Distribution: Where the product is currently available
The product is currently available in Bangalore city, India
What is it? Explain in non-technical terms the purpose of the project, the intended user and how it is to be used.Bangalore – a dump?
Bangalore produces 2000 tonnes of wastes everyday. The centralized government composting plant can handle only 500 tonnes per day. The rest reaches dumps that are illegal. Till Bangalore gets a planned and efficient waste management programme, this situation is likely to continue. And the planned programme is nowhere in sight.
The story today
70% of the waste generated in the average Indian urban home is organic wet waste. Bangalore had large houses with gardens and people composted in pits in their backyards. Now, they just throw the waste out onto the pile at the end of the road. The government tried to introduce a “Swacha Bangalore” campaign of collecting segregated waste at the doorstep. Our research revealed that citizens lost faith in this system once they saw that segregated waste is missed up again in the truck that transports the waste to the landfill site.
Home composting – is it possible?
We asked Bangalore homemakers about home composting. Here’s what we found:
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So a mere product range was not the solution. This project is about the design of an overall system that would deal with products, communication, service and dissemination – using lessons from eco-sustainability. | |
To have very visual material, that is easy to understand by our target customers and also try and make it available in different Indian languages
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Research: Describe the scope and constraints of the effort. What was innovative or unique about the methods used and their integration with the development process?
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Books & Articles
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What was the design solution and how is it environmentally innovative?
The solution we designed is a brand and product + service bundle.
The product is basically a terracotta container (or ‘pot’), which comes in a range of sizes and forms. The containers are designed to allow for aeration which is critical for composting. The design helps rotate and distribute volumes which makes composting at home managable. The user (i.e. the Indian homemaker) dumps the day’s organic waste into the containers, and has to attend to maintenance only once a week. The containers are modular so easy to replace if damaged. The products require less space than traditional compost pits. They are cheap and easily affordable, very easy to use and maintain, and of a form that Indians can relate to culturally.
The service component involves helping the user with the minimal maintenance that is required – i.e. help with managing files and other pests, and rotating the pile of waste as necessary.
Some of the significant aspects of this solution are listed below.
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Eco Assessment: What processes, methods were used in your assessment?
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Materials and production: How is it made and what materials are used.
Terracotta is the primary material for the products. The reasons for this decision are:
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Aesthetics: How does the appearance enhance the product and encourage acceptance?
The appearance of the product achieves several things:
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Business: How did the design improve the clients business? (Such as cost, profits, regulatory compliance, liability reduction, waste/ energy/toxin reduction, worker benefits, eco-recognition/certification, market penetration, higher value/ perceived quality, documented customer satisfaction, brand elevation, new opportunities etc.)“Daily Dump” the brand we created for the client, has just launched commercial operations – so the impact of the design on the business is yet to be fully realised.As of now, however, the client’s business has benefited in the following tangible ways: | |
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Figure1: Ten incarnation of Visnu
Figure2: Dasavatara images of Visnu on side wallspanels of the ivory box
Figure3: Reverse side of the ivory manuscript cover (courtesy: National Museum New Delhi)
References The early references of ten incarnations of Visnu are found in .Satapatha Brahmana and Taittiriya Samhita. Details are in T.A.G. Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, I, pt. I, pp. 119-223, Delhi, reprint 1993; K.S. Desai, Iconography of Visnu, Delhi, 1973, pp. 62-41; N.P. Joshi, Prachin Bharatiya Murtivigyani, Patna, 2000, pp. 97-105. Khajuraho temples depict number of Dasavatara images in stone. See K.M. Suresh, Iconography of Visnu from Khajuraho, Delhi, 1999, pl. 16-17, pp. 33-74; Large scale metal Vaisnava avatara frame from Devsar published by P. Pal, The Arts of Kashmir, Asia Society, fig. 47, 2007, p. 65; Jor Mandir group of temples, Bishnupur, depicts incarnations of Visnu images in terracotta published by A.K. Bhattacharya, Bishnupur Land of wrestlers, in P. Pal (ed.), Marg, Mumbai, 2003, pl. 9, p. 107; Dasavatara figures are painted on the pata published by J.P. Das, Puri Paintings, Delhi, 1982, pp. 58-59. National Museum has wood carving panel depicting Dasavatara images from Tamil Nadu. P. Dwivedi, Indian Ivories through the Ages, Delhi, 1976, pp. 101-105. Gansa- pl. 2; Visnu Sesasayi- pl. 3; Krsna- pl. 4; Radha- pl. 15; Krsna- pl. 14, published by K. Lai, Indian Decorative Arts, exhibition catalogue, Dresden, Germany, 1984; Dwivedi, op. cit., p. 134. A similar type of images has published by T.A. Gopinath, cit., p. 123, pl. xxxv. K. Pal and B.K. Roy, Ivory Works in India through the Ages, Census of India 1961, Delhi, 1967, 1r vol. 1, pt. VII-A, p. 109; Dwivedi, op. cit., pp. 128-129. N. Banerjee, Development of Hindu Iconography, Calcutta, 1956; G. Michell, Introduction to Indian Sculpture, In the Image of Man, U.K., 1982, p. 14. N. Shukla, Vastu Sastara, vol. II, Gorakhpur, 1958, p. 27. Tala mana is Agama literature's chief contribution to the canons of iconometry, D.N. Shukla, , p. 55. Matysa Purana mentions silver, copper, precious stones, wood, iron, lead, stone, brass and pp mixture of two or more metal. Bhavisya Purana refers glass, silver, copper, stone, wood and painting, published by B. Malviya, in Visnudharmottara mei Murtikala, Prayag, 1960, pp. 108, 109. Samarangana Sutradhara written by king Bhoja, who was the king of Dhar. He ruled Malwa around 11th century. Author provides the all information about architecture and iconography, D.N. Shukla, cit., p. 55. Aparajitaprccha is written by Bhuvandeva, which provides more information about the Dravidian architecture and its iconometry. D.N. Shukla, cit., pp. 55-56. Rupamandana is a post Samarangana and mirrors some of the later phases of development of Hindu Iconography, D.N. Shukla, cit., p. 70. Malviya, op. cit., pp. 108-09. Agama literature, Rao, cit., p. 48. Samarangana Sutradhara, p. 94, and Bhavisya Purana, 108. Sukranitisara, Malviya, cit., p. 108. Matysa Purana, Malviya, cit., p. 109. N. Shukla, op. cit., p. 94. Rao, cit., p. 48. Rao, cit., p. 49. Desai and Gorakshkar, Images of Christianity, Ivory and wood icons from Goa, The India Magazine, June, 1985, pp. 40-47. Archer, Company Paintings, London, 1992, pp. 225-26. Dwivedi, cit., p. 133; M.K. Pal and B.K. Roy, op. cit., 1967, p. 107Many of those entering the big orange doors of the Dastkar shop in Hauz Khas Village, in search of a hand-crafted gift or embroidered kurta, are quite unaware that anything except lower prices and the absence of air-conditioning mark it out as different from the other 70-odd shops and boutiques that surround it. Others, activists and NGOs, question why Dastkar, a registered voluntary society and development organisation, has anything to do with a "commercial" activity like marketing. For Dastkar, however, the Dastkar exhibitions and Bazaars and our shop - run on a non-profit basis, with craftspeople owning the merchandise, and donating 20% of their monthly sales to the running costs - are a linked and essential part of the support services we give to craft producer groups all over the country and. Helping craftspeople learn to use their own inherent skills as a means of employment generation and self-sufficiency is the crux of the DASTKAR programme. Giving them a market to do so is the culmination of as well as the catalyst for the varied DASTKAR projects, training programmes, product development inputs and loan capital assistance to our family of craftspeople. The Dastkar shop and the Dastkari Bazaars are where we test-market not just the potential of Dastkar-developed products, but the efficacy of Dastkar-developed solutions to the problems of the craft sector in the current economic climate. Is craft commercially viable today; or is it just a subsidized development sector cop out? Much depends on the intervening agency or NGO. The means to earn and be independent is the carrot that can lead rural craftspeople into the development process. Similarly, an attractive cost-effective product is the carrot that can tempt the urban consumer into contributing towards that development. Guiding the process - from identifying the skill and creating awareness of it's potential in both craftsperson and consumer; developing, designing, costing and then marketing the product, and finally (but as importantly) suggesting the proper usages and investment of the income generated, - is the role of the NGO or development agency. And there's the