Annapurna Purse Manufacturing Co.

Our workshop is at No. 10 Shekhlal Chawl in Nityanand Nagar, Ghatkopar. We go by Annapurna Purse Manufacturing Co. and we’ve been making bags here for quite some time. It’s a small space, so it gets pretty crowded with the leather, the sewing machines, and the scraps on the floor. Ghatkopar is a busy area, and Nityanand Nagar has a lot of little shops like ours. We don't have an assembly line. It’s mostly just a few of us sitting at our benches and putting things together by hand. Sometimes the machines act up or we run out of a certain color of thread, so we have to go out and find it. We aren't making things for a big mall; it’s mostly for local shops or people who know us. It’s honest work, even if it’s tough on the back and hands after a long day. The light isn't always great in the chawl, but we make do. We don't use any fancy logos or advertising. People just know we are here at No. 10. We take it one day at a time, making as many purses as we can before we close up for the night. It’s a simple life and a simple business. We hope to stay here as long as the roof holds up and people still want handmade purses. We usually close late on Saturdays to finish the week's batch. The tea shop downstairs sends up snacks when we are too busy to leave our seats.