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I first saw kasuti embroidery on one of Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya’s saree blouses. My father and she enjoyed a gently flirtatious relationship. By then most people treated her with the affectionate deference due to the grandmother of Indian craft, and she rather relished being reminded that he had first seen her wrapped in gold tissue and jewels on a tiger skin, acting in a verse drama of the 30’s. Kamladevi’s knowledge of Indian craft techniques was encyclopedic though not at all academic. For most people – even lovers of craft – the word kasuti, although it is one of India’s oldest embroideries, raises an enquiring eyebrow. Partly because it has never been commercially exploited, partly due to the rather stepmotherly treatment the crafts of North Karnataka (once part of Bombay State) are given by the Karnataka State Government. You are unlikely to find kasuti in CAUVERY, the Karnataka State Handicrafts Emporium, overflowing with the more opulent silks, ivories and marquetry of the southern Mysore State. But kasuti’s low profile image is also due to the gentle, reclusive nature of the women who craft it. Quite unlike the exuberantly entrepreneurial Gujeratis and Rajasthanis whose mirrorwork and satin floss embroideries floods the Janpath pavements and Surajkund Mela. Once seen, I was haunted by kasuti. It was such an elegant, subtle embroidery - the stitches geometric and delicate, but creating elaborate, dramatic images. Kasuti is a combination of four different stitches, all based on the counted thread principle: gavanti and murgi: diagonal zig-zag running stitches similar to the Holbein stitch in Elizabethan blackwork; menthi: a minute cross-stitch, and negi: pattern darning creating a woven effect with extra weft threads. Traditionally, kasuti was only done on the borders, pallav and khand blouse of the blue-black, indigo dyed Chandrakala saree that was an essential part of the trousseau of brides in the Dharwad-Hubli belt of north Karnataka. All four stitches are used together in each saree, but each motif is done only in one stitch, using a single embroidery thread. The larger motifs are near the pallav border, tapering off gradually till the body of the sari has only a tiny, all-over, floral buta or star. The motifs, done in flaming pinks, yellows, greens, purples, reds and whites, are pictorial -ritual and votive in character: the Tulsi plant and temple chariots - 8-pointed stars, parrots, paisleys and peacocks - howdah-ed elephants, the Nandi sacred bull - bridal palanquins, cradles, and flowering trees. The symbolic, not particularly politically correct message is that the wearer should be fertile and welcoming and worship her husband as God! Not a women’s lib saree, perhaps, but still a stunningly beautiful one… Mukund Maigur, a quiet, gangling young man working in a printing press in Hubli, seemed an unlikely crusader for craft. However, stemming from a chance encounter with an unemployed indigo dyer-weaver some years before, his concern had become an obsession. It had led him into forays into villages in search of dyers, durrie-makers, weavers and embroiderers, and into battles with bureaucrats and bank managers to secure them support, finance and orders. Eventually it led him to our DASTKAR office. His attempt to get a bank loan of 25,000 rupees to start a cooperative was in its third unsuccessful year. A senior bank official had told him, “This craft is bound to die; why are you bothering?” Going with Mukund to Dharwad-Hubli to work with indigo dying and the Irikil saree weavers, I was also intent on kasuti. I felt if we revived and combined the three traditions it would be crafting a solution that was both aesthetic and economic - generating employment and earning in an area suffering from drought and neglect. The death of local craft traditions was a loss not only of cultural heritage and creativity, but of daily bread. Ekbote, a dyer in Gadagbetigiri with eight dependents, had recently been forced to close his indigo vat for lack of orders. Despite the skills of an 800 year old family tradition in dying, he was now earning two rupees a day as casual labour. We decided to do kasuti on a range of sarees dyed and woven by local weavers in traditional colours and designs - Irikil and Chandrakala sarees with the typical garhidhari, paraspeti and nagmuri borders and toptheni pallavs. We also introduced more vivid colours and combinations: emerald and purple, rani pink and navy, saffron and terracotta, (traditionally the Irikil saree borders are always a dark maroon.) as well as dupattas - for younger customers with limited budgets. A few sarees were ordered in silk. Our first problem was identifying and forming a group of women. The women who embroidered the kasuti sarees and khands lived in villages and small towns, isolated from each other, uneducated, unorganised, desperately poor. They learned stitches and motifs from their mothers, occasionally embroidering a saree for a richer neighbor, with no idea that their skill could have long-term material returns. We plodded from village to village, talking to women and listing their names. By then the monsoon rains had started. It meant we had to abandon our three-wheeler and squelch through the flooded fields; but it also meant we got a very warm welcome! The local manager of CAUVERY happened to be at one of the villages where I was ordering sarees, “These are Granny’s sarees! Who will buy them?” was his amazed response. The word soon spread that the skill the women had taken for granted was worth something to this funny stranger from Delhi. By my next visit, Kasuti embroiderers began to descend on my room at the Nataraj Boarding Lodge in Dharwad. So poor they could not afford the 2 rupees bus fare, they walked two or three hours in the burning summer heat from their villages. But proud of their heritage and its symbolism, they firmly stated their terms: they would work their fingers to the bone for fair wages, but they would not alter their designs or put ritual motifs where people might sit on them. When they heard that what I wanted was their traditional saree, done in the traditional way, they were relieved and delighted. A woman from Bangalore had come recently, wanting kasuti on cushions, and she was a Hindu at that… How different their creative integrity was from the canny Kutchi women who’d happily embroider Mickey Mouse as long as someone paid them! Designs were a problem. Women in one village knew one motif, those in a village a few miles away another. How to combine them and teach the women more designs? Kasuti is done by counting threads, not by transfers or stamping out motifs onto the cloth. I decided to document the various patterns. Finding graph paper and a un-smudgy photostat machine in Dharwad in the early 80’s wasn’t easy! The women were generous and trusting, lending me their various precious bits - some done by their grandmothers and falling to pieces - often so stained and faded it was difficult to decipher the design. One had been done as a present for Indira Gandhi, but in the end she’d never come to that village. Eventually, working through several sleepless nights, I had over a hundred different negi, gavanti, murgi and methi border, pallav, buti and all over motifs, numbered, photostatted and coded. Colourways were similarly codified. The women loved having their own little design manuals and discovering new combinations of stitches. They were surprised by and not at all admiring of my colour sense - they couldn’t understand my aversion to the peacock blue, acid yellow and florescent pink chemical colours they adored. But they were thrilled to see their familiar red bordered Irikil sarees re-coloured and eventually began to quite like the embroidery shades too. 15 years later, the story of kasuti is both a success and a failure. The kasuti sarees and dupattas came to DASTKAR in Delhi and were an instant sellout. But their supply is a trickle not a flood. Kasuti is a slow, labour-intensive embroidery and the women remain retiring perfectionists; reluctant to commercialise their craft into a regular production system - whatever the earnings it might bring them. I respect them for that and try not to push them. Sadly, Mukund Maigur, the earnest young crusader who first introduced me to the kasuti and Irikil craftspeople, has succumbed to the Indian system. The pressures of marriage and a family led him into debt and corruption. He owes us money too, and we don’t speak now, but occasionally we pass each other on the Dharwad streets - it brings back our journeys, our dreams and our adventures. This article was originally written for the Diplomatic Corps in July 1997

India is good at creating caste systems: from age-old prejudices of birth, community, and gender coexisting with newly coined ones born out of education, wealth, power and privilege. While old prejudices lose their rigid hold, new ones keep emerging—urban/rural, English speaking/vernacular speaking, literate/illiterate, down to the colour of one’s skin. Additionally, parental ambition and prejudice downgrade the educational advantages of liberal arts versus science and technology. One serious consequence is positioning highly skilled traditional craftspeople on the lowest rung of the professional ladder. It’s Stockholm airport in Sweden, and Shanta, 23 years old and the youngest ever craftsperson to win the Master Craftsperson Award for her tribal embroidery, stands on top of an escalator for the first time in her life. She has flown in a plane, exhibited a major new work at one of Europe’s premier art museums, danced with international artists, and lectured at Sweden’s Boras Design School, becoming the first Lambani to travel abroad. “Isn’t there a World Cup for Embroidery?” she asks. “I’m going to win it!” Why not? Embroidery should be given due recognition—as a creative art as well as a competitive career opportunity. Elsewhere, Chandra Bhushan and Irfan Khatri are two young men with totally different skill sets and backgrounds, coming from different communities and areas of India. One is a Brahmin folk artist from Bihar, the other, a Muslim block printer from Kutch. But they share common, important links—they are both craftspeople, and have both received the prestigious National Master Craftsperson Award in 2005. More significantly, both Bhushan and Khatri, like Shanta, are successfully practising craft as an ‘economic’ rather than a ‘cultural’ activity, at a time when many young craftspeople are leaving the sector in search of other more lucrative careers and stable employment.

Righteous Pride: Shanta Bai, a Lambani embroiderer and the youngest ever National Master Craftsperson awardee Photo: Laila Tyabji—Dastkar Craft and craftspeople are in a curious position today—one of both strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, markets and consumerism are growing, with affluent upwardly mobile lifestyles creating new demands and opportunities; on the other, the new middle class, especially the young, are getting more into branded Western labels and 21st century professions. Craft is looked at as boring, primitive, passé. This is shortsighted. One of India’s major advantages is that we have our feet in both the East and the West, and have not lost our traditions, culture, and arts in the process of acquiring new aptitudes like English education or information technology. Sadly, we don’t realise it, or where it can take us in the future. At a time when the rest of the world mourns its lost handcraft traditions and celebrates its few remaining makers, artisans in India are anonymous, uncredited and under-valued. The intricacy, design skills and mathematical precision required to create a double ikat warp and weft or the taleem notations for a jaamdani shawl is considered vastly inferior to programming computer software, just as a master weaver would be considered a most unwelcome son-in-law for a middle-class mother. Contemporary Indians get terribly excited when an Indian enters space, wins Miss Universe, or gets a medal at the Olympics. But few appreciate our unique distinction in having literally millions of existing master craftspeople practising skills that are no longer extant in the rest of the world. It is foreigners, whether tourists, merchandisers, or designers, who realise that India’s living crafts traditions are not only a tourist attraction, but have a huge long-term commercial potential as well. We in India need to be aware of this gold mine, rather than let others exploit it. If we want to capture the world, we have to do it on the basis of our strengths not our weaknesses. And one of our strengths is our distinctive aesthetic and knowledge systems. Not just the materials, motifs, and techniques, but the unique ways in which traditional communities look at things and problem-solve, use waste, take from the environment and give back to it. Ironically, worldwide post-Covid recession and growing environmental concerns can be an opportunity for India! People looking for cheaper green alternatives to expensively mass-produced goods are rediscovering the beauty, utility and variety of indigenous handcrafted products: a mirrorwork jhola instead of a Gucci bag, embroidered juthis instead of Louboutin heels, a hand-painted Madhubani T shirt instead of a Benetton one, moda chairs and woven durries—the folk art that inspired the likes of Jamini Roy and M.F. Hussain. Craft, In Both Practice And Theory, Can Be A Powerful Tool Of Emotional, Economic And Intellectual Empowerment For Children At All Levels, Locations And Sectors. The craft sector with its millions of craftspeople practicing every kind of unique tradition, in every possible material and medium—from terracotta to gold, from metal casting to intricate embroidery—is a wonderful career opportunity for the young who want a life that is creative, fulfilling, and also economically rewarding. Whether you are a designer, a development consultant, an architect, a social anthropologist or photographer; an entrepreneur, retailer or exporter; craft offers career options that are challenging, varied, and different. If your goal is to see your creations on the fashion ramp in Paris or New York, using Indian textiles and craft is an obvious way to stand out. If your ambition is to build a business, any of the many forms of handcraft production is one area that doesn’t require energy, machinery, a huge and expensive infrastructure, or training of your work force. Even raw materials are locally available! And any academic or novelist would have a fascinating lode to mine in the story of Indian crafts and the people who craft it. As more and more people move to the cities, and education is increasingly geared to developing professional expertise with an international corporate potential, we need to ensure that schools and colleges inculcate an awareness of India’s own values and skills. And the power and potential that lie within them. This needs to be done in a manner that is creative and fun—not as boring and irrelevant history. It should link up with everyday life and the other professional expertise that students acquire. Craft, in both practice and theory, can be a powerful tool of emotional, economic and intellectual empowerment for children at all levels, locations and sectors of school and society. Learning about craft, and working with craft techniques and materials can give you an appreciation of the relationship between you and your environment, and the inter-dependence of the two. It teaches you hand-eye coordination, the use of materials and the importance of making from scratch. It has the potential to teach you tolerance, understanding and appreciation of difference. It is a means of enriching your world as well as giving you information processing skills: showing you how to locate and collect relevant information, compare, contrast, and analyse relations between the whole and a part. Craft education can also build in the child ‘enquiry skills’ which involve asking questions, planning activities; improving ideas that go hand-in-hand with creative skills—expressing oneself artistically, exploring different ways of personal expression along with involvement in school projects and with business. Lastly, it can equip you with valuable entrepreneurial skills that allow you to enjoy change, practice risk management and learn from mistakes. The process should start at play-school and continue through the learning process of each student, remaining an integral part of their psyche and ethos throughout their lives; affecting how they look at history, society, culture, economics and art. Craft is not an old-fashioned ‘hobby’ but a vital entry point to India’s past, present and future. Like other liberal arts, it can lead to a discovery of oneself and one’s life directions. Craft is not just for Shanta, Chandra Bhushan and Irfan Khatri, who have inherited craft skills from their ancestors. Nor should the choice be either/or technology or tradition, arts or sciences, rural or urban. Each has its place and purpose, and a synthesis of both would create an exciting and necessary dynamic, opening up new avenues, new careers and a new India.