rub..... A cause, however meritorious, or a slogan, however emotive and catchy, does not sell a product. The consumer does not buy out of compassion. The end must be competitive - not just in its worthiness of purpose, or the neediness of its producer - but in cost, utility and aesthetic. The handicrafts sector is always thought of as a very comfortable place to create more income and employment, especially for women. It is a home-based industry which requires a minimum of expenditure, infrastructure or training to set up. It uses existing skills and locally available materials. Inputs required can be easily provided and these are more in terms of product adaptation than expensive investment in energy, machinery or technology. Also, income generation through craft does not (and this is important in a rural society) disturb the cultural and social balance of either the home or the community. The energy of a new source of employment and income can have a catalytic effect in revitalising communities that were as denuded and deprived as the arid, devastated landscapes around them - Urmul, SEWA Lucknow, Banascraft, Ranthambhore, Sandur Kushal Kendra, are just some of the examples Dastkar has been personally involved in. SEWA Lucknow started in 1984 with 12 women, a tin trunk and 10,000 rupees. Today there are 3,800 women and an annual turnover of over two hundred million rupees! But there are dangers. Success stories are to be learnt from, not blindly followed. The craft sector is already a very crowded place and the existing market inadequate for the number of producers trying to squeeze into it. We should think carefully before creating more. Strategies, however successful, should not become static. In the Dastkar Ranthambhore Project, (started 4 years ago to provide work to women in re-settled villages displaced by the Ranthambhore Tiger Park) the 100-odd women today sell about eight lakhs of goods a year through DASTKAR. But, as numbers and production capacities increase, they have to think of markets and products with an outreach beyond Hauz Khas Village and urban bazaars. The next step is their own shop in Ranthambhore, selling products developed for village consumers as well as tourists visiting the park. Similarly, SEWA Lucknow gradually built up its production capacity, brand name and turnover for the first ten years, selling one-of-a-kind kurtas and saris, exclusively through it's own periodic exhibitions and sales. Today - with sales at each five day exhibition an unmanageable 7-8 million rupees - it needs to, and is in a position to, branch out into wholesale and export orders; and is exploring the possibilities of an all-India infrastructure of franchise marketing. All too often when we think of employment generation for women; we think of that employment as a kind of handout or hobby. We should be very, very sure that that employment, and the payment for that employment, is not just a subsidized placebo, but an integrated part of a long-term economic strategy. An NGO or women's group however, often comes together with different priorities and objectives - health, social awareness, environmental issues or education. The income generation component of their project is tacked on later, when they discover that without an immediate economic solution it is difficult to make an entry into the target community, or win their confidence. It is then tackled in an off-the-cuff, short-term way by people who, whether they are grass roots activists, Gandhians or missionary Fathers are obviously not professionals in merchandising and marketing! All too often, making money (let alone a profit!) is dismissed as the least worthwhile and meaningful component of the project - a rather degrading activity for a social welfare organisation. I agree that income generation, by itself, should not be considered a synonym for development. It cannot - and should not - be. It is, however, if used skillfully, the entry point for many other aspects of the development process - education, health and family planning, social awareness, women's upliftment. The primary aspiration, the first request, of human beings everywhere is economic freedom - from husbands and fathers, from exploitative landlords, from money lenders or middlemen, or whatever. Therefore it is frightening that this crucial aspect, on which the livelihoods and future of lakhs of men and women depends, is undertaken in so casual a manner. So often the key decisions of identifying the product and it's potential market are taken quite at random. There is no market survey, no checking of locally available raw material or un-tapped traditional skills, no costing, no identification of potential buyers or marketing chains. There are no production plans or financial forecasts. Endless schemes for tailoring units, patchwork, knitting, weaving are initiated. Unemployed craftspeople become Trainers and, in turn, train more unemployable people to make more unsellable products. Endless cross-stitch 'Duchess sets' and crochet table covers proliferate, regardless of a glut in the market of thousands of similar, useless, badly put together and over-priced products. Subsidized discount sales, stipends and grants disguise the economic unviability of the stock-piles of unsold goods. The inherent skills, strengths and motifs that exist in every traditional community are not even studied or understood. Nowhere in the commercial sector would the development and sale of thousands of lakhs of rupees of products (let alone the livelihoods of thousands of people) be left to part-time amateurs (however well meaning) with no experience or training in economics, product design or merchandising. But in the craft and development sector, a bureaucrat (who has come from the Waterworks Department and will be in Family Planning next year!) can become a arbiter of what a export line of soft furnishings should look like; or a nun be forced into making decisions on employment strategies for empowering thousands of tribal weavers. Obviously they have no alternative except to plunge in and follow their instinct. The imperative to do something and to do it soon, is just too strong. The field organisation does not know whom to contact, and the institutions that are supposed to help, whether NID, the Export Promotion Council, State Development Corporations or the IITs and Marketing and Management Institutes, are often very remote - both geographically and in their understanding of the problem. So, more carpet training centres start in non-wool producing areas at a time when the traditional carpet industry is already in recession; Tribals are encouraged to laboriously embroider satin-stitch tea cosies with Little Bo Peep on them (regardless of the fact that the intended consumer increasingly drinks his tea 'ready made' in a mug!); Meanwhile industrialised units in Trans-Jumna replicate tribal jewelry in white metal to meet the export and retail demand of frustrated buyers unable to buy the traditional product in its traditional place. Kantha embroiderers are given designs out of WOMAN & HOME; a well-meaning Managing Director of Orissa Handicrafts sets up a Training Scheme to teach Kantilo bell-metal craftspeople to copy Moradabad Brass; a highly skilled craftsman is brought to the level of an unskilled one by a well meant but pernicious daily wage scheme. There are hundreds of similar, unthought through, emotively conceptualised but potentially damaging initiatives all over India today. Like any other entrepreneur, the NGO should explore the gaps in the market before production, rather than saying, "Well, I've got this product, let's see where I can shove it in". This is ridiculous and self-destructive. Nor should one say, "X did this and it was very effective so lets duplicate it on an all-India basis". The success of the SEWA Lucknow experiment had people approaching DASTKAR to start chikan embroidery training units in places as far-flung as Madhya Pradesh and Bangladesh - each of which has its own unique heritage of much more appropriate local skills! The Sandur Manganese Company ran a Welfare Project for Lambani women at a loss for twenty years, before Dastkar suggested that the rich, inherent embroidery skills of the women could create much more marketable products than the machine tailored, badly constructed pink plastic bags and bibs they had been trained to make. The Lambani women went on to sell 3 lakhs at their first solo exhibition and now have export orders from all over the world. Simply getting the product right is not enough either, without the right market outlets to match. NABARD recently approached DASTKAR to replicate its Ranthambhore project in villages throughout the area; several hundred had been sanctioned by the State Government towards rural development in the district. But when they were told that the creation of craft production units on such a scale would mean investment in a matching all-India network of marketing outlets and advertising, they disappeared, never to be heard of again....! Amul Dairy is the rural development success story. It gives employment to 16 lakh people. But it would not be able to do so without an appropriate distribution system; however good the milk, butter and cheese. India is unique in still being able to produce a hand-crafted product at a price that matches, or is even cheaper than, it's factory-made mass-produced counterpart. But public awareness of the cost-effectiveness, functionality and range of craft products is limited by their being sold only in exclusively "crafty" outlets. Hand-crafted leather juthis and bags should be sold with other leather products; hand-crafted baskets, bed linen, durries and planters be available in