Speaking about the trend in idols, one of the idol-makers from Pen listed out the variety of idols which customers are demanding this year.
With only one week left for the elephant idol to arrive, many devotees are searching for trendy options to book their idols. Every year, over 1.5 crore idols are made, in Pen town of Raigad district which is popular for sculpting Ganpati idols.
Speaking about the trend in idols, one of the idol-makers from Pen listed out the variety of idols which customers are demanding this year.
Nikit Patil, a 28-year-old idol maker from Pen, said, "Idols with big ears are a landmark of Pen sculptures. Idols of various shapes and sizes with different designs are made every year. But, the sculptor sculpts big ears to make their signature mark on it."
This year, one can see Ganpati idols, which have costumes of Maratha Empire Bajirao, mostly trending in the market. Patil said: "Every year the trend changes. We make a variety of experiment idols and the trend rises depending upon the demand of the customers. This year, we have the idols of Shankar and Bajirao trending the most. Besides them, idols dressed as 'Sai Baba' are also in demand by Mumbai based customers.
While for the last two years, the idol of 'Malhar' was trending more."
The town has a system which includes each village having a different customer region. Besides Maharashtra, the trendy idols from Pen town are exported in other states like Gujarat and Karnataka.
Expressing how the demand increases every year, Patil added, "Social media has helped us a lot to reach out to customers. We upload the pictures of various idols on our Facebook page, and it helps us to reach out to other customers too. Every year the number of customers increases. 98% of my idols are exported to Mumbai city."
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