Etikoppaka toys

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Concept:

The Union government choosing to confer Padma Shri on him in the art category is an honour to the Etikoppaka wooden toy craft, and it will go a long way in promoting the art, says C.V. Raju.

About Etikoppaka toys:

These 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.

Lacquer toys

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
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.