neighbourhood household emporiums; hand-crafted furniture in furniture shops rather than once a year at the Surajkund Mela. A mind-set that restricts anything hand-crafted to a line of Government Emporia on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, the Crafts Museum and an occasional Bazaar, will only succeed in the increasing marginalisation of crafts and their producers. So will the idea that craft should be purely decorative bric-a-brac, and that tourists and the urban elite are its only target customers. The current much coined terms "exclusive" and "ethnic" are singularly limiting and inappropriate when marketing skills and products with a potential producer base of 23 million! Those of us working in the craft sector are often accused of concentrating on the aesthetic rather than the economic; the cream rather than the bread and butter. Crafts in India have many applications, and an incredible potential. We should neither neglect the simple utilitarian crafts, or down-grade those that are art forms. It is sad to see the functional basketry and matting of the North East gradually being squeezed out of their State Emporia because they occupy more shelf space and are less value-per-unit than costume jewelry and garments. It is equally sad to see the living skills that made the Taj Mahal reduced to making pillboxes. Serving tea in bio-degradable terra-cotta khullars on Indian Railways is often used as a paradigm for the practical, rather than esoteric, usage of craft. I agree, and far prefer the taste of earth to plastic. However, a khullar is the simplest item in the Indian potter's repertoire. He is capable of making many other creative, useful and value-added products. I think the recent addition of planters, jars, lamp and table bases an equally exciting example of matching traditional producer skills to changing consumer needs. It has added a new energy to road-side potters colonies all over India, that might otherwise have died when the frigidaire replaced the surahi in the urban Indian home. Every area, every community has a different tradition, a different need, a different capacity. Production and marketing plans should be based on these. Ideally an NGO should link the craft community to a consumer community which is close by; using locally accessible materials to make products in local demand. That way, both NGO and craftsperson are in control of the dynamics of production and market, supply and demand. One of the most satisfying Dastkar projects was where a group of women weavers from Tezpur approached Dastkar for help to enter the urban Delhi market. Dastkar product development, design and organisational inputs helped create a product that now sells so well in the local Assam market that they do not need the Dastkar Bazaars and Delhi market at all! All the more disappointing therefore, that so many activist groups and NGOs opt for the urban retail market of exhibitions, sales and Melas, instead of the rural and institutional marketing that would be so much more appropriate to their areas of expertise and experience. Free too, from the moral dilemmas of a Gandhian organisation making and trying to flog high-price, high-fashion garments; or radicals agonising over whether to advertise in the Hindustan Times! In recent times, the survival of many drought or disaster-prone areas of rural India has depended on craftspeople re-discovering the skill and potential of their hands. As Ramba ben, a craftswoman from a Dastkar project in Banaskantha told me, "The lives of my family now hang from the thread I embroider". So, I do think income generation through the marketing of craft is something that can work - both commercially and as a catalyst for change and development. But it will only work if we think it through very carefully - with our heads as well as our hearts; with reason as well as caring. First published in the CAPART magazine 'Moving Technology'. |
Background In 2006, the All India Artisans and Craftworker’s Welfare Association (AIACA), based in New Delhi, and the international NGO, Aid to Artisans (ATA), began a three year public-private partnership to implement the Artisan Enterprise Development Alliance Program (AEDAP) in India. Most handicrafts created by Indian artisans are made with the intention of being sold commercially, yet many remain unable to reach the market. The aim of AEDAP was therefore to support Indian artisan enterprises to become more competitive in the market. The objective of the program was to leverage skills and expertise; to bring human, material and financial resources to bear on addressing various challenges throughout the supply chain related to Indian craft production and marketing. |
The Design Intervention The term ‘design intervention’ has been widely adopted to describe the process of linking designers to craft enterprises. The concept is that the designer will bring a new approach, or a different way of seeing artisanal skills and expertise, and share their design capabilities and understanding of global market demands. The designer does not impose but rather ‘unlocks’ the potential of the existing skill by tweaking it to make it more saleable to consumers and in so doing may transform a craft that is struggling to find a market. Here, the designer operates at the intersection between the commercial economy and artisan, serving as the bridge between maker and market. |
Implementation AIACA and ATA selected and paired a designer with a craft group. The designer then spent time on-site for a period of up to two weeks with the craft enterprise. The designer was required to assess the situation, then work to find design solutions to the obstacles the craft groups were encountering in reaching the market. In the first two years, the designer was a US-based consultant who worked on site with the craft enterprise. In the third and final year a local Indian designer was located on site with the AEDAP partner. The designer was provided with mentoring support from designer-mentors in the US, who provided inputs and advice on colour and product range. A total of 17 groups participated in the AEDAP design intervention. |
The Craft Enterprise DR is based in the Sawai Madhopor district of South-East Rajasthan; they are located adjacent to one of the world’s most famous natural tiger reserves. Many local people were removed from their traditional lands in the creation of the Tiger Reserve and re-settled in areas just outside the Park. As a result, they lost their access to wood, water and farming lands. In order to support these villagers to rebuild their social and economic life, Ranthambore Foundation was created to work with the displaced population to work on rebuilding the displaced communities’ social and economic foundations through various income generation programs.In 1989 the Delhi- based craft NGO, Dastkar, took charge of the income generation programme for the village craft people. The target group were not professional artisans. Instead, craft skills were being practised in an unstructured, undeveloped way, mainly as a means of reusing and recycling waste materials such as rags, or newspapers to create items of daily use.Dastkar began its work training local people, building on these craft skills to create livelihoods. The enterprise now works with approximately four hundred women artisans. They have constructed a craft centre, which also doubles as a retail space and functions as an informal gathering place for the community, where the women can gossip, sing, and work together. DR provides life insurance, health insurance, a provident fund, and a micro-credit system for the women artisans and their families. |
Design Objectives
Based on consultation with DR, along with an assessment by AIACA and ATA, the designer was given the following objectives:
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Design Inputs DR’s main product line was hand block printed products. Griffith saw this market as saturated and flooded, with both conventional and contemporary products. To give the products a competitive edge, new applications and new ways of interpreting the block prints needed to be developed. However, there were limitations; for instance, whilst DR craft workers were adept in sewing, finishing, stitching, and the construction of simple products, due to some restrictions in terms of access to raw materials and pattern making skills, most products had to remain unstructured. A solution to the limitations was to introduce colour as a main focal point that could give DR a competitive advantage in the market. Therefore, Griffith introduced vibrant colours in blue, pink, orange, and green; these made the products ‘pop’ and became an important element in the collection. |
Griffith also developed more comprehensive product lines that could be put together into collections according to colour, style, and print. Griffith and DR also recognized the importance of including the iconic Tiger motif on products. The Tiger was DR’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP); it is a motif developed from a children’s after school workshop that Ms Laila Tyabji, the Dastkar Chairperson, had initiated and facilitated. The motif was turned into a block print, and served as a popular product for tourists, who wanted to purchase a souvenir of their trip to the tiger reserve. Dastkar Delhi was instrumental in the development, and use of a range of animal block prints, that have been the key to the success of Dastkar Ranthambore’s past, and current, collections. The Tiger, along with the other animal block prints, continues to identify DR products, and makes them immediately recognizable, which has been central to creating the DR brand.
