck Cambodia’s tourism sector, the operations of Artisans Angkor were suspended. Fearing this would endanger the handicraft culture of the nation, Pierre-Andre decided to take the most important step in his life: founding the Satcha Handicrafts Incubation Centre, the first of its kind in Siem Reap and Cambodia, last year.
“I have a network of great art talent masters, and we built Satcha for them,” he said, adding that he chose the name “Satcha” because it means “honesty” and “trust” in Khmer.
“Our first mission is to highlight and preserve Cambodian culture because we believe that if we don’t open the market for Khmer arts, not only to tourists, but also to local buyers, these crafts will become old-fashioned and soon disappear.”
According to Pierre-Andre, the main concept of Satcha is to cultivate local talents among the community of traditional handicraft artisans, and educate them about entrepreneurship so that they can open successful businesses – applying both artistic and modern business skills. “All of them are the masters of their crafts, but they don’t have the soft skills to become entrepreneurs,” Pierre-Andre said.
“For three years they join our programme, and after completing their training, we will also help them establish their companies.”
He explained that while the artists possess the talent to make beautiful and eye-catching products, they also need to be equipped with skillsets for marketing, business administration and financial knowledge, so that they are able to run more sustainable businesses that can help them make a profit while preserving the cultural heritage of the nation.
During the training programme, Satcha functions as both a buyer and marketer for its artists’ products so that they can focus on study and creativity. Even after graduation, the artists will still be able to sell their products at the centre, or rely on it as their agent for commission work.
“We support the excellence of craftsmanship in Cambodia, as this is the one we want to show to international tourists, who are our first market,” Pierre-Andre said.
“Our second market is local. I am very happy that more than 50% of visitors at our centre are Cambodians: Siem Reap residents, weekend visitors, and students from schools and universities. They come to discover more about their culture.”
“Another of our markets is commission work, including the decoration of hotels, administration offices, private homes and so on.”
During the interview yesterday, Pierre-Andre expressed his frustration about the fact that the souvenir markets in Cambodia, especially Siem Reap, are dominated by imported products, many of which even use fake “Made in Cambodia” labels. This reality is due to the capacity of foreign manufacturers to mass produce machine-made souvenirs and sell them cheaply.
“It is a complicated market, but it is not unique to Cambodia,” he said.
“In most tourist areas, 90% of the souvenirs are imported. That’s very sad, and that is why we called our place Satcha. It is about gaining trust that the products being sold under our brands are 100% made by Cambodian artists.”
“By giving soft skills to the artists, we are also trying to promote a shift in the mind-set of consumers and producers. We want to make them realise products made by real Cambodian masters are meant to be kept forever, while the cheap, imported products will be thrown away sooner rather than later.”
Pierre-Andre praised Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts for showing great support for Satcha, including by providing space for its products at exhibitions and also by commissioning its artists to create new work, which has won financial support for the artists.
Currently, there are 42 artists taking part in the training programme at Satcha. They work in six different workshops – carving (stone, wood, bamboo and leather), weaving (rattan, seagrass, water hyacinth, silk and cotton), painting, lacquerware, jewellery making and silver plating.
While these artists are being trained as entrepreneurs, they are also helping the nation by leading apprenticeships for the next generation of Cambodians at the handicraft centre. Their work and study are part of the large-scale campaign to boost vocational training launched by former Prime Minister Hun Sen last year.
Satcha’s founder added that one of the reasons he fell in love with Khmer art is the fact that it has had enduring influences all over the region thanks to the prosperity of the long-standing and great Khmer Empire.
For the future, Pierre-Andre, who longs for Cambodian citizenship, also wants to see his centre extend its reach to other provinces beyond Siem Reap. He hopes to help more artisans preserve local traditions of craftsmanship.
One area worth cultivating he discovered is the pottery tradition in Kampong Chhnang, while another is the silver artisans found in Kandal province.
“We are looking forward to diversifying our market in future, including finding more international buyers,” he said.
“Due to the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is understandable that we cannot depend only on the demand from tourists forever,” he added.
“I am an art lover, and it is my honour to be working to bring Cambodia’s outstanding craftsmanship to the world,” Pierre-Andre said.
