Zama Pottery of Spiti Valley
Ecosphere is a social enterprise, which is a collaborative effort of the local community of Spiti and professionals from diverse backgrounds, with a wide spectrum of skills and experience, effectively spanning the bridge from the general to the niche. With the focus of creating sustainable livelihoods that are linked to nature and culture conservation, the social enterprise is addressing the triple bottom-line of conservation, development and economies of the region. The organization, which started with finding an alternate livelihood for the locals by using local fruit of seabuckthorne, is now also working for sustainable eco-travel, solar technology, housing and nature and cultural conservation of the region. Ecosphere has been keenly involved in not only marketing the more popular crafts but is also in the process of reviving some of the traditional crafts that have almost died out or are slowly disappearing.
Ishita and Sunil are the co-founders of Ecosphere and have been working in the region since last 13 years. Their love for Himalayas brought them to Spiti and since then they have dedicated their lives for the betterment of the area. Cherring Norbu is a local from Demul village and is also the Manager of Spiti operations. His expertise lies in various fields like tourism, youth affairs, accounting, childcare, mountaineering, politics, solar energy and medicinal plants. He is also the winner of Mr. Spiti in 2001. Cherring Bodh is a master of all and also a mountaineer. A certified guide, he has done his mountaineering courses from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi.