The key design inputs provided by the AEDAP designer were as follows;
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The Right Mix An important element in DR’s success was the ongoing support it has received from Dastkar, a society for crafts and craftspeople, based in New Delhi that aims at improving the economic status of craftspeople, thereby promoting the survival of traditional crafts. It was founded in 1981 by six women, who had worked in the craft and development sector including Laila Tyabji, who is the current Chairperson. Similarly, the marketing support from AIACA, particularly through their Craftmark- Handmade in India, market access program provided export sale channels, and opportunities. In particular, the DR Manager, Ujwala Jhoda has been a key element in their success; her level of professional management meant that there was a fast turn-around time for sampling and sourcing new materials, so that design suggestions were put into action. Jhoda has operated DR as a business enterprise, ensuring high quality finishing of products, on time delivery, and consistent pricing; this has helped to build DR’s reputation amongst domestic and international buyers and led to repeat and new orders. According to Griffith, a good manager is essential for the success and growth of an enterprise and she believes that even with exceptional products, poor and incompetent management will mean that an enterprise can fail. In addition to their Manager, DR has embodied a culture of innovation, which has made it receptive to embracing change when it is needed. For instance, they were amongst the first hand block printing groups to install a water management system where waste water is collected and purified for reuse. From a marketing perspective, DR had a very strong story of women’s empowerment, poverty alleviation and community development to share with consumers and buyers, and this added value to the strong product line. |
Postscript: Design as business development strategy The implementation of strategic design improved sales for DR, and generated income for its craft workers. Due to the impact the AEDAP design intervention had on DR’s sales, the organization now continues to work with designers, introduced, and set up by Dastkar, and including the Pearl Academy. The AEDAP case study demonstrates how appropriate design interventions can bridge the gap between traditional artisan skills and mainstream markets, and make a craft enterprise more competitive. |
Changing lifestyles and market structures mean that weaving is not a viable profession anymore. What's the way out?Hand-woven fabric is the product of Indian tradition, the inspiration of the cultural ethos of the weavers. With its strong product identity, handlooms represent the diversity of each State and proclaim the artistry of the weaver. It is not thread alone but the weaver's imagery, faith and dream that create heritage fabrics which have undoubtedly placed India on the world map. Handlooms rank second only to agriculture as an industry. The handloom sector boasts of 3.4 million weavers according to a census conducted by The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in the year 1995-96 whereas in 1987-88 it was 4.3 million and the drop of nearly a million is all too significant and in the present scenario rather bleak.The Kancheepuram sari with its korvai designs may become a museum piece sooner than we think, so also the cotton korvai saris, with the weavers disinterested in weaving them. A cotton sari fetches the weaver Rs. 270 per sari as against Rs. 2,500 for a silk sari. A master weaver in Kancheepuram quotes the example of an MNC which sends buses to pick up young adults who are the children of the weavers. Even if it is an unskilled laborer's job, he can pick up around Rs. 250-300 a day and what's more, there is "prestige" attached to a factory job! What's worse is that our Southern traditional weaves are being pirated through importing weavers from Tamil Nadu. For most handloom weavers it means sitting at a loom for 12 hours at a stretch and even longer if it is festival or wedding season. Many of those interviewed swear that they will not subject their children to work in a profession which drains them. Most of them develop orthopedic problems and then it is too late to move to other professions when they are past the prime of life.Indirect Impact "The adversities that the farming sector continues to face have considerably affected the survival of many subsidiary activities and are a strong contributing factor for the downfall of the weaving industry. This indirect impact cannot be ignored," says Dr. Shyamasundari of Dastakar Andhra. "While the weavers have encouraged their sons to be educated in professional courses, they have overlooked the fact that actually it is weaving that supported their education making them engineers and doctors." That the exodus of young handloom weavers from their traditional occupation is steady is all too apparent. Cheaper synthetic fabrics flooding the market is one of the reasons and of course the failure to access and adapt to newer markets. The market which was originally located in rural areas has shifted to urban areas. The weavers were selling their products to co-operatives but it is these co-operatives who have not been able to locate ready markets.One of the interventions by the Government is the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY); specially formulated to help the 19,500 weavers engaged in the production of low cost saris and dhotis for Free Distribution Scheme (FDS). The weavers, who in the past were capable of creative weaving, sank into a blissful state of complacency, knowing fully well that whatever they wove, or however bad the quality, it would be accepted. The number of saris and dhotis woven were much more than the number of beneficiaries and as a result, the godowns of Co-optex began to swell with stocks of these saris and dhotis. Consequently, the FDS had to be discontinued in 2001.Left Stranded Nearly 19,500 weavers were rendered jobless and faced severe socioeconomic problems. Highly skilled weavers, like the ones from Virudhunagar, who were weaving 80s by 120s, did not know how to recall their skill. It was a time of great unrest and these handloom weavers were in a state of flux. It was a Catch 22 situation. With powerlooms dominating textile production all over India, and encroaching on the handloom sector's traditional market, the handloom weavers, in a desperate situation, drifted towards powerlooms, finding that work here was an easy substitute. Children were sold as bonded labor to bosses and without money to release them the bondage looked permanent. They went into building construction and brick making besides other jobs. Even older weavers took to new occupations and traditional skills were fast languishing. The situation looked grimly bleak.A proposal was charted out for a special project which would help these weavers learn new skills, regain lost ones and gain exposure to the countless possibilities of fine weaving and the project planned in different stages such as identification of the project implementing agencies, skill and technology upgradation, entrepreneurship development, and infrastructure development. The State Government sanctioned 25.36 crores for the Project. NIFT became the implementing agency. Training has been imparted to the weavers and new designs have been developed in saris, dress material, shirtings, and household linen. New markets were located as also export markets.With the government doing what it possibly can, beneath all the fluff, there are layers of discontent voiced by the weavers. The main grouse is the fear that they would be left midway with new schemes that they find bewildering and the inability to access new markets based on past experiences. Besides, the psychological impact that a complete turnabout would bring is not really understood by the so called guardians of the traditional vocations. A great degree of sensitivity is required when working in these areas.Pawns in a Game Cut to the Varanasi weavers. A BBC World TV broadcast focused on the plight of weavers in Varanasi facing the impact of Chinese "Benares brocade saris" imported at a fraction of local prices. Again this is a story of utter poverty and despair and the weavers not wanting to remain tied to a crippling tradition. Thousands of weavers around Varanasi became pawns on the chessboard of a capitalist system of merchants, brokers and bureaucracy. Vilas Muttemwar, Congress Lok Sabha member from Nagpur, raised the plight of the region's weavers in Parliament, saying about 20 lakh weavers in Vidarbha were seriously hit by the government's "casual ad-hoc policy and unhelpful attitude" towards problems relating to supply of yarn, credit support and other related facilities. "As a result, a large number of weavers are on the brink of starvation," he maintained. Uzramma of Dastakar Andhra says that the handloom industry portrays a vibrant scenario even though it is in a state of flux. "The point to be made is that the State does not recognize its tremendous potential, not only for rural employment, but as a viable economic activity which does not need the huge investments of infrastructure and capital which conventional industries require," she says. So what are the options left to craft activists who are concerned at the plight of the weavers and a craft tradition which is languishing? Says Ashoke Chatterjee (former President, Crafts Council of India), "our finest craft skills need immediate protection, which means reaching the weavers at the apex of a pyramidal supply chain. The active participation of the trade is recommended, difficult though this may seem in the light of current attitudes and past experience. The present condition of decline in weaving reflects the changing social structures, values and most importantly changing markets. Simultaneously, working with authorities, NGOs and activists in and around Varanasi, or other affected areas, one could attempt a relief fund to address immediate survival needs of families affected by death, debt and starvation." The only solution as I see it is to lobby for the languishing craft and handloom weaver through press reports, the electronic media, plays, short films and whatever is needed to address the existing problems. Our Indian fashion designers have a wealth of traditional material to dip into and they could harness traditional skills to showcase their designs which could give the Indian weaver exposure in international markets. Without action the death knell sounds loud and clear. |
Issue #007, Winter, 2021 ISSN: 2581- 9410