Ashoke Chatterjee was executive director of National Institute of Design (NID) from 1975-85, Senior Faculty Advisor for Design Management and Communication from 1985 to 1995, and Distinguished Fellow at NID from 1995 until retirement in 2001. He has served for many years as honorary president of the Crafts Council of India and continues to work as a consultant in India and internationally, especially on projects concerned with water management and environmental issues. After more than ten years as international advisor, in 2000 Ashoke Chatterjee joined the board of directors of Aid to Artisans, a US based non-profit organization that offers practical assistance to artisans worldwide. NID in Ahmedabad is internationally recognized as one of the foremost institutions in the field of design education, research and training. In 1975, NID was asked to be involved with the Rural University, a new concept in education and rural development initiated by Professor Ravi Matthai, first director of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. Ashoke Chatterjee became part of the Rural University team that worked with people of the Jawaja block, which included about 200 villages with a population of approximately 80,000 people in a drought and flood prone district of Rajasthan. The Jawaja project was an educational experiment-in-action based on the idea that development activities must be a vehicle for learning. Although the Indian government designated Jawaja as a region of high poverty and no resources, some people were knowledgeable of spinning and weaving and there were a few looms. Weaving and leatherwork became the basis for economic development activities, and through the participation of its designers, NID tested the relevancy of bringing design education into this rural context. This interview, recorded in October 1997 at NID, focused on the story of Jawaja. Any changes or developments that have occurred, particularly at Jawaja, since the time of the interview have not been included in this account. Interview CJ Looking back over the many years of your involvement in craft development, what stands out as a significant experience? AC The most seminal experience has been Jawaja. At the time NID was debating the relevance of design and looking at crafts in terms of the challenges of development: the transitions taking place, the potential and complexity of this sector. Craft is not a homogeneous area. It is about hand skills but it is full of diversity and contradictions. Jawaja, however, was quite removed from all the discussions about tradition, culture, and preservation of all that. Jawaja was a life and death situation. As a country we have inadequately addressed the issues of craft. We try to intervene in different parts but we have not looked at craft in an integrated, holistic way. The Jawaja project was one circumstance, which integrated many aspects of craft: heritage, culture, social structure, design vocabulary and NID's design inheritance. But Jawaja was not a craft project; it was development defined as self-reliance for those who have been the most dependent in our society. Ravi Matthai explained self-reliance this way: Can people do something for themselves tomorrow that today others should be doing for them, or are doing for them and they should be released of that dependence? Ultimately, Jawaja taught us that the whole is about people and you have to attend to people first and last or else nothing you do will be sustained. Although it was not the intention, we took the craft route and through this we were able to demonstrate what an enormous force the crafts can be in this country. Craft is the strength inherent in our people. They know what they do with their hands and there needs to be a market for what they make. The move towards self-reliance forced us to tap the considerable design energies of the community. We went to Jawaja being told that there were no resources, but we found people with an extremely strong understanding of design and an ability to innovate their own designs. We took the route to create craft products that the local power structure, the moneylenders, knew nothing about. It was not an option to make traditional products to sell in markets controlled by the power structure. This route had to be bypassed. To exercise this option they could not make colourful juttis and footwear that were in the control of the people they were trying to escape from; they began to serve a market that the power structure had no control over. Now they have become a part of the power structure. And the women's groups are doing embroidery applied to the leather and making richly embroidered diary covers. There has been tremendous interaction between designers and craftspeople at Jawaja and the designers worked within certain constraints. The designs had to be what the weavers could understand, respond to, modify and develop. If the weavers were just sent a design, they would be in no position to take ownership and we were keen that they have design ownership. We also encouraged them to interact with buyers. So there was considerable discussion of what the people of Jawaja felt would be suitable. For example, craftspeople knew they had to modify their designs in response to a particular market, the dyes and weaves they knew best, the available raw materials, and cost implications. Design diversification happened within this constraint because the idea was to make the design process understandable and manageable by the craftspeople. In terms of designs that have emerged, it is not easy to say which designs are theirs and which are ours and which come from buyers. Some critics of the Jawaja project believed we were not tapping the traditional strength and products of Rajasthani craftsmen. Early on, critics said the designs were Scandinavian because one of the original designers was from Finland and they assumed she was intervening and imposing. But the floor coverings emerging from Jawaja with strong earth colours and simple geometrical designs came from the craftspeople, whose environment inspired them. They produced a simple design which they could do in various colour ways in response to a market. CJ How did people at IIM and NID conceptualize the Jawaja project? AC It started over twenty years ago with a desire to see whether there was anything that institutions like IIM and NID knew that could be relevant to this country at the very gut level of problem solving, the level of hunger, poverty and deprivation. Most of our institutions skirt this issue because we tend to gravitate towards the more organized Indias who have enormous needs and who respond to us quickly. At the outset, Ravi Matthai said to us at NID, if you are worried about the relevance of design in India, come along. We don't know what will happen here. Join the team. The intention was to look at how do we make education relevant. How do we test management skills in this area? How do we transfer skills in management to a rural community in order for them to be able to manage their affairs? When Prof. Matthai looked for a space for an educational experiment he found hostility in every village towards schools. Schools were seen as totally irrelevant and a factor for alienation because they had nothing to do with gut issues that these communities were dealing with. Much of the dialogue at Jawaja began with schoolteachers: What do you think this place has? What are the needs? So teachers became the first resource persons. And two schoolteachers became very important because they provided the vision and insight and the bridge to the community. They were trusted. They began to articulate what they thought this community was capable of. They also began to understand what the external institutions had to offer and they were important in making the link. They became local leaders. The first reaction of NID students and teachers who went to Jawaja was a sense of guilt and a response of charity. They said the issue was not about design but about sending people food, clothing, doctors and medicine. We had to deal with that. It is a difficult place to work emotionally and one does get very emotionally involved with this community. CJ How do you compare Jawaja now to what was happening 15 to 20 years ago? AC 15 to 20 years ago craftspeople of Jawaja had no ability to deal with the external market. There was no capacity to understand the needs of buyers far removed from them physically, socially, emotionally, and psychologically. That gap was huge. They felt inadequate and that they needed to wait until someone told them what to do. In those days they couldn't enter the Taj Hotel in Bombay to have direct contact with a buyer. Now they are no longer thrown out of the Taj Hotel. They have travelled widely and they have developed street smarts to be able to cope. Now their products have gained an international reputation, not just occasional local exposure. OXFAM, just one of their international buyers, has sold their crafts for almost 15 years. This is a huge accomplishment for this community. They have learned through all the ups and downs to satisfy a buyer far away, and to understand what this means in terms of their own vision. Many of these people had never been to Jaipur. Some had not been to Ajmer only 40 minutes away. And now because London is a place they deal with they can say, we don't think it is fair that the buyer in London has rejected this product. Earlier in the project we imposed on the craftspeople an obligation of training others. Since a principle of the Jawaja project was that nothing would be free, they were required to teach in another village what they had been taught. This was not easy. They crossed caste barriers and encountered social problems. One man said he couldn't undertake training with certain villages where he was not on speaking terms with some people. NID said find a way of training without speaking. After teaching without speaking and realizing the absurdity of the situation, they re-established a cordial relationship. Now the craftspeople have become part of a training program for income generation capacity building at the rural level in the state of Rajasthan. Many of the weavers and leather workers are recognized trainers who go out to various parts of Rajasthan and provide training to other groups. NID has also recommended that the Jawaja community be part of the Institute of Crafts, being set up in Jaipur. They could become trainers and this would also give them status and recognition. A major challenge today is their own internal capacity for working together and decision making in difficult situations, such as quality control. They don't have a mutually accepted standard of quality for people to measure up to and sometimes they put sub-quality materials with good quality materials in a shipment. Or there are pressures to accept quality that is not top class. In addition, they need to take on the discipline of bank loans and repayment of bank loans. They would rather have an external agency do the difficult work of dealing with people who default on bank loans. It is difficult to summarize where they are now. The people of Jawaja are now self-reliant over many things for which they were totally dependent in the past. But what right did we have to expect this community to be totally self-reliant? They still don't have adequate drinking water, adequate sewage sanitation, or education. The health facilities are terrible. At NID we realize that after 20 years we are also not self-reliant. We are battling with a government that is now reducing their grants to us. Constantly, in development projects, we expect things to happen at the village and grass roots level that we never expect at our own level. We take our own dependency as part of a normal social and political structure. Today the Jawaja craftspeople are very dependent on outside support for marketing. And the major cause for their dependence is that marketing for the entire craft sector in India has been tragically neglected. Marketing in India is a complicated scene for Proctor & Gamble and Macdonalds, let alone for a group of artisans. And those companies have advertising agencies, banks and consultants. Artisans are a group of people who have none of that infrastructure and we expect them to be self-reliant, when nobody else is! No one from IIM is involved today. After Prof. Matthai died suddenly in England due to illness, Prof. Rajiv Gupta, a colleague at IIM took over the Jawaja Project until his retirement. But this project continues to require emotional and physical stamina. You cannot cut yourself off like you can from other clients. There is never a point where everything is done for them. It is always an ever-widening circle of problems. They keep saying, tell us what we should do. And we say, no, tell us what you think you want to do. And they get impatient with us. Basically the whole issue is how can we help them develop their own problem solving skills. And there are many things that this project did not address: the problems of women, problems of health, and the scarcity of drinking water. There is a whole range of issues that need attention, which our project has not been able to attend. CJ How has the Jawaja project changed your view of what is possible in regard to the continuity of crafts? AC In my own work with the Crafts Council and other groups I say, respect the aspects of culture and traditions that we have long associated with crafts, but also ensure that the social-economic situation of the people is put at the top of the agenda. Jawaja provided a benchmark in crafts: first focus on and understand the community before we intervene in crafts. Who are the people? What are their earnings? What are their aspirations? What is in it for them? Before we start giving people lectures about their ancient traditions, ask what's in it for them to stay in the tradition? In the case of Jawaja, many of the heritage problems for leather workers were things they wanted to run away from. Their caste elders told them they must not be identified as leather workers; they must have some other identity. When they stopped flaying animals they were left stranded without an identity. We now usually look at tradition and heredity as some exquisite artefact, but for them it was centuries-old discrimination. These things are not easy to look at. In the Crafts Council we have tried to ask what can we do to encourage someone who wants to stay within the tradition? Not force them into it, not make it a kind of a burden. But consider what can be done to encourage any young people who want to remain in the tradition and ensure that their staying in this craft is not at the cost of their own progress as human beings, but rather supplements their progress as human beings. We have also tried in a very modest way to help them with facilities for diversifying and opportunities for income generation. Why should people do crafts full time if they don't want to? Some craftspeople have also become accountants and computer operators. We say, that's fine. Let your child have that option. But don't let them look at the craft tradition and say they have to discard it because it is holding them back; it is a chain. And interventions should not make them think there is something wrong with wanting to shift out of craft. We don't want these communities or individuals to feel like they are museum pieces. They should feel they have an option. Now we are stuck with this great controversy on child labour. We are struggling with how to cope with this issue, because the whole thing of father to son and mother to daughter is part of this honoured and treasured tradition. But we know that we must not close our eyes to exploitation. Exploitation in certain crafts like brassware, glass, the carpet industry is incredibly severe. How does one balance this? How does one create an intelligent understanding among buyers in India and overseas that the issue is that these children must be in school? People need to realize that learning a craft within the family home need not be considered exploitation. It can be a very rich experience. Easy generalizations should be avoided and yet there is no question that exploitation exists. Even in Jawaja the women do half the work involved in craft processes. But do the craftsmen account for that in their costing and pricing? Do they transfer funds to them? How many women members are in the association? None of that is considered. There are huge opportunities for women craftspersons. But people of Jawaja are missing the opportunities. CJ Is there emergent leadership among the women? AC Yes, they have a women's group. We plan to go there soon to see what these women want to do. What kind of products can they make? They probably would like to go into their traditional embroidery and find a market for that. We have not had contact with the women for some time. Although they came to meetings they usually kept quiet. No matter what we did to encourage them, the women were silent and the men did all the talking. So the women's group is a modest step that could have huge implications. CJ Do you think that new meanings will be associated with craft activity? From my point of view, meanings are inherent in a process of making something, whether these are cultural, mythological, or personal meanings. Meanings also shift because of many influences. AC The need for a shift of meaning has been with us from the beginning. I think those products from Jawaja have come to mean a sense of freedom, of true freedom. Not a freedom achieved but perhaps a freedom achievable. Demonstrated. Experienced. Real. And something for which other people cannot take the credit. NID cannot take the credit for what they have done. Their products demonstrate a context that is theirs and under their control. The potential is huge. Another strong sense of meaning, which their traditional products would not have given them is that they are part of a team.. We kept saying this is all about networking and building teams. We work as a team. You have a right to use institutions like NID and ask for services. What we have not researched is the psychological and social impact on two generations of people in Jawaja. A generation has grown up for twenty years within this context. What has it meant to the young people that their parents were part of this experiment? What has it changed for them? One man said, "Everything has changed for my son." Well, what has changed for his son? What does it mean for his wife who is now a member of the Jawaja association? We don't know what stories they are telling in their own community. CJ What are some of the implications that have come from the way things were done in Jawaja? AC It sensitized us in ways that we learned to ask questions that we were not raising before. We learned that first you have to ask: What do the people know that you should know before you even start asking questions? We also learned to ask: Do the people have some concept of tomorrow? If they don't, then development is meaningless. Because in Jawaja they didn't, their concern is survival, today. These people don't want to hear about other things because whatever you say, they will listen patiently, and when you leave they will be left where they were. We learned to ask: Have we paused to reflect on what aspirations these people have? Are they the same as ours? Do they want to go where we think they ought to go? Others do not bother to find out what the people feel, what they aspire to. Or if they have, it is a superficial nod towards participation. In Jawaja, we asked people what they needed and they told us. Rather than throwing posters at people, we asked whether they could communicate in their own way, at their own level, in their own India, because that would give them a lasting communication resource. But very often project co-ordinators and donors want to know how many flipbooks or videos have been made. They won't ask how many people are standing on their own feet as a result of something you have done. The same with Jawaja, donors ask how many people have you made self-reliant? Where are the figures? Well, we don't know and we haven't any statistics. But what is the value of one person made self-reliant? Some people refuse to discuss it on these terms, but we push a bit further, saying, if that person was you or your child we would never say that's a foolish thing to have done. If we value each other as individuals then maybe we can say something significant has taken place. When we started working in this field, we learned that the so-called development world is preoccupied with success stories, and donors want to replicate the experience. But they are usually looking for the wrong things. Learning doesn't take place in neat little project timetables. People and communities cannot be replicated, but learning can be extended. You learn more from failure than you do from success. And only the next generation will see whether we have succeeded or failed. I wish our intervention could have been better sustained in many ways. Somehow, compared to the need there, what we have done seems so little. But there are ripples. The educational process of the Jawaja experience transformed many people. One of the schoolteachers is now the head of a major NGO in Jawaja involved in greening that part of the desert. Students at NID were influenced enormously by involvement with Jawaja. All of us who were part of that team have gone on to do other things. The Scandinavian textile designer later applied this learning in Lapland and Finland. Another person went on to head a society for the promotion of wasteland development, and is now working for the World Wildlife Fund. One of the first volunteers at Jawaja is now an eminent professor of macro-economics at the Madras Institute of Development Studies. He said, I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for Jawaja. This is the single most important learning that I've taken and applied to everything that I've done. Personally, I have applied this learning in all the work I have done in communications in India, Pakistan, Columbia or Zimbabwe. I think I would not have been able to do any of that work without having gone through Jawaja. For NID and IIM, Jawaja is the only deprived community we have served without a break for 20 years. It is such a wealth of knowledge and experience. When our colleagues from Jawaja join a discussion the whole quality of the discussion transforms because they bring insights and opinions, which are far removed from what we know. Although we are physically in the same country, we are almost from another universe. Numerically the Jawaja project remains small but the craftspeople have enormous capacities and some have gone on to become entrepreneurs or join other enterprises, others have gone back into agriculture, but they take with them new knowledge and capacities. They are known in craft circles; they have been seen and heard. Attitudes and the language used have changed enormously due to this interaction. The people of Jawaja have gone far as individuals and as a community and they are reputed as craftspeople throughout this country. When they walk into a Crafts Council meeting, they are respected and looked upon as the wise. Other people say, we are having this problem in Andhra or in Manipur; how shall we do it? To me this is very important because you come back to the fact that we who intervened are not the great resource people, they are. The author acknowledges the financial assistance of the Government of India through the India Studies Programme of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. This paper was published in March 2003 in Seminar 523: Celebrating Crafts. Interview by Carolyn Jongeward October 20, 1997 National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad, India. Revised text: August 26, 2002

“Design” is the new catch phrase among customers, retail storeowners, importers and now even artisans. The market for innovative design was once cornered by high-end retail boutiques in major metropolises but has now expanded to touch consumers both young and old. High school students now know the names of the latest handbag designers and beg their parents for originals that can cost hundreds of dollars. Even large department stores, once relegated to a status more shrouded by the concept of convenience than fashion, are focused on bringing affordable design to the masses. Some of these stores are even delving into issues of fair trade and handmade items, using good design to sell higher priced products.

In the world of craft, high design, handmade products have been the recent push among craft innovators the world round. Designers that show in some of the most well known, and most expensive, shops in Paris, London and New York are looking to artisans for production, and even inspiration. Fashion magazines, high-end mail order catalogs and even TV advertisements have begun highlighting or featuring high design craft. Handmade products have turned from tourist trinkets to tailor made fashion. However, the emphasis on cutting edge design and innovation has taken some of the emphasis off of the traditional aspects of craft. Craft supporters have been drawn to handmade products over the years for many reasons. Artisans are often the bearers of culture who pass traditions, both visual and otherwise, down from one generation to the next. These culturally specific traditions are embedded in the motifs, colors and patterns of their embroidery, ceramics or weaves. Artisans have also played other traditional roles in their local communities relating to both agriculture and religion. An artisan’s skills in blacksmithing, for example, would be used to mend plows as well as create craft. In many cultures artisans also play a role in local religions by creating special images, icons and statues that are used for holidays or everyday worship. So, does sleek modern design and merchandised US retail stores take away some of the cultural significance of craft? Should craft advocators focus on bringing handmade products into the main stream market through design or through awareness? These are the questions that I’ve begun to ask in a pursuit of using craft both as a mean of economic development as well as a bridge to cross-cultural understanding. As a way to poverty alleviation, market driven craft, with a base in targeted design, is undoubtedly the necessity for success. High design has brought artisans from poverty to market players and has sometimes brought craft from the edge of extension to the spotlight of the runway. However, what we as craft advocators need to be weary of is the loss of cultural value in handmade goods that can come from homogenized marketplaces in the globalized world. The concept of high design craft needs to be coupled with public awareness and education about the cultural significance that craft can carry. Without this awareness craft can be relegated into the world of one-way globalization, where consumer products lack meaningful cultural weight as they cross borders and market boundaries.

Well after a few months delving into the craft, landscape and culture of Tajikistan, I wanted to return to a topic both familiar and exotic to me. Although I have been studying craft for about four years now, most of my investigation has been focused on India and other international crafts. Other than the occasional craft museum visit or magazine article, I have spent little time truly looking at the American craft tradition. And even further, I have yet to open my eyes to the rich craft traditions sitting on my doorstep.

For about the past two years I have worked in Connecticut, but with my attention solely on international crafts I hadn’t bothered to merely open my eyes to the traditions of America contained within Connecticut craft traditions. So upon opening my eyes this month to lead a brief investigation I was surprised to find a healthy contemporary craft scene providing both an outlet for creativity and a source of income for Connecticut artisans. Being positioned in the Northeast coast, Connecticut was a seat of much of early American history. Along with being the fifth state to sign the American constitution, it is home to such American items as the first public library, the first hamburger, the first Frisbee and the first lollipop, as well as some other greats like the first Ph.D. and the artificial heart. And contemporary Connecticut artisans have carried on this great tradition of innovation and today fill-up the galleries and museums line both historic and new towns throughout the state. A few of these artisans were recently highlighted in a Connecticut Cultural and Special Events Guide published by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. Some of the artisans that piqued my interest included Kari Lonning, a contemporary basket maker. Kari, a world renown weaver, creates colorful and intricate baskets that call to mind images of Southern Africa. (http/www.karilonning.com) Kari also works with experimental sculptures and has authored a book on the art of basketry. Her baskets are evocative of both the traditions of Africa and the trends of contemporary America, linking together the geometric patterns with bright funky colors and styles. Ted Esselstyn, another vibrant Connecticut artisan, creates whimsical wooden sculptures, furniture and public installations throughout the state. His pieces are colorful and imaginative, taking ordinary functional furniture and walls to new levels. (http:/tedesselstyn.com) Ted’s brilliant murals and functional sculptures bring the imaginations and dreams of children to life. Some of Ted’s creations are aptly installed in children’s museums, hospitals and libraries. On the other end of the whimsical spectrum is Ann Mallory who creates more stoic images that focus on form and shape highlight the sensuality of objects. Ann’s ceramic and multi-media objects are both beautiful and somber, reminding the viewer that even ordinary objects have depth and meaning. Ann also creates Contemplation vessels from ceramic and bronze. These vessels, textured ceramic pieces, suggest a sense that is both inviting through their size and texture and isolating through their sealed off openings. Although Connecticut is host to a number of rich histories in American aesthetic traditions including quilting, wood working, basket making, embroidery and more, contemporary New England artisans have carried these traditions into the modern economy and society. These artisans still draw heavily on the same inspirations as early American artisans and still use some of the same media and techniques. Aside from the few artisans that I mention only briefly above there are many more contemporary American artisans that continue creating in the traditions of the American past, conveying stories and composing history with every stitch, wood shaving and woven reed.

Background As part of the Disaster Management and Emergency Relief Operations in Kutch, post the January 2001 earthquake, CARE India and FICCI adopted 30 villages in three blocks of Anjar, Bhachau & Rapar in Kutch, Gujarat. They were committed to a broad based intervention that included areas such as health, housing, education and sustainable livelihood. They approached National Intitiute Fashion Technology, New Delhi to develop a comprehensive livelihood package for the artisans affected by earthquake in these areas. Prof. Jatin Bhatt, Head of Accessory Design at NIFT visited the area twice along with Mr. Vipin Sharma, Director, Sead, CARE and his team to evaluate and identify the blocks and villages, based on a number of factors such as accessibility, responsiveness, socio economic climate and available skills and experience of the community. Reality did not always match expectations. Expecting to find over 200 potters in the surrounding villages, it was found the numbers had dwindled to 60-70 artisans, with pottery rapidly disappearing as a craft and means of livelihood.
The choices Many individuals and organisations, including NGOs, were working in the areasalready had their hands full with enormous commitments in the process of rehabilitation. NIFT set up its site office with fulltime field coordinators and involved Ms. Vijayalaxmi Kotak, who has possibly one of the longest association and experience with Kutch artisans through her Gurjari assignment, to enhance effective community mobilization.
Not wanting to enter a sector where enough work was being done, NIFT consciously chose not to restrict work with embroidery and textiles, inspite of easy access to a large population base practicing the craft as a part of their daily lives. Interestingly, some of Rabaris communities with distinctive style of embroidery, even today travel upto Surat and Balsar to graze their camels over six months in a year. Instead they opted to work in other craft areas of pottery and knife making with some amount of embroidery crafts with the Rabaris and Ahirs.
For logistical reasons finally, four villages namely Jharu, Chandrani, Khedoi and Ratnal in the Anjar block each within a reasonable distance from the other and Nana Reha, a village close to Anjar and known for its knife making over a century, were chosen to be the focus of the project.
The Implementation of the Programme What emerged was a concrete plan to involve the artisan at every step in the process of creating and retailing a craft product. Six faculty members along with the active involvement of the technical assistant as well as staff of the Accessory Design Dept. at NIFT committed a period of six months to the project, beginning May 2001.

The NIFT team led by Prof. Jatin Bhatt had Mr. M.S. Farooqi, Mr. V.Ameresh Babu, Mr. Arvind Merchant and Mr. Sanjeev Kumar as the think tank. Equally responsible for field operations they were supported by Mr. Ashuthosh Porus, Junior Faculty and Mr. Abhishek Pratap Singh, student of Accessory Design. The project structure also provided twenty nine senior students to carry out the Design and Product Development component of the project on field for over six weeks in the above mentioned villages. Prior to this, the NIFT faculty team with artisans from the selected craft sectors developed specific project strategies concerning critical areas of process ntervention. The faculty team with was primarily responsible for developing specific brief for students and artisans to ensure meaningful and contextual outcome from this very brief but intensive interaction of six weeks under their direct guidance and supervision.
At the first stage of programme implementation, twenty-five artisans from Kutch visited Delhi and surrounding areas for a period two weeks to orient them to urban markets and consumer preferences. As part of their orientation they interacted with other artisans and industries creating similar products with similar raw materials using different techniques and technologies.
Their Experiences Separate teams worked with the Muslim knife makers of Nana Reha, the Muslim potters of Khedoi and Chandrani and Rabari and Ahir women of Jharu, Ratnal and Chandrani, who did embroidery and patchwork on accessories. These teams were confident about the skill, experience and knowledge of the artisans. What they wanted to introduce was the element of design development as a part of the process based implementation, keeping in mind the community culture and capabilities, the ability to look at a product and develop it according to its specifications. In all cases at the first stage, the artisans were made aware of the concept and importance of consistency including precision in dimensions and measurement.

Involving potters from Uttam Nagar, New Delhi the Anjar potters were introduced to newer, efficient yet low cost technologies, such as kilns. Until then the potter community had used open pits for firing. The use of a kiln enabled the firing to be completed in a much shorter time and greater fuel efficiency and for the first time the potter community shared a kiln and fired continuously for 12 days around Diwali, which they could not otherwise have done, with an open kiln. Ms. Renuka Savasere, a ceramic designer, got very closely involved in net working and sustained interaction with the artisans over four months as a specialist brought on the project by NIFT.

The potters were also introduced to terracotta slip casting techniques and their use, differing methods of clay preparation and improved quality of clay. They also experimented with a different set of aesthetics. For instance, the deliberate creation of perfectly centred pots which were cut into half and joined in a skewed fashion, thereby achieving a more contemporary look for the pots.

		The leverage the artisan possesses is quality and skill. What he needs to know is available technology and information on the whims of the market. This was especially true for the metal workers of Nana Reha, where the entire village is involved in the production of knives such as chakkus or penknives that find their way to different parts of the country. The metal artisans were taken to Moradabad as an example of where a craft can reach and change the equation for an entire town. Contemporary shapes of blades and handles and different alloys were introduced to the artisans. Mr. Jogi Panghaal, who has worked extensively in the area of craft intervention, was involved for over four weeks with the interactive design component between students and artisans to have yet another dimension to the design directions being guided by NIFT faculty. Similarly, expertise was sought for issues on skill and knowledge enhancement pertaining to various processes.
Rabari and Ahir women are well known for their exquisite embroidery and patchwork. The designs are intricate and the colours vivid. Working with the NIFT team the artisans realized that they needed to add value to a product, which does not necessarily require more labour and ornamentation. They understand today that embroidery with a single coloured thread may be of more value than a carefully chosen multi coloured pattern or that white embroidery on white cloth or black embroidery on black cloth may actually sell better. That a product from a village could just be in single colour with shade variations, in the urban demand centres.
Replying to a question that the artisan was in effect being used as a pair of skilled hands rather than a creative individual – Jatin Bhatt explained that having exposed the artisan to newer products and preferences, the artisan now has the freedom to create across different aesthetics and actually does so. This is also one of the very few instances where design is invested and applied as a larger, holistic process addressing rehabilitation and community mobilization concerns.

The questions come naturally to the mind what happened after NIFT left? How successful was the intervention? Has it meant more orders and markets? What did the community gain by the whole programme? In May 2001 the NIFT team was travelling from village to village and artisan area to area. The follow up, in January 2002, saw over 200 artisans gathered in Madhapar exchanging ideas and exploring further possibilities under Design Yatra-2002 over eight days with 30 design students and seven NIFT faculty. CARE India has established a Business Resource Centre for all round management for the next 5 years to support the community and ensure the sustainability of the project.
Obviously much needs to be done by the community itself. For instance, who decides who gets the fresh orders– the Sarpanch or the whole village? Will it be done on the basis of the skill of the artisan or by rotation? Can the community organise itself in such a way that it takes from each what they are best at? Already the change is visible and the community is talking about it.

EMBROIDERY

POTTERY

KNIVES

https://youtu.be/NlGpG0sJaEU

https://youtu.be/s6_MMliCiFI

Thirty years ago the Crafts Council of India (CCI) held its 1986 National Meet at Visva-Bharati in Santiniketan, a gesture of respect to a profoundly influential craft ethos. Perhaps CCI was also in search of tranquility in a turbulent year that had altered India’s history: the siege of the Golden Temple and injustice to Shah Bano. Gurudev’s vision of an India unbroken by “narrow domestic walls” seemed then, as now, to be under siege. All these years later, India’s artisans and their crafts are in crisis as well as on the cusp of new opportunities. 2016 saw CCI return to Santiniketan to reflect with that community on the relevance of Tagore’s legacy in such changing times. The experience proved as challenging as it was rich in learning. Artisanal wisdom and skill were central to the vision on which Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan and Shilpa Sadan were founded by Tagore. India’s craft renaissance began there, and then some distance away at Sabarmati Ashram. Dialogue between the Mahatma and Gurudev on India’s craft heritage was an extension of shared concepts of freedom and modernity, and hand production came to play a catalytic role in the struggle for independence. When freedom came, Nehru integrated crafts into development planning, the first demonstration of its kind anywhere. A sunset syndrome To succeeding generations, including activists and craft communities brought together by Kamaladevi Chattophadhyay and others, artisans and craft were as indelible as the tri-colour. About a decade ago, something changed. Craft heritage had become an empty mantra. From high places CCI was told that hand-made products and their makers comprised a “sunset industry”. Indeed, India’s global image of handcraftsmanship had become an embarrassment, akin perhaps to snake charming. Progress was now imaged as Singapore or Silicon Valley. Handicrafts were clearly out of step. So they should fade gently into the night, and artisans turned to contemporary ‘sunrise’ callings that better embrace Silicon Valley aspirations. For craft activists, the shock of these new attitudes was profound. India had demonstrated that its crafts were not just beautiful products, but constituted a strength that had not only helped topple an empire but had then demonstrated a creativity that took India’s aspirations to the world. Acknowledged as the second largest source of Indian livelihood, artisans also represent communities and locations still at the margins of development. To what alternative occupations can these multitudes flock if ‘sunset’ turns to darkness? New technologies have demonstrated models of jobless growth. The IT industry, so ingrained in that Silicon Valley mindset, represents less than 3M jobs. If not food and hand production, what else can India suggest as an immediate path for millions? Against such speculation, a penny dropped. Neither Government nor activists had an accurate idea of the size and economic significance of the sector activists wanted to protect. Without robust data, dismissive attitudes could flourish and disastrous decisions made with impunity. In 2008 the ‘sunset’ syndrome brought CCI and partners together at a Kolkata conclave. There Gopalkrishna Gandhi observed that Government’s heart could only be influenced through Government’s mind. Without economic evidence, all other craft arguments --- social, environmental, cultural, political and even spiritual --- would fail. The immediate task was to demonstrate craft impact on India’s economy. Yet CCI experience had so far been driven by cultural and aesthetic values, not economics. Economists were now needed as partners. Three years followed of research and methodological experimentation in selected locations. Vigorous advocacy of results finally encouraged the national Economic Census 2012 to include artisans and crafts, for the first time ever. “Life in its completeness” While Economic Census numbers are under review, preliminary indications of scale far exceed past official estimates of about 11M artisans. Some calculations reach over 70M, others reaching 200M. Clarity is now expected from a census designed specifically for the hand-production sector. It will go beyond the Economic Census constraint of independent entrepreneurial establishments in the official list of selected crafts. A watershed in sector awareness and action may be ahead. That prospect encourages a re-visit, within a changed India and in another century, of Gurudev’s mission of transformational livelihoods. Tagore rejected progress understood as accumulating material riches. Like Gandhiji, he advocated an ethic of trusteeship: protecting nature’s resources for future generations and putting people, particularly the deprived, at the centre of decisions for change. For this, Gurudev advocated an approach to education that “makes our life in sympathy with all existence”. Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan and Shilpa Sadan were expressions of this dream. Its endurance now requires testing relevance in such changed circumstances. Contact with the earth, the element that brought Tagore to Santiniketan is now being lost as the countryside decays and migration thrusts millions into urban slums in search of survival. Village communities have local as well as urban ambitions, fueled by competing lifestyles. Today’s crafts emerge from urban slums as much as they do from rural cottages. Hazardous notions of progress are imbedded elsewhere as well. One example emerged in the midst of CCI partnership with Economic Census authorities. An unusual directive emerged from the Ministry mandated to protect Indian craft. An electric motor was recommended for handlooms. The stated objective was to improve ‘productivity’ and ‘incomes’ for languishing weavers, through handlooms converted into ‘modern’ power-looms. At one stroke, an astonishing Indian advantage with global demand would be destroyed. Weavers were not fooled by crocodile tears, or by the powerful pro-mechanization lobbies operating from the wings. Throughout the country, weavers rose in revolt. Possibly because a national election was around the corner, this idiotic scheme was dropped. Yet the threat remains, reappearing with regularity and most recently with recommendations that jacquard looms should be motorized for ‘productivity’. Secure livelihoods give real meaning to sustainability, as well as to those other qualities that make craft so unique as a development force. Responding to craft threat with craft opportunity demands thorough comprehension of the values upon which Gurudev’s efforts were founded. He wanted “to bring life in its completeness into villages”. How can that mission be sustained within rapid urbanization and new aspirations? How can Tagore’s ideal of education as ‘learning by doing’ be taken not just to villages but also to towns and cities? Can handcraft become an engine for self-reliance, with creativity and aesthetics making artisans job creators rather than job seekers? While Gurudev spoke more eloquently on aesthetics, Gandhiji too regarded creation as an art. For both, craft as art had to have profit-yielding livelihood at its base. Tagore wanted handmade products to have economic value “at home and commanding a ready sale outside”, embracing utility with creativity and drawing for inspiration on universal sources. These early directions need to be remembered because all these years later, limited marketing capacities challenge every craft opportunity. Hand production must be founded on management capacities that can deliver sustainable livelihoods within conditions of constant change and accelerating competition. Yet after a century, the absence of professional marketing systems remains the greatest of all challenges for the future of Indian craft. As early as 1924 Sriniketan was conducting market studies, and by 1937 Netaji had inaugurated a Sriniketan emporium in Calcutta. Aware of competition and change, Tagore and Gandhi understood the need to both respond to demand as well as to create and mould it. Where ‘the future is handmade’ At the time CCI and its partners were subjected to that ‘sunset’ shock, a pleasant surprise emerged from within the European Union. From there, a new slogan had been coined: “The future is handmade”. On enquiry, it was explained that survival in today’s competitive markets requires creativity and innovation. These resources and capacities are rooted in traditions of craftsmanship, as demonstrated by Japan and the Asian Tigers. Unless revived, the loss of Europe’s handicraft traditions could mean sacrificing tomorrow’s markets. Another welcome shock was delivered at the World Crafts Council 2014 assembly, held in China. Delegates heard that a decade earlier China had identified two “sunrise industries” as essential to its ambitions of economic power: IT and crafts! The contrast with India, the largest craft resource in the world, could not have been more striking. A transformational agenda Another opportunity for positioning craft industries has come in 2016 with the ratification by UN members of its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Several of its 17 goals --- integrating economic, social, environmental and rights issues --- offers an agenda close to Gurudev’s acknowledgment of crafts as an opportunity for “life in sympathy and harmony with all existence”. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) thus recall the holistic understanding of human wellbeing that impelled his efforts at Santiniketan. They reflect a growing consensus on progress and modernity understood as decent lives lived out in conditions of equity and justice: “where the mind is without fear and the head is held high”. SDGs offer relevance as well as urgency to the vision that created Tagore’s institutions. The message from Santiniketan seems to be that, away from glitzy images of Singapore and Silicon Valley, tomorrow’s dreams could be transformational if key issues are addressed with Gurudev’s wisdom and courage:

What is the modernity India should seek in this new millennium?
What actions can restore crafts as central to Indian wellbeing?
Can crafts have relevance outside village societies and economies? Can Gurudev’s objectives be brought to crowded urban communities?
How can education help foster a value for crafts within today’s attitudes, aspirations and priorities?
What can be done do to provide dignity and respect for artisans and for their wisdom, and for building their capacities as job-makers?
What collaborations can help move artisans from ‘sunset’ to ‘sunrise’, toward a future that is ‘handmade in India’ and of service to the world?