Copyright, as the name suggests, is a great example of irony! Contrary to what the word suggests, it is the right to not be copied. Conceptually, it is the inherent protection that is enjoyed by certain types of creative works, against their reproduction by others. Copyright protection extends over written work (irrespective of its ‘literary’ merit – including, not only poetry and fiction, but even source code of software programs), artistic work (patterns, paintings, sketches, posters etc.), cinematographic works (audio visual content), sound recordings and musical compositions and dramatic works. The only requirement to assert copyright protection is that the work should be tangible and not merely residing in the imagination of the creator. Copyright protection commences automatically from the time a work is created and its registration is not necessary (although it is beneficial as a proof of title). However, Indian copyright law has some interesting quirks that specifically impact the fashion design space and are therefore important for designers/ artists to know. There are two separate laws that cover the field – the Copyright Act and the Designs Act. The first is understood to typically extend to 2D works and the second to 3D works; although that is a rather broad categorisation. Several independently protectable artistic works arise in relation to a block printed pattern – the first is the copyright over the underlying drawing which would form the basis for the block, the second is the block itself and the third is the garment on which the block print is applied – on the garment it is not only the print that is protected, but also the specific sequence of applying the blocks and the colour combination. Seen from the lens of the copyright and design laws, the underlying drawing is protectable as a ‘copyright’, the block is protectable as a ‘design’ and the finished garment, both a ‘copyright’ and a ‘design’. Design protection extends not just to the print/ pattern on a garment, but to a unique drape, cuts and folds, weaves etc. The Designs Act needs a design to be registered in order for it to be protectable, unlike the Copyright Act. Therefore, if a design is unregistered, it can be copied at will and the designer will not have the legal means to prevent it from being copied. The law says that if something is protectable both as a copyright and a design and is not registered under the Designs Act, you get ‘free’ copyright protection until such time that 49 copies of the work are made. Once you’ve made the 50th copy of a work, the copyright in it is over. In other words, a designer who makes a small collection of finished articles with the same pattern (i.e. less than 50) need not ever apply for design registration and will still be able to prevent others from copying her patterns, while one that expects to mass produce, is best advised to apply for registration of the patterned garment under the Designs Act before launching it in the market. Of course if the same underlying print is used on different garments, such as sarees, scarves, shirts etc. and less than 50 pieces of each garment have been produced, then the design is still protected. The most critical aspect about a design registration is that it must be ‘new’ when you apply to register it – that means, the product on which the design is applied cannot have been launched in the market already and if it has, then the design will no longer be registrable. If you are a designer who creates patterns used for block printing and your patterns have been used to make more than 50 pieces of a single type of garment, does it mean you are no longer protected simply because you failed to secure a design registration? The answer is no. Don’t forget, there is always a copyright protection you can claim in the underlying 2D artwork used to prepare the block – since the artwork and the block are identical in all respects and the artwork enjoys copyright protection and not design rights (which do not need registration and subsist even if reproduced more than 50 times) you are safe from attack by unscrupulous copycats. As a lawyer, most cases I have fought for designers have invariably involved unregistered copyrights in the underlying pattern rather than registered design rights in the finished garment. The discipline and planning that is required to ensure that you regularly apply for design registration is often a tall order for small establishments, despite the fact that it is not a very costly exercise. While it is good to have a registration, many designers feel that it is not worth investing time and money on one set of designs when fashion changes so frequently with the seasons. A conversation about design or copyright protection to safeguard against copycats will not be complete without, at the fundamental level, qualitatively appreciating the level of skill and artistic contribution that is required to actually claim copyright protection as a ‘designer’. There is a popular myth in the design world that if you take an existing design and make 7 changes to it, it will be treated as a new design. I salute the creator of this myth as it’s gained more credence than the actual law itself! In reality, the test in law is rather eloquently called the ‘sweat of the brow’ – if your act of design creation involves your own creative expression, then you have created something new! Simply put, reproducing a paisley from an old pattern book with minor changes or in a different colour combination will not make it protectable in copyright law. An outline of a paisley with an interesting design variation is what is protectable. Even then the protection is not for a paisley as a concept but that specific iteration with the colours and patterns within it that are unique. In photography, if three different photographers take photographs of the Taj Mahal, each of them will have a copyright over their own specific photograph with its own unique angle, lighting and perspective of the monument, and can prevent others from misusing their own photograph. Naturally, their right will not extend to either the Taj Mahal itself, or to preventing others from independently photographing the monument. In textiles for example, if a weaver is given non-specific instructions to weave, for example, alternate rows of blue peacocks and pink turtles without specifying the shape and contours of the motifs, the ‘designer’ cannot claim copyright over the finished product. The true creator of the product is the weaver, the sweat of whose brow has given shape and vision to the generic instructions and the copyright in the resultant motifs therefore belongs to the weaver. What does one do when one’s creations are copied? To answer the question, it is important to understand that the critical aspect of pursuing a claim legally is, meticulous documentation. Another myth about legal proceedings is that they are incomprehensible, difficult and long, when in actual fact, meticulous recordkeeping can simplify and shorten legal proceedings with remarkable ease. A number of times designers whose works are copied choose to merely vent in the media and not pursue the action further – as a consequence the copycats are emboldened. Those who do pursue legal action – from Ritu Kumar to Tarun Tahiliani, from Sabyasachi to Satya Paul, the court process can serve to not only vindicate a claim of copying and help recover costs and damages against the unscrupulous copycat, but equally, to serve as an example to others, who then know who to avoid! Even before knocking the doors of the court, a good starting point is to send out a legal notice to the copycat, forewarning them that a lawsuit will likely follow if they do not withdraw the offending garment and/or make good the losses of the designer. In the notice, it is critical to demonstrate one’s own rights over the copyrighted work, with dated proof, and also illustrate the elements that have been copied and explain why a case for copying is clearly made out. A well drafted notice often does the trick, and the copycat prefers settling the matter before it reaches the court. The recent example of Christian Dior arriving at a settlement with People Tree for an undisclosed sum, after the latter accused it of plagiarising one of its prints, is a good example of how a claim backed by evidence, can achieve the desired results. In the absence of a registered copyright or design, meticulous documentation of creation of the pattern as also dated evidence of its “launch” will help sustain a claim against a third party who has copied it, especially if the evidence points to the third party clearly having used the pattern at a later point in time.Issue #007, Winter, 2021 ISSN: 2581- 9410 |
Brand identity, design marks and the feting of designers is now an almost daily feature of our morning newspapers and television shows with a plethora of manufacturers vying to endorse and publicize their brands. Charges of cheating and infringement of design are not infrequent in these circles and counter-charges grab headlines, serving as still more fodder for the publicity mill.
However, amidst all this babble of newsprint and televised footage, there is a marked absence of any mention of copying associated with the many hundreds of indigenous crafts and textiles that exist in this country. The Bronze castings of the Sthapathis of Swamimalai, the dhokra metalwork, the brilliantly woven Paithani, the hand painted Kalamkari and the hundreds of other masterpieces that India has been justly famous for are clearly delineated brand identities that have been honed over decades –often centuries – of aesthetic development, technological fine tuning, daily practice and diligent hard work. Executed through specific techniques, with vast vocabularies of motifs and colours, composition and style, and rooted in culture and history.
Is this deafening silence because there is no copying of these hallowed traditions? Or is it because there is a widely accepted view that copying from traditional craftsperson’s and weavers is acceptable, and, in fact, even given tacit approval?
We have all seen a Warli painting featured across the pallu of one famous designer’s sari, a Madhubani motif on a jacket of another; iconic block-prints that have been screen-printed, a handloom replicated on the power-loom. Craftspeople, artists and weavers who have sewn and embroidered, cast and moulded, engraved and etched, printed and painted, created forms and motifs that have made India famous through the millennia – these keepers of our identity and the bearers of our syncretic culture seem to have no place in popular conversations on ‘design’ and ‘brand’ and apparently, no perceived rights or ownership of their familial and community knowledge, knowledge that has been handed down orally from their ancestors and honed with daily practice. A visit to any museum in India or overseas is a testament to their creativity as is a visit to their homes and workplaces today.
Despite this wall of public and professional ignorance or indifference, craftspeople, weavers and folk and tribal artists now have access to a means of recourse. It is this that is the subject of this paper.
As a signatory to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), India now has a legal instrument in place to provide the judicial framework of rights and principles with the associated policies and procedures in place to prevent this misuse. There has been a widespread awareness of the business and trade value of Geographical Indications and in various Western and other countries across the world this Act has been in existence, in some form or the other, for several decades. The Geographical Indications (GI) of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, a sui generis legislation, was introduced in India as recently as 1999. Its rules were notified on 15th September, 2003 and the GI Act – applicable and extending its protection to natural, agricultural and manufactured goods and products – finally came into force in India.