Issue #003, Autumn, 2019 ISSN: 2581- 9410 I am happy to be here with all of you to Lucknow, and to Sanatkada, both of which are now very dear to me. I am also happy to be here to share my experience and my journey of nearly 40 years in the area of crafts and handmade textiles. I have chosen to call this story – “Craft through a rear view mirror” simply because I believe I am at a stage in my life where I feel the need to pause and reflect. Turn back to look at the road I have walked. Review the years that have gone by to put together all that my checkered journey has taught me. Yes this, but with my focus firmly on the road ahead. This journey started in 1982, that is, soon after Pradeep and I got married and moved to Baroda. Before that, I had spent five and a half years at NID, The National Institute of Design at Ahmedabad, immersed in an aesthetic and an inspiring educational environment and of course, how can I not mention many many hours at the Calico Museum, that was then just across the bridge from NID. There was also Manubhai - the most loved and generous dealer of antique textiles and all sorts of other bric a brac. His sprawling home / godown was in Bukhara Ni pole in the walled city near Dilli Darwaza. These two were institutions in themselves and I learnt from them as much as I did in the studios of NID. In 1982 I was just about 24 years old having graduated from NID in 1980. For my final year project at NID which we call the Diploma Project I was asked to work in an industrial environment because my teachers felt that I had become too partial towards crafts and it would be good for me to accept a new challenge. Actually I was getting academically oriented having assisted Dr. Lotika Vardharajan as a research assistant for which I travelled to Masulipatnam and documented the long and somewhat complex process of Kalamkari which was partly painting and printing. This research became a chapter in her book “South Indian Traditions of Kalamkari”. With great difficulty the institute found a composite textile mill that was willing to have a designer in their complex. I would not say they were “willing willing.” My teacher did not give them an option. So I kind of barged in to this Ramakrishna Mills located at Gomtipur, in Ahmadabad. Textile mills in those days, as a policy did not allow women in their premises. And that meant that I had a very strict code of conduct to follow. Such as I should wear only saree to work, was not allowed to visit the shop floor unless escorted by a senior personal etc etc. So, in brief the experiences I came to Baroda with spanned the whole range. From research and documentation on handloom fabrics and hand Crafted textiles - I also researched on the tradition of the Ilkal sarees of Karnataka and Khan pieces which were primarily meant as an offering to the Goddess…. to doing my project with Ramkrishna Mills, then a short stint at Stanrose Mills in Bombay and then helping a Social Scientist from TISS Mumbai Mrs. Mansukhani set up a screen printing workshop in Pune. This workshop was meant primarily to empower women by training them in this craft so that they could earn a decent livelihood. Times were difficult then. There was prolonged strike in Pune – one of the busiest industrial belts of the country with the result that most men were out of job. The journey from 1982 to date as a Craft Entrepreneur has given me some insights and it is these insights that I would like to share with you. The first insight is what I would like to call Mastery, Mastery over the materials and process of the craft, which in my case is dyeing and printing on fabric. I have prospered as Craft Entrepreneur because I was forced to master the craft right in the beginning of my journey. The first lot of Table Mats and Napkins that I printed against an order from Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Ltd. (CCIC) was a total disaster. It was a technical problem, the chemistry was not right, the colors were not fast enough and looked somewhat faded after the first wash. Since I was not technically competent then I had hired a professional colour master from Ahmedabad to help me mix the dyes and handle the textile chemistry and obviously what he considered good was not acceptable to me. And so since then Pradeep and I started to learn these things– I mean the chemistry of textiles, and over the years have gained mastery over it. This mastery has empowered me as a designer because, now I have full control over the process of dyeing and printing and therefore from the point of view of Design as well as Manufacturing, the quality we are able to offer is of a superior level. There is another advantage to having a mindset that prioritizes mastery. Dyeing and Printing is categorized under the Red category, which means that it is considered to be a highly polluting industry and so the regulatory norms are very strict. Looking back, I now see that the attitude to find a solution and be in control is what drove us to invest in and experiment with the process of treating our effluent. As far as I know we were very early movers in this area and definitely the first to treat our effluent at our scale of craft based hand printing. This mindset of mastery also led us to experiment continuously and even today after nearly 40 years we are happiest when design and process come together to create magic. Mastery is also what has helped us remain relevant. It has allowed me to offer new and fresh looks. It has helped me cut costs and has also helped me create diversity in my product range. So looking back I can confidently say that Mastery will help craft thrive even in the digital age because it not only impacts the Craft but also the Craftsman. This is important, let me repeat. Mastery not only impacts the Craft but also the Craftsman. This actually is the thinking behind the slogan “The Future is Handmade”. The focus of this slogan is not on the product it is on the process. If you google this slogan you will find references to how Mastery positively impacts the mind and work in a way becomes worship. The next thing I want to share with you is my experience of Frugality. I have come to believe that Frugality is the path to sustainability. In fact, I feel so strongly about it that I would suggest that we replace the goal and instead of trying to become sustainable we should attempt to become frugal. Frugality is natural to Hand Craft. If the future does become Handmade one of the key reasons will be the ability of Craft to be frugal. In my journey of almost three decades and more being frugal consciously has given me rich dividends. Like most things in this century my experiments with frugality was triggered by Money or the lack of it! Being hard up has its benefits. As we studied textile chemistry we realized that all the recipes were based on the amount of water that was used and not on the amount of cloth needed to be processed. Could I use less water? The books asked for a ratio of one is to thirty. Which is, for every Kg of cloth you required 30 liters of water. We experimented and learnt to work with less than half this amount saving a lot of expensive ingredients and in the process also saved some money. Saving money was of course very good but there were other positive spinoffs too. I had less effluent to treat, which also saved time and money and made it easier to comply with pollution regulations. For over a decade now we are able to treat our effluent and recycle it for secondary use, which means that we are a zero discharge unit. Another spin off from trying to save money by reducing the amount of water I use has been the quality of our product, which displays good depth of shade and great color fastness. So looking into the rear view mirror I see Frugality as the second insight. It started with water but has become the culture of my studio workshop. I am proud to say that this culture of Frugality has evolved into a situation where I have almost Zero rejection in my production. The third insight is Patronage. To have the mindset of a Patron. I have found that building long term relationships with those who work with me has helped me through many difficult times, as I have helped them in their times of need. All my craftsmen and other support staff have been with me for decades. My fabric suppliers are still the ones I started with almost 40 years ago, they have risen to the challenge whenever called upon, they have tolerated delay in payments, developed new constructions to suit my work and in turn I have bought fabric and stocked it when they required work and given them advance payments when I could afford to. So I can now see that having the mindset of a Patron is also a path towards sustainability. All of us are aware of the damage caused by fast fashion and it s impact on the craft industry. So Patronage is the third insight. Just to sum up- The picture in the rear view mirror shows Mastery, Frugality and the mindset of a Patron as key ingredients to the survival of craft. I truly hope that the prophesy “The Future is Handmade” comes true and we continue to celebrate our unique abilities as human beings with all our senses.

Current Situation:

Globalisation and the Machine Made Problem

Globalisation, the liberalisation of trade policies and economic reforms mean that borders in worldwide trade have been lowered, and new markets have emerged for handicrafts. Today, vibrant and quality handmade products from all points of the globe vie for a market share in the international marketplace, and the Indian craft sector has found itself competing with talented artisans from many countries, in particular from regions in South East Asia, Latin America and Africa. In some market segments, the economics are not in favour of Indian artisans, with competitors able to produce high quality products at lower prices, with the support of modern infrastructure, and better credit, research, management and market development.

The biggest threat to the Indian craft sector remains industrial manufacturers who produce cheap products in volume and can respond quickly to changing consumer trends. Small scale, cottage industries can be slower to adapt to the market; struggle to compete on price points and to meet the production timelines of industrial manufacturers. As a result, they often lose out to large corporations and macro industries which are supported by modern technology, capital, resources, and extensive marketing and trade networks. Machine made replicas, and imitations of authentic products are also being sold as genuine handicrafts at cheap prices, thus reducing the market share of real handmade products. Textile production is one subsector that has been in a severe decline due to the entry of imitations and machine made products into the market. Imitation Benarasi brocade, produced and exported around the world from China, is hurting the weaving community in Varanasi whilst in2007, the Association of Handloom Units announced that 60,000 Bodo households would lose family income due to mill made, imitation cloth (Chatterjee 2007). Clearly, there is a need for intervention - The Handloom Reservation Act (1950) does not go far enough in protecting the intellectual property rights of artisans. Poor implementation and loopholes that allow the intellectual property rights of handloom producers to be violated through the large-scale duplication of handloom products by power looms will continue to damage the sector.

Industrial made, branded clothing, lifestyle and home-ware retail has also impacted the handicraft market. Branded clothes, such as Levi’s, and Reebok, have become signifiers of contemporary style and ‘modern’ India whilst handicrafts have become symbols of ‘tradition’ and even, ‘backwardness.’ International brands have also become symbols of wealth and luxury, and are seen to be inherently more valuable than handicrafts. There is a prevailing perception that handicrafts are ‘overpriced.’ Whilst the price points may be higher than machine made competitors, such concepts also reflect the low valuation that handmade products hold, despite the craftsmanship, originality and the intensive labour and high level of skill required to produce them.

Market perceptions about handicrafts are well worth challenging. Consumer preferences are not necessarily fixed, as fluctuating fashion and market trends demonstrate. Although some of the associations around brands may have tangible, rational attributes – a store such as United Colours of Benetton may have appealing, trend-driven designs, with good selection and choice in clothing styles – these perceptions are undeniably influenced by the sophisticated marketing and advertising strategies used to build brand consciousness amongst consumers. Gaining market acceptance for handicrafts beyond the niche craft market as items of high social and cultural value in modern India will take dedicated resources, and serious investment – as well as hard work. The mass produced goods that have flooded the market also impact the income of artisans at the local village level. Across India, artisan-made utilitarian objects of daily use have been replaced by factory-made goods. For example, in many regions the market for earthenware has been obliterated by the saleability of plastics and glassware. The situation is exacerbated by poor economic conditions in village communities, which reduces the spending power of rural consumers. At best, artisans are able to earn a subsistence income producing crafts. Due to this constriction of traditional markets and the prevailing socio-economic conditions in rural areas, artisans now look to new markets to sell their wares, yet many remain at extreme economic and geographic disadvantages. Opportunities to participate in exhibitions, fairs and bazaars at commercial centres such as Dilli Haat in New Delhi provide valuable sales channels for artisans. Yet, limited resources and the infrastructure in rural areas, such as poor roads and limited public transport options, continue to restrict access. Whilst some markets have contracted, there are also new opportunities opening up, particularly abroad. There is consistent demand from the USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia for handicrafts. Export figures for the past five years are positive, the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts show an increase of 53% in five years in the combined exports of art metal ware, wood ware, hand printed textiles and scarves, embroidered and crocheted goods, shawls as art ware, zari and zari goods, imitation jewellery and other miscellaneous crafts (Jaitley 2005). These figures present an optimistic picture. Yet, the fact that India currently only accounts for 2% of the world trade in handicrafts despite having over 30 million artisans and weavers illustrates the huge, untapped potential of the sector. Investing in the craft sector, expanding markets for handicrafts, and introducing policy initiatives that are serious about growing the sector, are measures that seem worthy of consideration. State support and assistance in marketing has enabled China to corner 17% of the world trade in the same sector. Marketing is not just expenditure; it is investment in real, sustainable development for the country’s artisans. There are wider economic and cultural spin-off benefits from gaining this kind of market share.

Making the Market Work for Artisans:

Positioning Indian handicrafts

Whilst globalisation has to some extent plunged the sector into crisis, it has also opened up new markets and, with the right positioning, Indian handicrafts can benefit from the growth in socially conscious consumption and ethically and environmentally responsible consumerism. Products that are people-positive and planet-positive are amongst the fastest growing market segments in the market today. In the USA, the size of the eco or ‘green’ market reached US$ 230 billion in 2007, and grew an additional 38% or US$87 billion in 2008. Research has shown that 47% of US adults are willing to spend up to 19% more on a green product. In general, the Indian handicraft sector fits with values of fair trade if artisans are working in fair conditions and where people and the environment are more important than profit. Handicrafts are manufactured with minimal environmental impact and have a low carbon footprint; they are produced in a community-friendly way, locally, with natural materials, and natural finishes.

Poverty alleviation, income generation, and women’s empowerment, values that are at the core of many craft producer organizations, also resonate with socially responsible consumers. As Laila Tyabi describes: “Craft is not just a production process- merely a mechanical, mindless, somewhat outdated form of earning and employment. It is a rural woman’s creative means to conquer her desert landscape, and the confines of her limited income – her way of transcending the dependence and drudgery of her arduous agrarian and domestic life cycle. It is a creative skill and strength that is uniquely hers – an individual statement of her femininity, culture and being” (Tyabi 2003). Across the country, successful craft enterprises uplift and empower, allowing imagination and creativity to challenge the confines of marginalization and poverty. Any branding strategy needs to promote these meaningful and solid benefits to the end consumer, enabling consumers to participate in the dialogue between craft and livelihoods.

Handcrafted products can also be positioned to capture the premium, high-end market. Amongst consumers in the developed world and the elite in Indian cities, there has been a reaction against the standardization and heterogeneity of mechanized high-tech products, which has created value and niche spaces for hand processes. In contrast to the similarity and uniformity of mass produced goods, crafts are cultural goods that embody creativity, skill, intellectual property and social and cultural meaning. It is possible to position Indian handicrafts in the realm of luxury brands, emphasizing their high level of artistic skill, their aesthetic qualities and cultural value by showcasing crafts as one-off pieces, exclusive and rarefied in carefully chosen prestigious venues such as art galleries. The elevation of handicrafts to this realm is partly about overcoming consumer prejudices. But just as Aboriginal Art in Australia has challenged its tag as ethnographia to become the hottest contemporary art available in the country, attracting international collectors, similarly Indian handicrafts must leverage its many attributes to position itself in the exclusive, premium products trade. Promoting crafts in the elite market can raise its value and segue craft products into the mass middle class market. Aspirant consumption, where goods represent status can be used to the advantage of the craftsperson if we can effectively link Indian handicrafts with ‘sustainable luxury’ and create a sense of exclusivity that makes them highly desirable – and worth paying a premium for. Handicrafts cannot, and should not, compete with machine made products. To do so does not honour and respect the distinction between the two forms of production – one, involves alienated labour geared towards mechanized time; the other, attention to detail, hand work and the space to produce creatively. Rather, than compete on price points we must compete on design, and originality – positioning crafts as an alternative to mass production. Investment in the research and design capacity of artisans must be included in any strategy that seeks to address the marketing and market demand problems confronting artisans. These so-called ‘interventions’ have been adopted by the crucial institutions emerging to bridge the gap between artisans and the market – Self Help Groups, NGO’s and small to medium enterprises. Opportunities for artisans to reinvigorate their practice, to create crafts that fuse contemporary design with tradition are pivotal in terms of their saleability. Designers and artists can assist artisans to integrate new ideas and tradition, bringing to life a new set of products. The All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association and the U.S. based Aid to Artisan have run the Artisan Enterprise Development Alliance Program (AEDAP) which has included product/design development with 17 craft social enterprises over the past three years. A key component of AEDAP has been to pair enterprises with Indian and American designers who can offer a global market perspective, and expertise in international home decor, gift and fashion accessories. Designers assist artisan groups to revitalize traditional skills, improve product quality, solve production issues, and create new products whilst retaining the cultural integrity of their craft production giving artisans an edge in both the domestic and international market. There is a danger that the relationship between designer and artisan can succumb to structural hierarchies. Any successful design development must be truly collaborative – it must be based on an egalitarian exchange that honours artisanal style and skill and respects their creative vision. The designer must participate in the workshop as both a teacher and a student. Some enterprises have been able to adopt strategies and facilitate interventions that can open up new market opportunities and linkages. However, the capacity to perform these activities varies considerably from one group to another. Many enterprises lack the appropriate marketing and managerial skills, and the leadership needed to forge a successful enterprise. As many groups are restricted in the scope of their marketing activities by budgets and resources, it is a rare entrepreneurial mix of dedication, creativity, business acumen, design sensitivity, and market knowledge that is required to build an enterprise that provides real returns to artisans. Given the complexity of global markets, and the challenges confronting the sector, it is unrealistic to expect craft enterprises to alone broker the position of Indian handicrafts in the international market, particularly when grappling with multinational companies that have a virtual artillery of resources at their disposal.

Incredible! Branding: Lessons to be learned

There is evidence that developing a sector-wide approach to brand building and marketing, supported by strong policy and investment can address market demand problems. The success of marketing strategies adopted by the tourism sector, such as the ‘Incredible India!’ campaign initiated by the Ministry of Tourism, in partnership with businesses and the private sector is one example. The campaign has been an exercise in international branding supported by intervention from every possible government sphere. It metamorphosed India into one of the top destinations of the world (Kant 2009). For more than a decade, up until 2002, India’s share of the world tourist traffic had remained static at about 0.38 percent (Kant 2009). With no common branding strategy, or coordinated consumer oriented public relations strategy, there was a wide gap between potential and performance. During a time of severe crisis, as consumer demand for travel to India fell to a new low, and the impact of terrorism reduced global travel, the Incredible India! campaign was launched. With 27 states, and a diverse range of culture, religions, and peoples, along with the experiences and destinations available in India creating a clear, unified and strong image of India was difficult (Kant 2009). The Incredible India! Campaign creatively spun the heterogeneous nature of India into an attraction and turned the contrasts that exist – the old and new, east and west, urban and rural – into a strong selling point. Images of the tourism wealth, as well as the country’s culture, spiritual and intellectual power have been effective in distinguishing the Indian tourism experience from those available in the rest of the world. Indian tourism grew by 25% in volume (tourist arrivals) and 36% in value (in U.S. Dollars terms) in 2004-2005. According to the latest statistics released by the Government of India, tourism revenues are expected to rise by 42 % from 2007 to 2017. In developing a brand identity for the Indian craft sector, we can also look to the strategies used by the‘ Made in Italy’ campaign, run by the Istituto nazionale per il Commercio Estero (ICE) or the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade a public, non-profit and independent government agency under the supervision Italian Ministry of Productive Activities, Foreign Trade Department. The ‘Made in Italy’ concept is to construct an image of Italian products, and Italy in general, as synonymous with quality and style. It serves as a brand building segment for the economy as a whole – the scope is broad, encompassing travel, fashion, food, sport, art, wine, manufacturing, accessories and interior decor. According to recent figures published by the ICE, their ‘Made in Italy Private Label’ products, available in supermarkets, continues to gain ground and reached a 13% quota of the total value of sales in consumer products, with figures fluctuating between 7.5 and 8 billion Euros. In partnership with the private sector, the ICE promotes Italian style and living internationally through a large network of 111 offices in over 83 countries. They organize regular, institutional, artistic, social and commercial events aimed at industry professionals, trade press and end consumers. ICE participates in international trade fair exhibitions, and host seminars and workshops on an ongoing basis during these times. These events are enabled through public funding and co-financing from enterprises and other entities. The ICE keeps their brand fresh and alive with new marketing campaigns that reinforce ‘Made in Italy’ as a premium, and exclusive brand. The latest campaign features the iconic Italian-born actress, model and author, Isabella Rossellini who has been appointed as the external representative and figure head of the brand. As Italian Trade Commissioner and Executive Director for the USA, Aniello Musella muses, “Isabella Rossellini's beauty, intelligence and personal commitment to artistic culture personifies the values of the Made in Italy campaign.” The ICE also gains leverage from Rossellini’s celebrity – as the ‘face’ of luxury brands, most famously for international cosmetic brand, Lancôme, whom she represented for over a decade, she is already perceived to personify certain values that the brand is promoting – elegance, style, and exclusivity. An effective brand ambassador, Rossellini creates the right symbolic qualities, and illusion around ‘Made in Italy’ to add value to a range of Italian products.

Crafting Access:

Craftmark - Handmade in India

Strengthening the appeal of handicrafts, and penetrating new markets also requires a strong policy backed by government – in addition to the work of SME’s, SHG’s, NGO’s and business. Developing a global brand that differentiates and distinguishes Indian handicrafts from those available in other parts of the world has been proven to build international recognition and greater equity in trade and target markets. Within the sector, an effort to develop a pan-Indian mark for Indian handicrafts has begun with the Craftmark initiative, that was conceptualized to create a distinct market identity for Indian handicrafts, and highlight the craft worker’s unique skills as well as the unique characteristics of a craft product. Craftmark is an effort by the All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA) to counter the impact of fake handicrafts in the market by denoting genuine Indian handicrafts, and developing sector-wide minimum standards and norms for labelling a product as a handicraft. Events such as the 2008 exhibition ‘Authenticity’ held at the Indian International Centre in New Delhi raises awareness about the difference between real and imitation handicrafts. Under this initiative, AIACA licenses the Craftmark logo for use by Craft-based businesses, cooperatives and NGOs for use on product tickets and labels. AIACA has already signed up various market leaders and leading craft support organizations to carry the mark and to support the process of publicizing and raising consumer awareness. Organizations that are using the mark include Anokhi, Sandur Kushalakala Kendra, Kala Raksha, Avani, The Kishkinda Trust, and Fabindia and the mark appears in their shops on genuine handmade products. There is potential for Craftmark - Handmade in India to be leveraged into a global brand, conceptually similar to Made in Italy but denoting the attributes that make Indian handicrafts unique. AIACA is currently working towards building the Craftmark into a strong brand through in-store displays and posters, catalogues, and direct mailing to consumers. We are also tying up with international craft support organizations to publicize the Craftmark in other countries. Promotional efforts include a website that consumers can use to look up information on retailers, craft producers and craft support organizations that carry the mark. The website also gives wholesalers and customers the ability to look up detailed information on the craft genres of products that are being sold carrying the Craftmark logo. An online social media communication strategy was recently launched to increase visibility amongst consumers – around the world, on the internet.

Craftmark-Handmade in India, with ongoing endorsement from private business, and support from government, can reach more consumers, and create a definable profile that adds real value to Indian handicrafts in a way that makes them distinct from other handmade products available in the global market. This exercise in branding makes reference to the whole of the diverse and large multiproduct sector; sub-sector branding can also be initiated, once an overarching brand that establishes a clear and precise identity for handicrafts, as a whole, is consolidated.

Conclusion The power of Indian artisans to benefit from market action lies in their ability to participate in markets where they can take advantage of commercial opportunities. The potential benefits of new international markets have to date had little impact in real terms of economic growth for artisans, who remain amongst the lowest socio-economic group in the country. Van de Berg, M. Boomsma & I.Cucco point out that for markets to contribute to pro-poor growth they must increase the total amount and value of products that the poor sell in the value chain. They argue, “In providing the structures and processes for production and consumption in a society, markets lie at the heart of economic growth and poverty reduction. But in reality, poor people tend to have little access to the opportunities that markets make available.” State support and an investment in marketing are urgently required and should be a priority amongst policy makers. With an estimated 12.5 million people employed in the sector, we must ensure that the rapidly evolving and integrating global trade and financial systems work better for the benefit of artisans and enterprises. Brand building, and investment in marketing can help remove barriers to economic participation.References Amitabh Kant (2009) ‘Branding India –An Incredible Story’, Harper Collins, India Ashoke Chatterjee (2007) ‘The Indian Craft: Sunrise or Sunset in a Global Market’, Craft Revival Trust, New Delhi, India Jaya Jaitley (2005) ‘Craft as Industry,’ Seminar: The Monthly Symposium, New Delhi, India Laila Tyabji (2003) ‘Tradition and Transition: A Crafted Solution to Development’, Price Claus Journal, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Van de Berg, M. Boomsma & I.Cucco (2009) ‘Making value chains work better for the poor: a toolbook for practitioners of value chain analysis’, in ‘Making Markets Work for the Poor’, Asian Development Bank, VietnamThis article was originally written for the Context journal and has been published in the 2009-2010 special issue on crafts.

https://youtu.be/Z_adLTIblR4

Craft practices are an integral part of any cultural setting. They provide an identity to the people belonging to a particular culture. India has a vast variety of cultural settings resulting in diverse craft practices. At the beginning, craft items were produced by different cultural groups to serve specific purposes. Later, with time and changes in society, function of these products changed and at times they were used as items of household decoration; that is moving from function to aesthetic. And now is the time when craft is considered as ornamentation with high price for a particular class of the society. Craft practices in most of the developed economies are almost stopped. Fortunately, in India, craft practices are still alive. However, the craft sector is facing a lot of challenges with new technologies and changing life styles. Many steps are taken by the Government of India to support the craft sector but a lot is yet to be done at different levels of society.

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE CRAFT SECTOR:

There are many issues, however, all of them overlap with each other.

Falling Demand of hand crafted products: With time our mindset changes resulting in changes in our surroundings and taste. After Industrial Revolution our life style has moved into a higher pace. Today we are so impatient that we find it difficult to wait for our computer to boot when we start it or we are much faster when using keys of our cell phone. Our taste has got faster and blunt. Today we find it much easier to maintain stainless steel utensils rather than earthenware.
High Maintenance: Most of the craft items need somewhat higher maintenance; that is cleaning, placing, care and so on with less usability. Often craft items are made of natural material and require regular cleaning and care otherwise they look unkempt and attract lot of unwanted and negative attention in our house. Today we do not have time to put much effort in the maintenance of the craft items. This has resulted into craft items disappearing from middle class home. Hand Crafted lifestyle items are now seen in upper-class houses who can afford to hire a person to take care of these products hence craft has become an expensive proposition and the sole domain of a particular class.
Time consuming and laborious production process increases the production cost. Also, craft items are handmade: lot of time and effort are required while producing them. All this make hand crafted products expensive. As a result result, there is less demand and craft has become class specific. This is also one of the reasons why many craftsmen do not wish to practice/ remain with their craft.
Higher Production Cost: As mentioned above, craft items are made of natural materials and the production process is laborious and time consuming. This has bought up the cost of craft items which have resulted in a fall in demand. Ideally, low demand in market should bring down the cost, however, this has not happened in the craft sector because (again) craft items are made of natural materials and the production process is laborious and time consuming so production cost would never come down.
Low cost copies: The textile sector sets a good example of this where impression of block print and batik is created with the help of screen printing to bring down the cost and labour. Indeed, Industrial Revolution has made our life much easier but on the other side it has put challenges for many craft practices.
Lack of product diversification: Many craftsmen make products considering market demand. However, many are yet to diversify their products. As mentioned earlier, craft products were designed for a specific purpose and later they served a different propose in an increasingly urban setting. Often craftsmen are not aware of market demand hence a mismatch in demand and supply is evident.
Young generation of traditional craftsmen is not keen to take up craft practices as it is less rewarding. These youth migrate to the big towns/cities in search of alternative lifestyle/career and end up doing odd jobs. These youth are also attracted towards the fast and glittering urban lifestyle and often craftsmen too do not want their children to continue their practice.
Lack of consumer awareness is another factor that influences the craft market. Consumers are not aware of the fact that most of the craft products are hand-made of natural material. The common man often argues why craft products are more expensive then machine-produced ones and fail to appreciate the craftsmanship, effort and eco-friendly approach.
There is a strong need of more Craft and Design Institutes in India. Design education in India is still not well known in the education sector. We would get shocking results if we calculate the number of institutes offering craft and design degrees against those offering engineering, management and medical courses/degrees.

Opportunities of improvement:

Following are some suggestions to improve the situation.

Reform(s) in Art and Design Education
Bringing traditional craftsmen into the main stream
Design intervention in craft sector
Promotion and public awareness of crafts

Reforms in Education:

Introduction of traditional culture studies as a mainstream course at the school level is urgently and immediately required. One strong reason for the young generation failing to recognise our roots and cultural practices is because culture practices are not taught and discussed in the schools and later in life they fail to appreciate craft. Introduction of such a course would help the young generation understand the previous generations a degree better while respecting and appreciating other cultural practices. We know how ‘much’ and ‘how’ craft is taught in the schools. One class a week is just not enough to learn and appreciate any craft practices. Not to mention the way craft is taught! It is really unfortunate that the school education system of such a big and great nation with an immensely rich craft sector is biased towards theory alone. The skills-based subjects are completely ignored in schools. Also the fact that students are not exposed to the possibilities and opportunities in the craft sector. It would not be very difficult to find students who are willing to take-up craft as a profession. But the system and society is designed in such a way that a student who is good in craft is never taken seriously and is not encouraged at par with other mainstream subjects. There is a strong need to bridge these gaps and this calls for recognising craft as a mainstream subject.

Bringing traditional craftsmen to the main stream:

Traditional craftsmen can be hired as crafts teachers in schools. Present requirement to become a school teacher is B.Ed degree and none of the traditional craftsmen would possess B.Ed. This change in the qualification requirement for craft teacher would not only improve our school education but also provide opportunities of employment to the craftsmen and would inject a sense of pride into the crafts community. There can be an argument against this as craftsmen are not trained school teachers. But this issue can easily be addressed by providing a bridge course to these craftsmen. Another way to bring craftsmen into the main stream is by providing scholarships to the children of craftsmen and rural youth to study crafts at school and degree level. Some day this would result into all the craftsmen having a degree and crafts becoming main stream subject. As we all know many crafts in India are not practiced any more. If we fail to attract young talent today, very soon many other crafts would be seen in museums only.

Design Intervention in Craft Sector:

Many craft practices are wiped out and many existing ones are facing stiff challenges due to low market demand. Craftsmen are often found complaining about less market demand resulting in their products not selling well. However, there is bit of difference between ’less market demand’ and ‘products not selling’. This can actually be read/seen to be the other way round. That is there is a constant demand but only for right (design) kind of products. Bad design would result into falling sales. Since we have a rich craft culture, (to start with) at least all the central universities should have a design department/faculty and all the design departments/faculties/institutes should have a dedicated craft design department working closely with the craftsmen. These institutes can provide craftsmen with technical inputs, knowledge of modern tools and equipments. Many craftsmen make products with high craftsmanship but these products have no market value because often such products are traditional ‘ritual’ objects which have absolutely no use/function in the modern urban society. Skills upgradation can be done while developing products with functional approach without disturbing, and in turn actually utilizing, their traditional skills. Attractive designs, patterns and forms can be developed while keeping the price down. Products for common uses are to be designed understanding the demands of the market. This would promote craft in middle class homes and hearts and help craft rid itself of its exclusive tag. Craft designs can be developed for all users; that is, different age groups, end users and class by blending ‘traditional style and present need’. Chains of production(s) can be simplified by implementing a better supply chain and encouraging and promoting bulk orders, as this would also bring down the cost of production and other overhead and allied costs.

Public awareness:

Since craft-and-design education is yet to get the status it deserves in our society, the common-man fails to comprehend, analyse, utilise, and hence ultimately, appreciate craft. Unless this issue is addressed seriously at various levels of personal, communal and governmental levels, the situation is unlikely to improve. The Government of India has started many schemes for craftsmen and has provided platforms to present their skills. But just providing funds to the craftsmen is not enough unless the consumer appreciates/understands the value of the craftsmanship involved. A bigger advertisement campaign is required and use of ‘hand-made mark’ on crafts items should be started like ‘hand loom mark’. Marketing outlet can sell products with information tag; that is, how, where and who made the particular product concerned. And most importantly this awareness should start at the basic levels like schools. Craft should be taught in a better and serious manner in schools. Conclusion: A nation like ours with such a wide variety of cultural practices should have a national policy on culture. And craft practices should be an integral and important part of it. Craft practices and promotions would help address many social issues our society is facing today. Issues like employment for rural youth, drugs, alcoholism, education, and so on can directly be addressed by crafts promotion. We have a big rural population and just 20% of our population lives in the big cities. Hence if not all, then at least most, of our policies should address the remaining 80% of rural population. Measures should be taken to provide employment opportunities to this population. In today’s world of modernisation and globalization, even the urban youth is struggling to find a job as many companies are reducing their workforce. Given such a scenario, how can a rural youth with traditional skills be accommodated? Higher crime rate in big cities can be a result of this mismatch of demand and supply in the career/workforce ratio in India. There is a huge scope for improvement in crafts-and-design education in India. Review of crafts course in schools should be made immediately with the introduction of traditional craftsmen teaching crafts in schools. National institutes, Universities including museums can organise regular design development workshop with designers, design students and craftsmen. Department of Anthropology can help in mapping and identification of craft practices. Crafts should been seen as a site that would generate more employment opportunities without uprooting the practitioners from their roots. On one hand we can retain our craft culture and on the other hand improve socio-economic status of craftsmen.

https://youtu.be/ddLyQSLhEWQ

When I wrote both chapters in Threads and Voices I took this as an opportunity to explore the artisans’ sense of design – in preparation for beginning Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya (KRV). The experience was truly enlightening. What I would like to do is review what I learned, and bring us up to date in light of two and a half years of Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya. Background for KRV When thinking about Rabari embroidery, there are two points to stress: First, Rabari embroidery is a living tradition—still being practiced for its original purpose, in addition to being done for sale Second, Rabari embroidery is an ART. While some crafts were always professional, Rabari and other Kutchi women’s embroidery were not. We can not underestimate the change of concept required to turn art to commerce. From Art to Commerce People would like to see the kind of work done traditionally for sale now—and at cheap rates. The solution is production line work- artisans working on block printed patterns—which is how professional work in other regions is done. Many people feel that production line work is “improved” in addition to being cheaper! From the art point of view, in production line work the personal, human quality is sort of airbrushed out. But the more critical factor is that with production methods the value of hand work is greatly diminished. In addition, there is the issue of creativity, which is a critical aspect of ART. I tried to bring out the artisans’ feelings about the satisfaction of creativity in my article. In commercial work, there is not much room for personal creativity.

The extent to which artists would like to preserve their own volition was illustrated beautifully when for a huge order I actually had to turn about fact and try to institute production line methods. I had them cut templates for appliqué work. Then I noticed that they were laying the cardboard pieces nearby and cutting freehand while studying them. I pointed out that they could lay the templates on the fabric and cut around them. To which they women stated: “We don’t do it like that!” This is the scenario of commercial work, more or less from the Rabari point of view. It is worth noting that these independent nomads have generally been more ambivalent about commercial work than many other groups in Kutch. Rabari women face relatively fewer social barriers and consequently have choices for earning which range from agricultural labour to construction to drought relief to house work (in the cities) to embroidery. Sadly, of all of these, embroidery generally pays least.

Social Impact Fortunately for us, nonetheless some Rabari women do choose embroidery as a means of earning a living. How does this impact the living tradition? Indirectly Rabari women recognize these two embroideries as separate entities, and each has a life of its own. For traditional work, the challenge is that however they choose to earn, women have less time for their own work. At the same time, the demands for traditional work are actually increasing. So women have come up with creative solutions: The Kachhi women use a combination of machine and hand work, and the Dhebarias (for whom hand work was banned in 1995) have invented an entirely new art form: “Hari Jari,” the use of elaborate machine applied trims. It is most significant that when faced with the choice of becoming a machine (working on pre-designed, printed patterns) or using one, they choose to use the machine and be in charge of the pattern. As Lachhuben said, outlining (creating the pattern) is the art. Is using a machine wrong? Do we not live in the age of technology? Do we not use computers- even in photography and art? The Rabari view of traditional work is as much process as product oriented.

Traditional Work Today The role of traditional work today is still largely expressive of community identity. In this, there are three aspects:

It is the zone of generation gap- as it always has been. Rabari women recognize the relativity and changing meaning of “traditional.” As one woman explained it, traditional means “old.” When pressed for details she said with exasperation, the description would vary according to which generation.
It is the realm of expression of fashion as well as identity. Young women approach the designing of their own new work with great creativity and enthusiasm. Someone comes up with a new idea—it catches on—and everyone wears it, until the next idea.
And today, traditional work has also become the focus of a community struggle to maintain and express a unity based on economic equity- wherein the elders officially attempt to regulate the amount and even placement of work in traditional objects.

Increasingly traditional work is subject to the insidious pressurizing that we all experience. Recently, in a Kala Raksha meeting Ramiben said, “All embroidery is work. Work is what we have to do.” Lachhuben disclosed that girls now do dowry under duress, in fear of in-laws. And doing commercial work has put a new spin on this. When women don’t bring a lot of embroidery in their dowry, they are chided: You spent all your time earning for your parents and didn’t think of your in-laws! “I liked working as a child when there were no worries or pressures,” Lachhuben said . “I remember I made a toran just as I liked, while wandering with the herds. I did not sell it, and I will Never sell it.” The Role of Kala Raksha It may be that handwork will vanish from the realm of tradition. That will be the decision of the community members. What Kala Raksha has tried to do is create a realm in which the life force, in addition to the form, of tradition based art is sustained. Kala Raksha tries to engage the joy and creativity of ART in commercial craft to insure that it lives at least in this realm This rests on creating value in terms of

Appreciation/ respect/ status
Money

Until artisans get money and appreciation, their ART (but not necessarily craft) is endangered. We try to nurture the creative capacity of the artisan by engaging artisans in the surface design of products, in museum based design workshops, and by not using production line methods. Each piece is produced by an individual and still has a distinct personality. At a lull in a bazaar, Lachhuben goes through the pieces, reviewing them and she can name each artist by her hand. We also try to develop a market which will appreciate the creativity so that there is adequate income.

Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya This approach led to the founding of Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, a Design School for artisans. We realized that a major difference in engaging the creative capacity of artisans was that the commercial product will be appreciated by an unknown clientele with uncertain understanding of the art —a world away from doing something artistically daring or difficult for a group who can immediately appreciate what that is. The idea of KRV was to engage the creativity of the artisan with an understanding of the market and contemporary tastes and methods—to raise the value of art and artisan by learning to innovate appropriately for distant clients, as they do for themselves. Where are we now? In November 2006, the first class of Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya, including 14 Rabari women aged 17-55, graduated. The reflections they articulated indicate that the experience had a profoundly positive impact on their sense of themselves as designers and artists. Again and again, they stressed that they felt empowered to use their own ideas, and that they felt confident, energized and educated.

Devalben- “I never knew I could use my own ideas! I just embroidered and didn’t have that much interest. But when I did the windmill, I discovered my ability. I got first place, and it really encouraged me.”

Ramiben Rama- “If it is our own design, we put more into it. ”

Deviben: “I only went to 4th grade, but now I feel educated. I learned a lot- how to talk, how to write. I corrected what the Mentor wrote on the blackboard!! Now, we can each correct each other because we have reached a level of education.”

At the graduate show held in Delhi last January, the animation and engagement of the artisans in showing their work to customers was remarkable. One very important outcome of KRV is the artisans’ increased sense of their worth. When pricing their final collections, the Rabari women from Vandh said they would form their own pricing committee, rather than use the existing Kala Raksha committee. These women clearly stated that they wanted RS 100/ day- the rate for local manual labour. And where are our Threads and Voices heroines? Lachhuben has graduated. When she went to New York for a Kala Raksha program, I asked her what she had learned? She answered, “Collections! I saw collections everywhere! I realized that collection is an organizing force.” Pabiben is now living with her in-laws and has a very active 2 year old son. She hesitates to make a new product, to initiate, though she says she has thought of some ideas. Steps to enable independence Pabiben’s mother, Tejuben, is currently a student at KRV. Tejuben and her Dhebaria colleagues Meghuben and Devalben throw themselves into their assignments. They embroider with abandon wildly creative and dynamic motifs until there is no fabric left showing. Stop! We cry.

“It’s not done yet!” they answer.

The patterns are new, the colours reflect the themes they have taken. Yet, Tejuben confides to Pabiben, “I can’t get the meaning of all of this.”

That is our real challenge. The women participants still hesitate to choose their own fabric, to plan (if not execute) the construction of products. None of these activities are new. Compare this to the vigorous, excited planning and creating of their own personal dowry collections! For their own products, they go to the bazaar, decisively choose fabric, thread, trims, and stitch or have stitched the product. What is the barrier? A history of spoon feeding. The real inability to take financial risks. The fact that the client is unknown. Really, how could you make something which has always been so personal, for an unknown recipient? It would be like making a gift and not knowing for whom. The other piece is that in reality it is still a far reach even for the feisty Rabari women to imagine themselves dealing directly with their new markets. And the same force that motivates the elders to make rules restricting traditional embroidery also applies here: no one should stand out from the group too much, particularly in economic terms. Some intermediary steps must be devised. Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya is planning financial incentives for design initiatives. In the third year of classes, KRV graduates are serving as salaried mentors. Perhaps guided projects- in groups- for clients, such as NID and NIFT students do would provide needed exposure. In July 2008, KRV will inaugurate funded internships for eight Rabari women. As suggested by advisor Dr. Ismail Khatri, the involvement of Rabari men in developing small businesses would be a culturally appropriate method. I am very happy to report that Tejuben did grasp the meaning of what all this is about, and went on- at age 55! To win the award for “Best Collection” at the Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya Conovation of January 2008. She served as a Mentor for the fourth class of this year, earning respect in her community. Lakhiben observed that she gave them a goal to which they can aspire. And Damyantiben added, “Before I came to KRV, I had no dreams…” We will strive to nurture the creative spirit of Rabaris and other artisans in Kutch—to keep art at the forefront of this traditional work. It is a high ideal, but we must keep in mind that the prices of art are investable, while the prices of craft force artisans to haggle over getting Rs. 50 a day.

By Design: Sustaining Culture in Local Environments

Issue #004, Winter, 2020 ISSN: 2581- 9410

Introduction The creation of textiles from animal, plant and man-made fibres through technologies of spinning, weaving, felting and knitting is fundamental to clothing, whether worn for utilitarian or more aesthetic purposes. The embellishment of basic cloth through dyeing, printing, beading and embroidery is a cornerstone of fashion, creating uniquely visual and tactile products for a clothing industry that has moved in the last century from handmade to machine manufactured, from elite to mass market, and from high value to disposable goods. Fashion has become a global industry, and clothes are now well travelled items with very brief lives. Perhaps surprisingly for such a fast-moving sector, fashion remains one of the last craft-based industries, that still relies for its mass production on skilled individual workers operating manually-controlled machinery. Whilst textile production is highly automated in industrialised countries, hand weaving and embroidery of cloth, and craft-based production of fashion accessories (bags, scarves, belts, jewellery, etc) is still significant in many countries in the global south, particularly for women, who form the majority of the workforce. However, the recent acceleration of fashion cycles has created more demand for cheaper products, which is incompatible with the labour intensive reality of much of the fashion manufacturing process where people at the lowest level in the value chain ultimately suffer through increased pressures to meet shorter lead times. In the face of major industrialization stimulated by a contemporary global fashion industry, what is the place of handcrafted products and how can their heritage and the livelihoods of artisans be sustained? As a reaction to the increasing speed of fashion and the dominance worldwide of a handful of major fashion conglomerates (including LVMH, Kering and Richemont) that control most of the major luxury and designer brands, there has been a return to an appreciation of a slower pace for fashion. This is aligned to the developing public awareness of the environmental and ethical issues endemic within the fashion industry, which is notorious for its complex and multiple-level chain of production, spanning the globe, that nevertheless has remained largely invisible to consumers. The need for new narratives to connect consumers of fashion products with the supply chain has been recognised, especially in academia. In our digital information age, where communication is instant, and following continued exposés of malpractices in the media, transparency and social justice have become crucial issues for major brands that now must be seen to be accountable for their products through the entirety of their production processes. The artisans, makers and smallholder farmers who are at the furthest distance from the consumer of fashion now have an emerging public profile; their stories are being highlighted by a small but growing number of enlightened companies, enabling the inherent value of products and the labour of production to be understood by consumers. For example, businesses as diverse as Bruno Pieters’ Honest By (Antwerp) and Eileen Fisher (New York) are working towards the goals of social justice and complete transparency. This re-evaluation of the craft and ethics of production begins to shift the paradigm towards more mindful consumption practices and ultimately towards a sustainable fashion industry. Fashion and sustainability – a complex issue The notion of sustainable fashion seems to be paradoxical, an oxymoron – how can fashion ever be sustainable, with its focus on novelty and inbuilt obsolescence? The business of fashion has many contradictions: the craftsmanship of couture and bespoke set against high volume cheap fashion; the luxury of New York’s Fifth Avenue or London’s Bond Street contrasted with the poverty of many producer communities; inherently wasteful cycles of seasonal change, that also sustain livelihoods and provide economic prosperity; an obsession with the new and at the same time the valorisation of vintage. Whether we are involved in the creation, production, communication or representation of fashion or are simply its consumers, we all contribute to this endemically unsustainable system. There is increasing awareness of issues such as climate change and depletion of natural resources, and a growing consensus that over-consumption in developed countries through faster and faster fashion cycles has to stop. But fashion seems part of our DNA, bound up with concepts of identity and personal expression, a cultural construct embedded in the collective psyche that will not suddenly disappear – nor need it. We need to respect the power of fashion and adornment and acknowledge their significance in cultures throughout the world, from the earliest peoples to the present day. Fashion can perform many roles, from a social catalyst to a communication medium, functioning in both personal and public realms, simultaneously inward and outward facing. Fashion enables us to enhance our self-esteem and express our identity, playing out in various contexts our status or our sexuality, via messages that can be encoded or explicit. Through our clothing we can show we belong or proclaim our difference; we can make radical statements or be part of the crowd. In many professional contexts, appropriate clothing can make a real difference to success and individual well being, whereas the ‘wrong’ clothing can stigmatise the wearer for being inappropriately dressed or ‘out of fashion’. Of course, we may just want to be seen to be ‘cool’ or on trend in the latest fashions. The concept of time is part of the essence of fashion, but different forms of fashion work at a different pace: one off or limited edition hand crafted pieces may be treasured for years to become future heirlooms; conceptual fashion pieces now move beyond the catwalk moment into the art gallery or museum, and are celebrated in the academic record; designer fashions inspire and stimulate mainstream fast fashion, now one of the most significant global industries. Fashion provides livelihoods - fashion manufacturing currently accounts for a large proportion of many South Asian countries’ gross domestic product and export earnings. However, sustainable fashion has to reconcile many areas: it must continue to provide economic sustainability and meet our personal and symbolic needs, whilst addressing the inherent problems associated with the current fashion system. Sustainable fashion does not though mean the end of fashion; it can instead become a catalyst for systemic change, particularly through small fashion businesses that can more easily retain an overview of their supply chain and have direct knowledge of their manufacturing processes. The textile and fashion industries Since the mid-1990s and the abolition of the Multi Fibre Arrangement and trading quotas, increasing globalisation of manufacturing has taken place, and faster fashion cycles have pushed the price of fashion products down, while simultaneously increasing production volumes and the resulting environmental impact. As a direct consequence of mass production and faster fashion cycles, we are consuming ever growing and unsustainable volumes of products and resources, especially in the global north. The textiles and clothing industry is now worth $2.4 trillion, 1 million tonnes of clothing are consumed annually in the UK with 70% waste sent to landfill, of which 50% could be recycled. Taken holistically, textile and clothing life cycles consume more energy and water than most other industries except construction and agriculture. For many everyday garments, it has been shown that the major environmental impact comes from consumer use - clothes cleaning, drying and ironing - according to individual practices. (Allwoodet. al 2006, WRAP 2012, 2017) In addition to the extensive environmental costs (for example water, air and land pollution from toxic wastes) there has also been a severe human price paid for the rapid expansion of low-cost fashion in the global north - pressures felt most keenly by manufacturers, garment workers and subsistence farmers growing fibres such as cotton or cashmere, mainly in the global south. The Rana Plaza disaster of 2013, in which 1138 garment workers in one factory building in Bangladesh died, was not the first such tragic loss of life in the fashion manufacturing sector, but with the worst death toll, it has become a defining moment for the global industry, a long overdue turning point. As a direct result, the grass-roots campaign Fashion Revolution was started in the UK to campaign for industry change with a simple message “Who made my clothes?” and has grown into a global campaign about respect for workers and transparency in the garment industry. Massive media coverage and high-profile campaigns exposing malpractices have continued to raise the bar; there is now increasing consumer demand for transparency and trace ability in the production of clothing, following the lead of similar successful campaigns around food production. An uncompromising global agenda has been set and radical action within the fashion industry has now become an imperative, particularly with reference to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, agreed in 2015. In the first decade of the 21st century, sustainability initiatives began to emerge at different levels, notably the UK government’s Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, launched in 2007, that involved over 300 stakeholders including large retail companies such as the UK’s Marks and Spencer and Tesco, companies with the scale and potential to impact the wider industry and its supply chains. At London College of Fashion (where the author is Professor of Fashion and Textile Design and Technology), the pioneering Centre for Sustainable Fashion was set up in 2008 with a remit to work with both industry and education. Further multi-stakeholder and government initiatives towards sustainability in fashion have included the Nordic Initiative Clean and Ethical (NICE) founded in 2008, and the US Sustainable Apparel Coalition which was formed in 2011 between major global brands including Nike, Puma, H&M, GAP and Li & Fung, together with academia. Since 2009, the Copenhagen Fashion Summit has promoted actions towards sustainability involving many major fashion businesses. Researching solutions for sustainable fashion My work (and that of colleagues in the Centre for Sustainable Fashion) involves developing new narratives for the design and creation of sustainable fashion – through research projects, education and publications, raising awareness of issues but also celebrating and helping to empower the visionaries, entrepreneurs, designers, makers and artisans that create sustainable fashion inspiration and delight for consumers around the world. Micro and small businesses in the UK and elsewhere have begun to acknowledge and tackle the complex issues of sustainability to demonstrate possible ways forward, often becoming highly influential - far more than their small scale might suggest. The ability to innovate is key, and particularlyr elevant here is that many fashion businesses utilise artisan and craft skills within their production process. Having run my own design-led craft-based fashion knitwear business for 15 years, working directly with individual makers in the UK, I have a personal understanding of both the creative freedom and the challenges of running a small entrepreneurial business. The wonderful freedom to experiment with ideas and innovate must be balanced by maximisation of human and material resources, minimisation of waste and careful management of cash flow, one of the most difficult aspects for any small business, but particularly troublesome in the volatile fashion industry. My recent research has focused on the evolving role of textile and fashion designers who lead micro and small businesses and supporting designers as facilitators of innovation and change for sustainability through their creative entrepreneurship. In 2005, as part of a UK Research Councils initiative, Designing for the 21st Century, I set up the Interrogating Fashion project, gathering an inter-disciplinary group of academics and industry representatives to question the status quo of fashion, and identify an agenda for future fashion research, investigating new paradigms for fashion business operations. I identified three themes to structure discussions: The Fashion Paradox interrogated fashion in relation to transience and sustainability; Digital Fashion examined the potential for emerging digital technologies in tandem with the craft of fashion design and production; and Fashion in Context addressed the importance of the cultural and symbolic aspects of fashion and current practices with prominent fashion theorists, artists and curators. A further project followed entitled Considerate Design for Personalised Fashion Products (2007-9) that tested three new concepts for fashion production utilising both digital and craft-based technologies, including the integration of 3D body scanning data with 3D printing processes to create a flexible glove, with industrial knitting technology to develop personalized seamless knitwear, and with hand-crafted products to create an ergonomically shaped leather backpack. (fig 1) The Interrogating Fashion project directly inspired my first book on sustainable fashion, Eco Chic: the Fashion Paradox (2008), and also the academic journal, Fashion Practice: Design, Creative Process and the Fashion Industry (Routledge Journals), which I established to foreground practice-based and practice-informed research in fashion. My co-editor Marilyn Delong and myself are currently celebrating its 10th year of publication. (fig 2) In Eco Chic I profiled some of the innovative strategies in both creative design and business models that pioneering design entrepreneurs in eco-fashion and textiles have implemented. These included Katherine Hamnett who has campaigned on environmental issues since the late 1980s, and Linda Grose, who was responsible for developing the US brand Esprit’s groundbreaking Ecollection in 1992, and has worked with many other sustainability projects such as Art for Artisans in Kyrgyzstan, Peru and Armenia. Also featured were the independent designer, Sarah Ratty, whose first label Conscious Earth wear crossed the invisible line into fashion and debuted at London Fashion Week in 1996, plus People Tree, a pioneering fair trade clothing brand. However, whilst small design-led pioneers and large fashion businesses such as those mentioned earlier, could certainly be seen to be taking action on the sustainability agenda for fashion, many high end and luxury designer brands still remained relatively silent. My next book, The Sustainable Fashion Handbook looked particularly at this designer brand level of the industry. (fig 3) In the face of the inhibiting scale and complexities of sustainability as a whole, I felt it was important to highlight inspirational and positive stories of the work being done, as well as raise serious concerns at the scale of the issue to be tackled. Often unknown to the consumer, many companies are striving to develop environmentally aware and socially responsible practices within their business operations. I interviewed high fashion designers including Hussein Chalayan and Dries Van Noten, and profiled values-led businesses including Eileen Fisher, Patagonia and Edun, plus high street brands such as Monsoon, H&M and New Look to report on their journeys towards the goal of sustainable fashion. Major themes explored in The Sustainable Fashion Handbook cover a wide range of areas –

Self and beauty: culture and consumption
Desire and fashion: design and innovation
Speed and distance: ecology and waste
Craft and industry: transparency and livelihood
Everyday clothing and enduring design
Techno eco: new fashion paradigms utilising novel technology and applications

I posed a number of questions including:

How can fashion become more environmentally and ethically sound?
How can designers make a difference?
How can we slow down fashion?
How do businesses reconcile conflicting priorities in a fast-moving industry like fashion?
How can ethics and aesthetics be integrated?
Ultimately – can fashion ever be sustainable?

The often undervalued role of artisans and makers around the globe was something I wished to highlight in the book, and to return to the question posed earlier, identify the place and value of handcraft in contemporary fashion and investigate how livelihoods can be sustained in today’s globalized fashion industry. To demonstrate this, the next part of this article presents examples of design-led strategies currently being implemented within global textiles and fashion production that aim to reconcile fashion, craft and cultural value with environmental and economic sustainability. Design strategies for sustainability Key design strategies for sustainable fashion include:

The use of recycled, vintage, organic and sustainable textiles to prolong the life of materials, maximise their use and create more circular systems for resource utilisation.
Elimination of waste from pattern cutting and manufacture, for example with zero waste designs that utilise the entire cloth (like kimonos or saris), or by creating one-piece or seamless designs.
Designing for longer life and re-use, using high quality materials and crafted manufacture for longevity, ease of repair, replacement of sections, and also transformability – giving clothes a new life by designing in different configurations or layers. In addition, hand-made items that are treasured can become heirlooms, wearing their age with dignity.
To reduce the considerable impact of clothing aftercare (high use of water, chemicals and energy in washing and dry cleaning) designers are considering the clever use of colour, pattern and modular functionality to reduce the need for frequent cleaning (eg separate collars).
To aid recyclability, designing for ease of disassembly is important so parts can be reused or recycled. This includes the use of mono materials throughout an entire piece (eg 100% cotton or 100% polyester) so used garments can easily be returned to fibre for new textiles through collection and recycling systems.
New ways of making things using innovative design thinking and new technologies, often alongside craft processes, and new systems such as fashion on demand.
Develop personalised service and customisation for the individual consumer to meet their preferences and create a closer relationship with clothes, reducing the tendency for disposability.
Create fewer but smarter clothes with multi-functional textiles and technology-enabled fashions can delight the consumer for longer, so needing fewer clothes. These must be designed for disassembly otherwise a new waste stream is created.
Slow fashion: local, artisanal production related to specific communities, resources and needs, whilst also providing unique goods for a wider market.