The GI Act is historic in that it provides for the first time a means of protecting the trade-related intellectual property of communities as a public collective right. I would go as far as to say that this Act has started the process of democratizing the law for indigenous and creative communities –for the creators and producers of traditional handicrafts, folk and tribal artists and the weaver communities but also for traditional Indian manufactures, medicines and foods.
The basic concept underlying GIs is very simple, and is familiar to any shopper or merchandiser who chooses to buy or stock one brand versus the other. Champagne over sparkling wine, Darjeeling tea over a blend. By definition, a Geographical Indicator or GI is an indication of a name, or a figurative representation or geographic location or any combination of these that suggests the geographic origin of the goods to which it is applied. This indication, when conferred, identifies goods as having certain special qualities, characteristics and/or reputation which is essentially attributable to its geographic origin. For instance, Mysore silk, the agate stone craft of Cambay, the coir-work of Alleppy in Kerala, the screw pine craft of Kerala, the tussar of Gopalpur, Salem silk, and the sikki grass products of Bihar. Although a GI is basically a notice stating that a product originates in a particular area, it is not necessary that it be named or branded by its geographic location. The product may also be termed otherwise as in crafts such as Nirmal painting, Chamba rumal, Nakshi Kantha, Ilkal Saris, Ganjifa cards, Pashmina, kasuti embroidery, phulkari, and chikan embroidery2.
A GI can be applied for by any association of person or producers or any organization, NGO, Trust, Society, a community board or authority that represent the interests of the producers concerned.3 For example, in the case of Banaras brocades, four organisations have come together to register the GI. Likewise, Mysore silk has been registered by the Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation Ltd (KSIC), Kullu shawls, by the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment and Madurai sungudi, by the Department of Textiles, Government of Tamil Nadu.
Since the introduction of the law, the GI registry office based in Chennai has moved fairly rapidly and has till date registered over 194 GI’s of which handicrafts, folk and tribal art and handlooms number 118, 4 while several more are in the applied-for pipeline. The registration of a GI is valid for ten years and can be renewed on expiry. There is no limit to the times of renewal. The validity of the registration can be extended indefinitely.
The GI has been granted to iconic products like Kancheepuram silk, bidri, Madhubani paintings, Molela clay plaques, Kani shawls, phulkari, chikan embroidery as well as to the lesser known Solapur terry towel and the Bhawani jamakkalam.5. Once a GI is registered, the holder community has legal protection for their products and can take the matter to court if their rights are infringed.6 Simultaneously, by registering GI in India, the holders can then proceed to register their product in other countries that have the GI law in place.
The GI confers exclusive legal right to the holders of that particular GI to produce and market the GI goods. Production and sale by anyone other than the producers concerned – whether in India or overseas – is a punishable offence under the GI law. Once registered, the existence of the GI forms the basis for ownership and the basis for initiating action to curb piracy as well as the entry of spurious goods into the market by others.7. Such activity, if proved, will render the persons liable for the common law tort of ‘passing off.’ .8
Government statistics estimate that over 110 lakh people – 65 lakh in handlooms and 47.6 lakh in handicrafts – craft and weave in over 2000 distinct clusters located across the length and breadth of predominantly rural India. Disadvantaged both economically and socially, an overwhelming majority belong to the weaker and more vulnerable sections of society. These immense numbers are the skilled creators of products that have immense brand recognition and goodwill built over generations and that have over the millennia defined India and the Indian identity.
This law of GI is in place to benefit and protect them while simultaneously also benefiting the consumers and users of their creations.
Why do our artisans, artist and weavers need GI protection?
We are all aware that there has been a decline in the market for craft products and handloom. A key factor to this decline is the unchecked and rampant competition of products from mills and factories that are mass- produced replicas of the handmade and hand-woven; products that I would go so far as to call fake and spurious. These products misrepresented as handcrafted and hand-woven are marketed as handmade and traditional, and are often sold under the name of the craft or weaving cluster. Accessing customers through urban and export distribution channels, these replicas are available in stores in India and across the world, often at a fraction of the cost of the original. Not only is this unfair to the traditional community of skilled makers, it also effectively cheats the consumers and the public at large.
The ubiquitous mass-produced plastic gods and godesses that are rapidly replacing the terracotta painted figures can be seen in even a casual survey. Likewise, the mass-produced bandhini tie and dye saris of Rajasthan and Gujarat, replicating the traditional craft in polyester. The same is true of the rubber reproductions of the Kolahpuri chappals of Maharashtra, screen-printed imitations of Madhubani and Warli paintings and the resin-cast copies of the traditional wood carvings of Andhra, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. The iconic block prints of Bagh, Bagru, Sanganer, and other centres available in cheap printed copies. The famed hand weaves of Banaras now replicated on the power loom without so much as a nod of acknowledgement. The list goes on and the examples are endless.
Copied, sold cheaper and misrepresented in the market, these imitations have had a direct reflection on the earning and employment of craftspeople and handloom weavers, resulting in immense suffering and hardship. Unable to compete against the machine and simultaneously having been robbed of their USP, skilled hereditary artisans are giving up their ancestral occupations and opting for menial manual labour in order to survive. A few have also been known to have taken the still more extreme measure of suicide.
The GI umbrella is a valuable business asset, providing a defensive and positive protection to the economic and moral interests of the creators who have been vulnerable in the past to powerful trade and commercial interests.