These are some of the ways that the fashion and clothing industry is moving forward towards sustainability goals, although more research and infrastructure for collection and recycling of textiles to new textiles is certainly required. Of course, a great deal of used textiles and charity donations are bulk traded on the international market and many European and US textiles find their way to markets in the global south. Panipat in India is one of the world’s largest textile recycling centres, creating ‘shoddy’ yarn from mechanically shredded textiles, then rewoven into shawls and blankets used in disaster relief. An exhibition in London in 2012 Everything Must Go documented the journey of used clothes from the UK to sorting, spinning and finding new markets in India. Case studies Strategies adopted by many businesses to address environmental issues often start with materials choices. These demonstrate a range of approaches to the philosophy of reduce, reuse and recycle, and include repairing, remodeling and upcycling of used clothing, and reclaiming waste materials. Many small businesses begin by identifying either pre- or post-consumer textile and clothing waste streams to develop new fashion products. These include pioneering UK labels Junky Styling and From Somewhere, who both operated for around 15 years from the late 1990s. Junky Styling (Kerry Seeger and Annika Sanders) specialized in individually redesigning and remodelling old clothes into unique pieces, in particular men’s suits and army surplus gear, and later developed a service model of business they called Wardrobe Surgery where customers could bring in something of their own for bespoke restyling and remodelling to give it a new lease of life. (fig 4) Making new from old has been a fundamental philosophy of fashion designer Christopher Raeburn, whose repurposed military clothing and fabrics have become a signature element of his brand – “Remade in the UK” in his own London studio by skilled makers, and offering a made-to-order service as well as ready-to-wear. The Raeburn business also manufactures outside the UK for other elements of the collection, and collaborates with international brands including Victorinox and Disney. (fig 5) From Somewhere (Orsola de Castro and Filippo Ricci) originally focused on post-consumer waste knitwear and then on factory waste ie pre-consumer offcuts and surplus fabrics from Italian clothing and knitwear factories, remade by artisans in Italy and the UK. (fig 6) They have been highly influential in positioning sustainable fashion within London and Milan Fashion Weeks, and pioneered the concept of an upcycled line to UK high street retailer Tesco with their Reclaim to Wear label. Following the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013, Orsola de Castro went on to co-found the Fashion Revolution movement, to campaign for transparency in the fashion industry and the visibility and rights of garment workers. This is a pioneering consumer-facing campaign that educates and involves people in 37 countries around the globe to be more conscious about who makes their clothes, and also lobbies governments and industry organisations to enhance and enforce better regulation. (fig 7) Within the Sustainable Fashion Handbook I targeted some of the bigger names in fashion whose businesses and profile could be highly influential, or whose philosophy and approach aligned naturally with a broad sustainability agenda. For example, Eileen Fisher in the USA believes “sustainability needs the whole company, a whole supply chain and engaged consumers” (Black 2012: 46). Still at the helm of her business, Eileen Fisher now aims to rethink the fashion system for circularity and to produce fewer clothes, by taking back older styles to resell in their own shops, with proceeds going to not-for-profit causes, and potentially to also remake styles in house. Fisher has always worked for women’s empowerment within her supply chain, and the company set up a philanthropic social arm that provides grants to women to support entrepreneurship and thereby independence. The label Edun, founded by Ali Hewson and her musician husband Bono (from the famous band U2) was set up to focus on supporting the manufacturing of clothing in Africa, as an example to others of a “trade not aid” philosophy. They successfully developed a line of T-shirts for the music industry 100% made in Africa from cotton seed to manufacturing – “grown to sewn”- that aimed to retain much more of the value of the resources and product in the African economy. In 2009 they sold a 49% stake in their business to the luxury group LVMH, which gave the conglomerate an instant buy-in to an ethical brand. However, with the involvement of LVMH, compromises had to be made, and Edun production was sourced in many countries including China and Peru. Today the Edun brand produces the majority of its collections of clothes and bags in Africa, using organic, recycled, and upcycled fabric and artisanal custom-made hand-woven fabrics and embellishments made in Africa, to designs created by their New York studio design collective. In contrast, the Belgian designer Dries van Noten has remained steadfastly independent as a fashion business throughout its 30 years in existence. Van Noten is well known for his love of diverse modern and traditional textiles including prints, lace and many hand embroidered and embellished pieces source from artisans in India and elsewhere. He says “Fashion covers so many things from culture to art. I want to make clothes for people that will wear them for a long time… I think nearly everyone in the western world has enough clothes in their wardrobe to wear for the rest of their life” (Black 2012: 162). A somewhat surprising example of handmade fashions is found in the American label Goods of Conscience, started by a Catholic priest, Father Andrew O’Connor, in downtown New York. He believes that “the soul of the parish is making” and brings handcraft into the community, raising awareness of the value of manual work: “Let it be handmade, do it well”. He was inspired on a retreat in Guatemala to create a new “social fabric”, initially for religious garments, by supporting Mayan hand weavers with a living wage to weave local cotton using their traditional back strap looms. These fabrics are made up in New York into men’s and women’s clothes with a unique signature and have been worn by celebrities who help champion the cause. The clothes are designed to “look good, feel good and do good” as the material and social benefits are brought back to the producer communities. Also in America, the label Alabama Chanin, founded by Natalie Chanin, revived the crafts of hand made and hand embroidered, quilted and appliqued clothing to create a fashion line with wide appeal and a strong narrative of community and place (Florence, Alabama) that captured the imagination of consumers seeking authenticity and connectedness. The importance of craft within the fashion industry and transparency and ethical actions for the hidden people in the fashion supply chain is an issue highlighted by several campaigns over recent years, including Labour Behind the Label (the UK arm of the EU-wide Clean Clothes Campaign) and Fashion Revolution. Following the Rana Plaza disaster, new industry initiatives regarding standards compliance were set up and have begun to be implemented but there is still an enormous amount of work to be done. However, much hand craft labour for the fashion industry takes place outside of any organised workplace, in the home. SEWA, the Self Employed Womens’ Association based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is the biggest women’s trade union in India, representing a sector that accounts for 93% of the unorganized labour force. SEWA was for three years supported by TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) to set up two embroidery workshops as a negotiated working environment to support women workers with fair wages for work on the hand embroideries so sought after by fashion brands. This project established best practice in the supply chain and fair treatment of home workers by contracting directly with export houses, making a real difference to livelihoods. People Tree is an example of a pioneering fair trade company, founded by Safia Minney in 1997, with shops across Japan and Europe. The business never works with factory production but creates partnerships with farmers and artisans in villages across India, Bangladesh, Peru and Kenya. Design and production are decided on the basis of the skills of their craft workers such as dyeing, weaving and hand screen printing. Minney believes that, “Fashion is political. If you buy a dress from People Tree you do so in the knowledge that you are helping to distribute wealth more widely around the world” (Black 2012: 170 ). An increase in wealth from making batik fabrics and fashions is discussed by fashion entrepreneur Annegret Affolderbach of Choolips, an ethical fashion brand she started in 2003. Over a period of time, Annegret worked in Ghana with batik fabric makers, building relationships and generating two fashion collections that were sold by UK retailer Top Shop in 2007, providing income for the batikers and the garment makers. Annegret proudly says: “Juliana’s workshop used to have four posts and a bit of corrugated iron on top; now it’s a proper house. She’s been able to train four workers and she’s laid a water pipe” (Black 2012: 172). However, the greatest challenge in the fickle fashion industry is maintaining some continuity of orders to provide regular income for the artisans. Keenly aware of this, Annegret aimed to create markets for different products for the quieter times. At People Tree, the designs are created to fit the artisans’ skills time frame and not in response to fast moving trends. Safia Minney has produced several books highlighting best practice in ethics craft and fair trade in the fashion supply chain: By Hand (2008), Naked Fashion (2011), Slow Fashion (2016) and Slave to Fashion (2017) The company Pachacuti, founded by Carry Somers has been working in Ecuador since 1992 producing traditional hand-woven straw Panama hats, sold in fashion markets globally. Pachacuti is a fair-trade company, working directly with a community of artisan weavers, operating high levels of transparency and is proud to say that the price paid to its weavers has increased by more than the local cost of living. Unsurprisingly, over 99% of the workers are women, with the average age of the weavers 56; only 11% have hot water in their remote houses. Carry Somers herself has now left the company in the capable hands of her husband to focus on workers livelihoods and supply chain transparency, as the co-founder of Fashion Revolution together with Orsola de Castro, campaigning to inform the public about who made their clothes. One of the original names in artisan-made fashion was Monsoon, first established in 1973 producing bohemian clothing from India incorporating handwoven and block-printed cotton. Monsoon is now a global brand together with its Accessorize sister company, and funds a charitable trust working on projects with disadvantaged women including supporting an embroidery workshop with SEWA in Delhi. The original hand-crafted ethos is now to be found in Monsoon’s Artisan collection, continuing to feature techniques such as batik, dip-dyeing, block printing and embroidery. More fashion designers from India have recently entered the world stage. The best known is Manish Arora who promoted his extraordinary and vibrant pop-culture-inspired designs in London in 2005, later moving his base to Paris. His highly theatrical designs were made possible by the skilled embroidery, beading and craftsmanship of artisans in India, elevating their status to couture level, in the manner of the Paris ateliers. In 2011 Arora took on the creative director role at Paco Rabanne, producing 2 collections to relaunch the brand, the first Indian designer to hold such a position, and now continues his own couture label in Paris, as a member of the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt à Porter des Couturiers, since 2009. On a much quieter note, Indian designer Samant Chauhan entered the fashion stage in 2007. Unlike much of Indian fashion, his collections are distinctive for their monochrome, natural colours, deriving from his commitment to championing natural undyed Bhagalpur tussah silk (raw silk), hand woven in his own native state of Bihar, where there is widespread poverty. Staying true to his use of low key colour palettes, Chauhan launched a bridal wear collection in 2011, combining the silks with sophisticated embroideries, continuing to blend high fashion with craft and underlying social purpose. Academic researcher and author, Eiluned Edwards, convener of the symposium Culture, Heritage and Sustainability and curator of the associated UK exhibition Imprints of Culture: Block Printed Textiles of India, at Nottingham Trent University (March 2016) wrote an article in the Sustainable Fashion Handbook looking in depth at the practices of block printing exemplified by the continuity of processes practiced by the 9th generation of one Khatri family of Kachchh in Gujarat. (See the contribution of Abduljabbar M. Khatri and his son, Adam, to this collection of essays). In particular, she draws attention to the evolution of traditional textiles from local consumption (eg as turbans, hip wraps and shoulder cloths) to the global market and the challenges inherent in aligning the fabric’s production with sustainability principles and environmental protection embedded in the practice. As the previous examples illustrate, many initiatives have sought to protect and revive heritage crafts found in many rural communities throughout the world, and particularly in India with its vast rural population of weavers, dyers and embroiderers. New research is continuing to examine the ways in which this can be achieved, in order to reconcile sustainable livelihoods, craft values and cultural heritage with contemporary societal needs and respect for the people and their (our) environment. Three PhD researchers at LCF exemplify the current approach. Flavia Amadeu’s research is situated in Brazil, working with a community group producing rubber tapped from the rain forest. As a designer, herself from Brazil, she supported and documented the process of keeping more value in the community by fostering their design and making skills to create finished products such as shoes and accessories and helping develop their markets. Two researchers have focused on handwoven fabrics: the first, Umar Hassan Jan, looked at the contemporary practice and revival of khadi cotton weaving in Pakistan, and its repositioning within an emerging fashion retail context and within the tertiary education system. The second is Anna-Louise Meynell, a weaver and textile designer, who is examining the culture, practice and heritage of eri silk weaving in Meghalaya in north-east India, working with local weavers. The context of sustainable development is crucial in these studies, together with empowerment of individuals and communities to thrive by benefitting from the fruits of their own labours. These research projects seek to answer the problem posed at the start of this article - of maintaining artisan livelihoods by adding value and fair labour practices for the longer term. (figs 8 & 9) Fashion can be a powerful catalyst for engagement and social change and the fashion industry, with its global reach, has the capacity to instigate and create change for good as seen in a number of examples presented here. Hand crafted products continue to have a crucial place in fashion. Future fashion products must address the complex issues of sustainability, and still satisfy our personal, environmental, economic and social needs whilst respecting the dignity, value, craftsmanship and livelihoods of its producers. Creative designers and entrepreneurs are well placed to facilitate dialogue between diverse groups of interests and are becoming increasingly pivotal to development and communication towards sustainability goals. As discussed in this article, the practices of innovative businesses and researchers can work in tandem, towards common goals that maintain and expand traditional crafts and look towards a more sustainable prosperity where fewer goods are produced, but with enhanced value and respect for their making, and the people who made them. References Allwood, J.M., Laursen, S.E., Malvido de Rodriguez, C. and Bocken, N. (2006) Well dressed? The present & future sustainability of clothing & textiles in the UK. Cambridge: Institute for Manufacturing. Black, Sandy (2008), Eco Chic: the Fashion Paradox. London: Black Dog Publishing. Second edition published 2011. Black, Sandy (2012), The Sustainable Fashion Handbook. London and New York: Thames and Hudson. Black, Sandy and Marilyn Delong, eds, (2009- date). Fashion Practice: Design, Creative Process and the Fashion Industry. Routledge Journals UK. Minney, Safia (2008), By Hand: The Fair Trade Fashion Agenda. People Tree Minney, Safia (2011), Naked Fashion: The New Sustainable Fashion Revolution. Oxford: New Internationalist Publications. Minney, Safia (2016), Slow Fashion: Ethics meets Aesthetics. Oxford: New Internationalist Publications. Minney, Safia (2017), Slave to Fashion: Oxford: New Internationalist Publications. WRAP 2017. Valuing Our Clothes: the cost of UK fashion WRAP 2012. Valuing Our Clothes: the true cost of UK fashion retail Web sources Sustainable Apparel Coalition: https://apparelcoalition.org/members/ Fashion Revolution: https://www.fashionrevolution.org NICE: https://www.nordicfashionassociation.com WRAP Waste and Resources Action Programme: https://www.wrap.org.uk www.honestby.com (closed down 15 October 2018) https://www.eileenfisher.com/supply-chain/supply-chain-overview/ The Centre for Sustainable Fashion, LCF, University of the Arts London, UK: https://www.sustainable-fashion.com List of illustrations Fig 1. Considerate Design Project. 2009. Hand-crafted ergonomically designed bag, by Steven Harkin with Sandy Black and Frances Geesin. Photo Sandy Black. Fig 2. Eco Chic the Fashion Paradox 2008; 2nd edition 2011. Black Dog Publishing London. Fig 3. The Sustainable Fashion Handbook. 2012. Thames & Hudson, London and New York Fig 4. Junky Styling 2007. New outfits upcycled from old clothes. Photo courtesy Junky Styling. Fig 5. Christopher Raeburn. 2010. Dress upcycled from military parachutes. Photo courtesy Christopher Raeburn. Fig 6. From Somewhere. 2007. Upcycled outfit made from industry waste fabrics. Photo courtesy Orsola de Castro. Fig 7. Fashion Revolution global campaign poster, “Who made my clothes?”. Courtesy Fashion Revolution. Fig 8. Eri silk yarn and fabrics handmade in Meghalaya, North India. Photo courtesy Anna-Louise Meynell Fig 9. Handwoven eri silk shawl by Annaloom 2016. Photo courtesy Anna-Louise Meynell.

Issue #10, 2023 ISSN: 2581- 9410 Begin to weave, and life will give you thread. This has been our story literally. During the pandemic, we happened to visit some artisans, who wove products from strands of water hyacinth. Water hyacinth is a water weed, growing up to two to three feet in height. This is an invasive plant species, which destroys all other flora and fauna in the water body by reducing the dissolved oxygen in the water. It is also a threat to water navigation. It is basically a waste. These artisans used to harvest the hyacinth in the winter months and stock them to weave products like handbags, mats etc. We- Richika and Noopur, did not have any formal design background. I am a Chartered Accountant and Noopur was a banker. However, we always had a fondness for home décor. We felt that this material will do really well for home décor and baskets, organizers etc. We gave them some designs, they turned out nice and we got good response on the same from our friends and family. We decided to take this initiative further.

I have grown up in a village called Alimur, located in the Brahmaputra valley of upper Assam amidst a tea estate and it was always clear that I needed to do something for the village community. We decided to host a training camp in the village. We asked our village women to participate. The special attribute of an Assamese village women is that they observe, learn and practice weaving at their homes throughout their lives, because weaving their own clothes is a tradition. After repeated iterations of training, many of which were conducted in-house, they became adept at the craft.

Today we are 60 artisan strong. They are from the Assamese community mainly and some from the Tea tribes. They have always been weavers but not necessarily in the same material, they weave fabric. These artisans come to the Common Facility Centre once during the day. They understand the products to be made, they collect the raw material, moulds, frames etc. They weave at their home, after attending to their household chores. These village women have now become one of the major contributors to their family income. We keep investing in new techniques, new tools, to better our products. We run the business professionally and adhere to time commitments. Our raw material at present is sourced from a periphery of 40 kms of our village. In the past 1 year, we have cleared 7 water bodies of water hyacinth. We started without any technical know-how, with a vision that the village artisans should find a means of sustenance in the village itself, and with confidence in our products. And I can proudly say that we have covered some distance in the last 3 years.

Last week I was in Kutch, at the annual Kala Raksha Mela at Vand - a wonderful confluence of craft, commerce, culture, and community. Among the milling colourful crowds, interspersed with an occasional camel, troupes of musicians, and amazing moustaches, were Rabaris, Meghwals, Mutvas, Sodha Rajputs and Garacia Jats. Communities who had spent much of their early lives in Pakistan – not Pre-Independence but comparatively recently; moving over the border after the 1972 conflict. New Pakistani ajrakhs, worn as turbans or scarves, and flashy, smuggled Chinese watches and transistors, showed that the border continues to be a porous one, and that people from both sides continue to illicitly communicate and visit. Though the Maru Meghwal, Sodha Rajput and Rabari mirrorwork crafts women are Hindu, and the Garacia Jats, Mutvas, and Sindhi Bharat embroiderers of Futehpuri and Berpur are Muslim, their tribal deities, sense of community, language, aesthetic and the ardours of their shared, itinerant desert life still weld them together in a Kutcchi-ness that transcends religion or nationality. It is a curious, almost eerie realisation, seeing them, that just a couple of miles away are similar people, leading similar lives, practising the same immemorial skills – separated only by artificially created political barriers. Nevertheless, those barriers, particularly post- 26/11, have made enemies out of kin, and rendered whole peoples and traditions invisible. As Haroon Bhai, an old Khatri block printer put it, “The doors to our past are closed, and the windows of the present have frosted glass.” As a result, though the mirror-work women can instantly recognise one of their old embroideries made prior to 1971 as coming from villages now in Pakistan, few of us really know what is happening in craft across the border. A friend going to Pakistan for a conference brings back a pair of butter-soft Pakistani juthis, the Rabaris wear their spectacular, smuggled Pakistani ajrakhs (very different to our own blander, more engineered Indian versions); THREADLINES PAKISTAN, a treasured, now out-of-print book on Pakistan textile crafts, gives tantalising glimpses of Pakistani phulkari, mashru and sindhi bharat in the 70s. The Pakistani stall at the Pragati Maidan Trade Fair is full of the glossy onyx bowls, table tops and boxes Punjabi Indians nostalgically adore; Pakistani carpet vendors vie with their Indian rivals in the export market, each touting their wares as the most “authentic” yet child labour free. The rest remains a mystery. What has happened to the roadside potters who in India today make planters and lamp-stands for designer interiors, what are Pakistani meenakars and kani shawl embroiderers and handloom weavers making these days? Has the enforcement of Islamic strictures on depicting the human form affected the art of miniature painting? Have the stunning embroideries of Swat become a target for the Taliban along with the education of girl children? Are those wonderful naif pictorial gabba chain-stitch rugs still being produced? The lush prose of a Pakistan Tourism site conveys little except that government copywriters on both sides of the border have a lot in common! –

“Handicrafts of Pakistan is just another precious stone in the bejewelled crown of Pakistani culture and heritage. Be it intricately decorated metal craft or some marvellous marble inlay work or some exquisite paintings, Pakistani handicrafts are going places with their ethnic designs and flourishing textures. The time stands testimony to the evolving of the art and craft as the civilization grew from cave to the modern cities and now Pakistani handicraft is the integrated part of the Pakistani culture leaving the whole world amazed and wanting for more.”

Crafts are a community tradition and trade, handed down from father to son, mother to daughter over the centuries. A huge percentage of Indian craftspeople are Muslim, with many craft traditions practiced exclusively by them for hundreds of years. For example, there are 45 thousand chikan embroiderers in Lucknow city itself – almost all Muslim, making the same diaphanous white-on-white kurtas, dupattas, topis their forefathers did in the days of the Mughal and Avadh court . What do their brothers and sisters across the border make and do? Craftspeople from UP and Gujarat that I speak to suggest that there is a far more rapid erosion in numbers abandoning craft as a viable activity in Pakistan than in India; though in India too we are losing 10% of our craftspeople every decade. The few elusive glimpses we do have suggest is that craft skills have taken very different directions in these two very different countries –as have politics, the performing arts, and social attitudes. It seems, from what one sees, that craft traditions in Pakistan have changed less over the decades than their Indian counterparts. Those traditions that survive remain purer and closer to their original form and inspiration. Perhaps because in India craft is very strongly driven by markets and consumers, while in Pakistan craft is still a local commodity, made and sold and worn at the grassroots, and not much in demand elsewhere. The Pakistani elite very consciously wear and use “made in forrun” or imitatively Western-looking branded products, and there seems to be a prejudice against the handloom and handcrafted look – perhaps because it is too reminiscent of India? In the 50s and 60s, Pakistani diplomatic wives used to wear saris, not so any more... We take it so for granted in India that it is stylish to wear ikat or mirrorwork, to sport an embroidered bandini shawl, or put chiks, chattai and dhokra metal ware in our homes and hotel interiors, or pay thousands for a pichwai, pashmina or kilim, that we don’t realise how much this aesthetic is the lingering influence of the Swadeshi Movement and Gandhiji’s emphasis on the value of handcraft versus the industrial process - of khadi versus polyester, bagru and sanganeri butis versus a polka dot mill print. A couple of generations of crafts-friendly Government policies, reinforced by craft-conscious style icons ranging from Indira Gandhi to Shabana Azmi wearing craft for their photo-ops, have further reinforced this philosophy. Meanwhile, across the border, Benazir Bhutto wore pant suits with stilettos, and the Nepali queen and Hasina Zia flower-splashed chiffons and diamante-encrusted sun glasses. Consumer profiles in India are changing rapidly, thanks to Page 3 starlets in boots and little black dresses and the endless mushrooming of shopping malls, each with their rows of identical, branded shop fronts. Nevertheless, craft is still sold, worn and used all over India, at all levels of society, in a way that is quite unfamiliar in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ceylon or Nepal. Over the last couple of years, (while India and Pakistan were still in detente mode), several groups of craft-conscious Pakistanis have visited Dastkar – brainstorming trips prior to setting up a Dilli Haat-type complex in Islamabad, designers wanting to source chikan or zardozi or patti-ka-kaam patchwork appliqué, development types wanting establish their own NGOs in Peshawar or Sind.... There are differences between the Pakistani craft-y types and their Indian counterparts – some aesthetic, some cultural, some attitudinal; some trivial, some major. While Indian craft-y types tend to wear their profession literally on their sleeves – handloom kurtas or sarees, block prints, jhola bags, embroidered juthis or kolhapuri chappals, tribal jewellery, - the head of one Pakistani delegation wore what looked like an Armani pant suit, high heeled court shoes and diamonds, while another wore a headscarf over a flowered georgette salwar suit, an oversize Dior tote bag, and huge cultured pearls. The majority of Indian crafties are women and the few men in the sector (except Government types) dress the part in khadi or tussar kurtas, the style-conscious tossing a pashmina or angavastra casually over their shoulders. A recent Pakistani group had several male members, all in Western attire. One looked like a retired general with his handlebar moustaches and brass-buttoned blue blazer, the others in corporate-type suits and ties, spouting corporate marketing speak. In India craft is generally considered part of the development sector, and the craftspeople we work with are friends and colleagues, referred to in NGO lingo as “partners”. We hug each other when meeting, stay and eat in each other’s homes, celebrate weddings and births like family. Little of that classless warmth or even political correctness seems to have trickled down to the grass roots in Pakistan apparently, despite Islam being a supposedly casteless religion! The attitude and language is a rather outdated ‘charity’ and ‘social work’ version rather than the ‘development’ jargon used here. Revival of the tradition and promotion of tourism is the expressed objective - not employment, earning, or the empowerment of craftspeople. Of course there are exceptions, including the many grassroots NGOs who work in remote areas in Pakistan, (Jisti-Sungi and their work with jisti phulkari embroiderers in Hazara is one shining example) but their visibility, and the recognition and appreciation of their work in Pakistan, is very different to that accorded to SEWA, SASHA, Tilonia, the Crafts Councils, and Dastkar in India. Pakistani NGOs are often floored by the news that India has huge Government Departments, several National and State-level Corporations, a National Museum, numerous Government Emporia, and many highly ranked government officials, all exclusively dedicated to the craft sector. To say nothing of KVIC, our Government sponsored Khadi & Village Industries Corporation, solely devoted to the promotion of khadi homespun - the largest retail network in the world, with over 7000 outlets and 57,000 employees. The post-Independence emancipation and economic empowerment of women has also played a huge part in the development of Indian crafts. Thousands of craftswomen – be it in Kutch, Karnakata, the North East, UP, Bihar or Bengal, who previously plied their needles or looms only for their dowries , have been actively encouraged to use their creative skills for employment and earning, creating a whole new stream of craft products – garments, home accessories, accessories, basketry – and subtly changing themselves in the process. As Ramba ben, a Banaskantha craftswoman told me, “The lives of my family now hang by the thread I embroider...” Theirs is the success story of Indian crafts in transition: the traditional hand skills of communities, used to craft products for themselves and their families, gradually changing into a contemporary, urban, market-led product, but still strongly reflecting the cultural identity and individual skills of the makers. The shift in the balance of power within the family and the changing perceptions of the community to women as they become earners, mirror the transitions in the craft as it reaches out to wider, new markets. But, as I said earlier, all this is not entirely cause for self-congratulation. Well meaning NGOs and government bureaucrats, (and of course the notoriously self-serving middleman) have fiddled with, distorted and cheapened many wonderful craft traditions beyond recognition. While their Pakistani counterparts remain un-sung but true to their indigenous roots, Indian craftspeople with the potential to make exquisite, one-of-a-kind masterpieces have been encouraged to mass-produce cheap bric-a-brac and tacky souvenirs for the tourist market. The skills that made the Taj Mahal are extant today, but used to make crude, useless little pill boxes and coasters. Even worse, with the coming of globalisation and liberalisation and the entry of international brands into the Indian marketplace, an indifference and lack of respect towards crafts and craftspeople is gradually permeating Indian society as well. Instead of recognising its potential and unique power in an increasingly industrialised world, a senior Government official called crafts a “sunset” industry. Highly skilled National Master Craftsperson Awardees sell their wares on footpaths and are bargained with; master weavers in Varanasi and Andhra commit suicide for lack of yarn, bank loans, and marketing channels. Nevertheless, craft has a place in the Indian consciousness that is very different from that in largely Islamic Pakistan. The craftsman in India traditionally had the status of an artist, tracing his descent from Vishwakarma, “Lord of the Many Arts, Master of a 1000 Handicrafts, Carpenter to the Gods, Architect of their Celestial Mansion, Designer of all Ornaments, the First of all Craftsmen.” Crafts had a religious and cultural significance, with motifs, colours, and functions carrying their own symbolic meaning - consecrated by tradition to temple ritual or court ceremonial, the seasons, birth, marriage or death. Even materials were imbued with meaning: each textile, wood or metal had its ascribed attribute. According to an ancient text, the Kalika Purana, for instance, gold removed “ the excesses of the three humours and promotes strength of vision, ” silver was “favourable and inimicable to bile, but calculated to increase the secretion of wind and phlegm”, bronze was “agreeable and intellectual, but favourable to undue excitement of blood and bile”, brass was “wind-generating, irritating, hot, and heat and phlegm-destroying”, while iron was “beneficial in overcoming dropsy, jaundice and anaemia” ! Successive dynasties of Muslim rulers adopted these indigenous Indian attitudes, introducing new skills from abroad, and adding their own lavishly imperial patronage. Craft products were associated with festivals, ceremonies, and other rites of passage, and remain an indispensable part of these events even today. Difficult to imagine any Government function without the lighting of a lamp, or a wedding without a Banarsi saree and sets of kundan jewellery. Difficult to imagine brothers and sisters, however Westernized, not exchanging rakhees. In the eclectic Indian way, most Indian crafts have “adjusted” (in our favourite phrase!) to contemporary needs and tastes and therefore survived, just as Zardozi craftspeople have embraced and incorporated Swarovski crystals into their own embroidery techniques, instead of being displaced by their onrush. National identity is inextricably linked with culture and aesthetic, but when the dividing lines have been hacked brutally overnight by bureaucrats and politicians rather than limned in by the gradual, gentle hand of history or geography, it is difficult to say where Pakistaniath begins and Indianness ends. A few years ago, I was part of a series of meetings regarding the setting up of a SAARC Museum, intended to exhibit the arts and crafts of the countries of the region. The discussions, initially intense, faded out over the insuperable problems of “ownership” of indigenous traditions that were common to all. The jamawar shawl was fraught with the emotion and divisive politics of Kashmir, and was kantha from Bengal or Bangladeshi? How did you position the Harappa and Mohenjadaro Indus Valley civilisation when writing the history of the two countries? Could anything strictly be called Pakistani or Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan or Indian? Terrible wounds open when these issues are raised. Sadly, chauvinism, paranoia and xenophobia prevail. Sumrasar, where the Kala Raksha project in Kutch originally started, is a village of re-settled Maru Meghwal refugees from Sind in Pakistan. The women do exquisite suf and kharak embroidery. The older women, who can no longer stitch the intricate counted thread technique embroidery, make colourful patchwork quilts. After the 2001 earthquake which convulsed Kutch, killing hundreds and rendering thousands more homeless and bereft, the patchwork women began making extraordinary pictorial wall hangings; initially as a cathartic way to work the tragedy and trauma out of their system. Rani Ben Rati Lal Bhanani was one of those women. She had left her native Sind in Pakistan to settle in Sumrasar in the 70s. Elderly now, her memories and moving tapestries eloquently convey a life riven by the aftershocks of both events; a life conducted with humour and acceptance, but nevertheless “partitioned” in a way that is inevitably crippling. Indian crafts and their Pakistani counterparts too, have suffered this emotional and physical severance. Both would be the richer had it not taken place. This article was originally written for the India International Centre Quarterly, February, 2009

In an increasingly mechanised and digitised world, our unique good fortune in being able to access an unparalleled resource of hand skills gives us a distinct edge over any other country in the world. However, if we recognise this and are able to invest wisely into this vast pool of traditional knowledge, we can carry forward a huge number of our fellow compatriots into leading a life of dignity and economic well-being. By now, it is well recorded that the number of artisans in our country is second only to agriculture; the numbers employed by the IT industry are minuscule in comparison. It is also important to realise that hand production processes are ‘green’ in a very real sense of the term; they invariably consume low energy and use natural resources. This aspect of hand production is immeasurably valuable and will be much more so in the future when we evaluate the environmental degradation caused to our planet. It seems ironical that while there is a lot of fanfare about ‘Make in India’ and other such programmes currently, there is little awareness about these crucial and positive aspects of a sector which has been ‘making in India’ for centuries! We pay lip service to these slogans, but seem to be sadly crippled in the vision and strategy necessary for the very survival of the crafts sector and the serious challenges it is faced with today. Contrary to common perception, collaborative efforts with artisans are not difficult to achieve. However, it does need a sense of commitment; it is also critical to have an inclusive as well as a collaborative attitude towards the artisan coupled with a true sense of respect for his work. To illustrate this, I will briefly outline the work of Delhi Crafts Council (DCC) with Sanjhi, the art of cutting paper stencils from Mathura. Originating in temples, the art of Sanjhi involves the composition and drawing of traditional pictures associated with the legends woven around Krishna and its expert cutting on paper with small, fine, custom-made scissors. The stencils thus cut, sometimes in many layers, are used with coloured powders to create complex images called ‘jhankis’ which are then laid on the floor of the temples. 1–2. Hand Cut Paper Installations as part of the “Sanjhi” exhibition conceptualized and organized by Delhi Crafts Council [gallery ids="166862,166871,166875,166876,166877"] 3–5. The exhibition features Sanjhi patterns of stylized trees and Mughlai Jaalis as a reflection of traditional juxtaposed with a contemporary context curated by Delhi Crafts Council as a tribute to regional craft and the skilled craftsmen engaged fully in its production DCC’s involvement with the Sanjhi artisans – Vijay, Ajay and Mohan began in the 90’s when we organised their first exhibition ‘Kagaz’, in which specially designed products like greeting cards, calendars and trays were exhibited. Soon, many designers recognised the potential of this craft and brought in new designs and different applications that eventually brought about a major transformation in this craft. From being a stencil used for producing a picture with coloured powder, the stencil or paper cut itself became the final artwork. DCC’s next intervention was in 2015 with another exhibition, Sanjhi – Past Forward. Here, DCC presented many interesting concepts of using this craft on a scale and format that was designed specially for contemporary interiors. This meant working on both the subject and the technique for over a year involving a continuous dialogue with the artisans. It was an exhilarating journey, and the success of this exhibition is but one example of how the imaginative use of crafts can transform modern interiors. It also amply demonstrates the fact that contemporary design can be truly enriched if it can dip into the almost endless possibilities inherent in the application of skills and materials developed over centuries of using hand skills. Crafts encompass much more than design and aesthetics; many intangibles of skill, knowledge, culture and history are deeply embedded within its matrix, as is the imprint of the human hand and spirit. Instead of discarding or ignoring it, our endeavour should be to enable and evolve a continuum carrying forward the long trajectory of the craft traditions of our country.