Why do the consumers need protection?Handicrafts, folk arts, embroidery and handlooms have over the millennia enjoyed a large market, and are bought and appreciated by a wide consumer base. Consumers are now often misled into believing that the product they are buying is genuine. Once the GI is conferred it becomes illegal to misrepresent the place of manufacture or to pass of goods as the goods of another place or to mislead and deceive consumers into believing that a product is manufactured elsewhere. GI protection is in place to provide a stamp to original goods by controlling piracy and entry of spurious replicas that are sold on the back of traditional products and the reputation and goodwill they enjoy. So is the GI a panacea for all ills? Well, it’s a start. The question that is now exercising all who work in this sector is how can dispersed, home-based, rural makers leverage the GI effectively to their advantage as well as that of the sellers and buyers of all handmade goods? The pre-eminent value conferred by the GI umbrella is that by naming or branding the goods it underlines that these goods have special qualities derived from their unique locations, and are therefore are different from other products created elsewhere. With current trends of manufacturing being out-sourced to anonymous far-flung areas, the GI GPS locate the product pointedly in its historic, cultural, environmental roots, thus giving consumers a distinct clear alternative to unidentified mass-produced products, often leading to premium prices for products. Secondly, the GI is a potent tool of product differentiation, in effect a seal of uniqueness. Applicants need to furnish details on the qualities that make the product unique and special. This may be the links between the terrain, climate and the product, as in the case of the Bagh hand block-printed textiles which due to the special qualities of the Baghini River in which they are washed, retain a luster and brightness of color that is unique. The product’s USP may also be the reputation and goodwill it enjoys. Examples of this phenomenon are the Kanjeevaram sari and the Banarasi wedding brocade sari are iconic textiles, which due to their history of excellence continue to enjoy high consumer demand across India – it stands to reason that the weavers whose ancestors have toiled to create this brand recognition and goodwill be the beneficiaries of this goodwill. The product may also be identified by the production technique and raw material used; for instance, the technique of turned wood lacquer defines the Etikopakka products. Furthermore, products may be distinguished by the cultural underpinnings and historic roots of the product or process as in the motifs and colours that create the distinct vocabulary of Toda embroideries and the history of the Ganjiffa cards, which has bestowed upon them specific forms and compositions. Thirdly, in the shadow of climate change there is progressive recognition in India and abroad of the value for the handmade, the organic and the natural, and this is reflected in consumers and buyers seeking alternatives that fulfill these criteria. Craftspeople and weavers with registered GI products are positioned to capitalize on this trend and appeal to this growing segment. Using earth-friendly production processes with a low carbon footprint, raw materials that are natural with low wastage content, crafts and handloom products are a green and fair-trade alternative with a tremendous comparative advantage that can be favorably translated into ensuring improved livelihoods, jobs and orders for this sector. Fourth, unlike in mass production where the maker has been reduced to a cipher, distinct craft and weaving clusters that have been awarded the GI are a refreshing new alternative, clearly stating who the community of makers are, putting a face to the product – a sharp contrast to the nameless and anonymous producers whose products are marketed across the globe. The bronze’s cast by the Sthapathis of Swamimalai, the Patola woven by the Salvi family, the community of potters that make the largest terracotta objects in the world – the Aiyannar horses and elephants of Tamil Nadu, the Asari community of Palanganathan, Madurai who carve wood based on temple traditions, the Pithora paintings of the Rathwa Bhil tribals are only a few examples. The GI highlights community, traditional knowledge, longevity, cultural and historic rootedness and other intangible values that are reposed in the product. Fifth, GI creates added value in the market place, reinforce the integrity of the product and assists in making purchasing choices. It certifies the product is genuine and is a source of information and credibility. Intrinsically linked to the product, leading to greater brand recognition, high recall and improved consumer perception it works towards developing the rural economy, protecting business and trade interests of the holding community and is an effective tool for development. Additionally, branding by GI has a soft-side as research has shown from countries with older established GI’s – the building of more cohesive maker communities with pride in preserving and furthering traditional knowledge and traditions. In the long run GIs are often substitutable for quality seals as holders strive to maintain quality, protecting the reputation of the product, benefiting both themselves and the consumer. What can we do? The moot question for now all who work in this sector is how dispersed, home based, rural hand makers can leverage the GI to advantage the makers, sellers and buyers of handmade to be truly effective. Though there is no magic wand, there is a process that can be followed. We need to educate craftspeople and weavers on the advantages of obtaining a GI and once registered the fact that they have a legal right to prevent copying and infringement as this is, at present, the first and only form of Intellectual Property Right that they own as a community which provides protection to their products, their age old goodwill and respects their oral knowledge and traditions. We need to work toward educating consumers to buy only genuine original GI handmade products and not spurious, imitations and copies that are detrimental to lives, earnings and livelihoods of artisans. Ignorance of the law can no longer equal innocence. Finally, by using GI products, buying GI products and merchandising GI handicrafts we are working towards ensuring the right of existence for our craftspeople and weavers, improving their earnings, sustaining livelihoods and preserving traditional knowledge. End Notes:
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By Design: Sustaining Culture in Local Environments
Issue #004, Winter, 2020 ISSN: 2581- 9410
Introduction This essay draws upon my PhD research on design and business education for traditional artisans in India, carried out in three periods of fieldwork between 2015 and 2017. The research was shaped around case studies of two institutes started in the last decade that aim to reduce the gap between the artisan and a high-end market, to increase the value of craft amongst the market and the artisans, and to sustain livelihoods: Somaiya Kala Vidya in Kachchh district, Gujarat; and The Handloom School in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh. The research focuses specifically on handloom weavers and addresses the following questions: how does design education fit the local context? who owns traditional and other designs? what is the value of craft from the viewpoint of the artisan-designer as well as that of the market? It also explores how traditional methods of learning to weave compare with learning and applying contemporary design concepts. My understanding of traditional practices was enhanced by undertaking a short apprenticeship in weaving in Bhujodi village, Kachchh. This essay reveals the experiences of the weaver-graduates who have participated in the study, alongside emerging findings and an assessment of the effectiveness of the institutes in achieving their aims. (fig 1) Background The handloom industry currently employs over four million people, serving fast-growing luxury markets in India and abroad. Approaches to the industry’s development, however, have been based on a clash of ideals: on the one hand, handloom symbolises a traditional identity, feeding the ‘national and global salience for the local’; on the other, weavers are viewed as ‘outmoded’ and ‘objects of welfare,’ at odds with fast-moving technological advances. This conflict has emerged out of a series of historical events in India’s craft and economic history. From the nineteenth century onwards, traditional craft industries experienced decline due to imported and local mechanised imitations flooding domestic markets, centralisation and mechanisation of the ancillary industries such as spinning and cotton cleaning, and the stagnation of agriculture which co-existed with the craft industry. Despite these factors, weaving continued to thrive throughout the twentieth century in many parts of India due to the insight and entrepreneurship of weavers, the suitability of design to handloom as opposed to machine and the fact that the looms needed no electricity - access to which continues to be limited in rural India. The swadeshi movement, spear-headed by Mahatma Gandhi, highlighted the decline of local crafts and campaigned for Indians to make and wear khadi (hand-spun, handwoven cloth) in support of the Nationalists’ fight for Independence. But nationalism was also an impetus to industrial growth, something championed by Jawarharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India after Independence in 1947. The newly-developed mills produced imitations of the coarse, natural khadi in support of Gandhi but were also part of the country’s industrial growth. The dialectic between modernity and tradition in craft was also evident during the period of British rule, revealed in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the other imperial exhibitions that followed it; new technologies were showcased alongside crafts that epitomised ‘traditional’ India for the British selectors. The colonial art and technical schools which proliferated in India in the mid-nineteenth century were of the same ilk and failed to attract traditional artisans. Those traditional artisans that did join these schools would go on to be employed in mills, while fine art graduates worked as company painters. Thus, colonial exhibitions and art and technical schools asserted the Western separation of ‘fine art’ - the realm of the artist - from ‘decorative’ or ‘industrial arts’ - the realm of the crafts person. In India they were all covered by the same terms, kala or shilpa, and considered to be interrelated. The first design institute, the National Institute of Design (NID), opened in 1961 just over a decade after the country’s independence, and aimed to shed any association with the colonial schools and ‘bring design back to India,’. Yet there are several factors that liken NID to the colonial schools, not least that its development was funded by the Ford Foundation, USA, which it has been argued suited America’s Cold War diplomatic policies - an informal imperialism whereby America could frame India in its own image. In addition to this, its founding director was Gautam Sarabhai, a successful mill industrialist, and the governance of the institution was by the Ministry of Commerce (and later the Ministry of Textiles) rather than the Ministry of Education; these factors all suggest that it was part of the Nehru’s modernising agenda. Finally, it was only open to the urban English-speaking middle class. Despite its aim to meet the diverse needs of the whole Indian population, it has been argued that it reinforced social divides, notably by by a former director, Ashok Chatterjee, such as that between the designer who has the creative skills and knowledge of the contemporary market, and the artisan who simply executes the design. In this scenario the artisan’s status is reduced to that of a labourer, and any traditional and embodied knowledge the artisan possesses is ignored or devalued. Adopting different approaches, Somaiya Kala Vidya (SKV) and The Handloom School (THS) both aim to avoid these opposing dualisms. SKV strongly encourages a focus on local traditions which are the artisans’ ‘USP’, and innovating upon these traditions to make them relevant in contemporary markets. THS which invites weavers from all over India via local non-governmental organisations (NGO)s, focuses more closely on nurturing entrepreneurs who will utilise newly-developed business, design and technical knowledge to employ others in their community to create high quality fabrics for luxury markets. Weaving in Kachchh The weavers of Kachchh, known as Vankars, are part of the Dalit (lit. ‘oppressed’) Meghwal community. Recent Government statistics report that there are 500 handlooms and 900 weavers across Kachchh, with the greatest concentration in Bhujodi village where there are approximately 250-280 families. The Vankars’ traditional clients were local herding and farming castes with whom they have long-standing relationships bound by the exchange of woven cloth for dairy products and sheeps’ wool. Among the woven products were men’s blankets (dhablo) and turbans (pagri), and women’s veil cloths (ludi) and skirt lengths. The ritual importance attached to the woven products for traditional clients meant that Vankars had a stable market until cheaper alternatives took over. While in the past the Vankars had relied solely on their Rabari, Ahir and Bharwad clients, today clients come from all over India as well as other countries. They are taught by their fathers or other male members of the family, and the craft has been passed down this way for numerous generations. (fig 2) From the 1970s onwards Kachchhi crafts became more widely known across India and the world as designers working with Gujarat State Handicraft and Handlooms Development Corporation, NGOs and commercial enterprises began operating in the region, adapting the crafts for urban markets. After the devastating earthquake of 2001, there was heavy investment in Kachchh by both central and state governments and NGOs, and industries came to the district to take advantage of a five year tax holiday; consequently, Kachchh became more visible worldwide. It now receives large numbers of tourists, craft enthusiasts and buyers from all over India and overseas, and Kachchhi craftspeople travel throughout India selling and showcasing their crafts, and some travel the world. Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya and Somaiya Kala Vidya Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya (KRV) was founded in 2005 by Judy Frater, twelve years after founding Kala Raksha Trust, on the basis that artisans’ potential was not being reached in contemporary markets, and that teaching artisans design would be more effective than teaching designers about craft and its deep-rooted contexts. In 2014, the KRV curriculum which had been developed with the help of an Ashoka Fellowship and input from education professionals, was taken by Frater to a new institute, Somaiya Kala Vidya (SKV). The curriculum consists of six two-week courses spread over one year and covers: Basic Design, Colour, Marketing, Concept Development, Finishing and Presentation and Merchandising. Each batch consists of ten to fifteen students and includes block printers, tie-dye artisans, weavers (men), and embroiderers (women). All classes are taught in Gujarati or Hindi. In between each class, students return home to apply some of what they have learnt to homework and to ensure that their own, on-going work is under control. Visiting faculty are designers working in industry and include foreign professionals as well as graduates of design schools such as NID. There are two permanent faculty, both traditional artisans and graduates of KRV or SKV: Laxmi Puvar, a suf embroiderer, and Dayalal Kudecha, a weaver. They act as intermediaries between the students and visiting faculty. More recently, a post-graduate business course for graduates of KRV and SKV has been added which helps artisans to understand the monetary value of their products in new markets, also its cultural value. Out of a total of 158 design graduates from both institutes since KRV’s first course in 2006, there have been twenty-nine weavers. Sixteen of the graduates have gone on to complete the business course, four of those being weavers. Most graduates from KRV and SKV continue to ‘innovate within their traditions,’ an express aim of the course, and have found growing economic success, and wide national and global exposure. (fig 3) Maheshwar Maheshwar became famous for weaving during the rule of Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar (1767-1795). Ahilyabai invited weavers from other parts of India to produce for the court which created a successful weaving industry; she remains an icon of the craft today. The architectural decoration of the 16th century fort on the banks of the Narmada river inspired the geometric patterns that feature in the dobby borders and end panel (pallu) of Maheshwari saris. The current success of Maheshwari handloom is largely down to charitable organisations founded by the descendents of Ahilyabai - Richard and Sally Holkar. Their first initiative was Rehwa, founded in 1978; Sally Holkar went on to establish Women Weave (WW) in 2003. These organisations have helped to revive the town’s handloom sari industry which had sunk into decline over the previous century. Since 1978, the number of weavers in Maheshwar has increased from three hundred to over 7,000 at the time of writing. (fig 4) The Handloom School From 2009 onwards, Women Weave held individual workshops to teach entrepreneurial skills and English to young females based in the area and male weavers; by 2013, a fully-fledged school had been established which is now known as The Handloom School (THS). The curriculum was put together by Sally Holkra in conjunction with two design graduates of NID, who also teach on the course, and a professional educator. It includes lessons on business skills, communication and IT, technical up gradation and design. An advisory board was set up comprised of experts from the marketing, design, education and industry sectors. The male students are recruited from all over India, identified by local NGOs or the Government of India Weavers’ Service Centres. Each batch numbers between ten and fifteen students. THS aims to promote handloom as a sustainable livelihood opportunity in rural areas across India, many of which are subject to extremely low wages. Sally Holkar’s belief is that, “if we train young talented weaver men to become business weavers capable of dealing directly with the market rather than through middlemen, we are at the same time perpetuating their skill, enhancing their income earning abilities and bringing together an all-India team of weavers which is relevant to the market.” The success of Rehwa and WW has made Holkar realise the value of handloom around the world; as a result, THS aims to expand its influence to weaving clusters throughout India. (fig 5) The students’ days are divided into classes in the morning and weaving in the afternoons. After six months on the campus, they pursue internships directly with clients, or they work on orders from THS. A useful example of an internship is that offered by ecommerce site, jaypore.com; students spend a week or two at the company’s office learning how the company runs its online business and are familiarized with design, production and quality. Fabrics woven as orders from THS are showcased at the ‘Buyer Seller Meet’, an event held in Delhi shortly after the end of the course, and attended by existing clients of Women Weave as well as potential clients. Profits from sales are reinvested into running the course. As well as generating sales, the event enables the weavers to learn about the market they are aiming at and to develop their communication skills with clients. Some General Insights The range of experiences of design and business education is broad among the graduates of each institute. My study is not comparative because each institute has different aims, and they have been going for different lengths of time. THS began more recently, thus it is difficult to make any concrete claims for its impact – true also for the advisers who conduct evaluations after each batch. Recruiting students from all over India has meant, however, that some graduates find it difficult to implement their learning in their local region after graduation. SKV on the other hand, with its focus on Kachchh, can make the teaching relevant to the students’ lives and local ways of learning. The other significant difference between the two institutes is cost. In its first year, KRV first paid artisans a stipend but by the third year it was charging students fees in order to be sustainable and to encourage artisans to value education. The location and the spread of the classes over time means that students are not kept away from any ongoing work for too long. But at THS because many of the weavers are from very poor families, taking six months away from their home is a huge investment; they simply could not attend if they weren’t subsidised. Therefore THS doesn’t charge students and pays them a weekly subsidy, the equivalent of what they would usually make from their weaving work. Funds come from a mixture of donors, the Government, and profits made from orders but sustaining sufficient funding continues to be a challenge. In Kachchh, I witnessed the directions taken by graduates – which in most cases was the continuation of the craft into a successful business. Increased income is evident in buildings of new houses, expansion of workshops and sending children to good schools. Several graduates have had the opportunity to travel abroad and showcase their products in high profile fairs such as Santa Fé International Folk Art Fair in the USA; for Dayalal Kudecha, an SKV graduate and permanent faculty member, this event brought in three times the amount he would earn in a year the first time he exhibited there. His work and that of SKV graduates Khalid Amin (block printer) and Aziz Khatri (tie-dye artisan) was featured in The Fabric of India exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2015-16). The success of THS graduates was relayed to me by Sharda Gautam (THS director in 2016) and by some of the sponsors. Gautam anticipated that they would not clearly see the impact on individual weavers until five years after they graduate but he noted some initial findings. Firstly, most graduates had been successful in adapting to new yarns, techniques, materials and sizes of warps. He added that “80% achieved good quality, zero defect fabrics.” Interviews with graduates also suggested that they found new techniques important for increasing value and versalitity, leading to increased market opportunities. Mudassir is an example of a weaver in Maheshwar who is running his own enterprise and incorporating new techniques. According to Holkar, weavers’ understanding of colour is greatly increased; prior to the course, most didn’t know that “mixing blue with red makes purple.” Both Gautam and Holkar felt that the students’ knowledge of English knowledge hadn’t achieved the standard that they had aimed at but that weavers could at least understand English better and had perfected their introduction as well as ‘golden words’: key business and weaving-related terms. Most students became more confident about talking about themselves and their work in their own language during the course which helped continuing communication with fellow graduates and staff via Whats App. Advisory Board member, Neelima Rao, reported the weavers’ increased confidence when communicating with buyers. She was surprised at how comfortable the weavers seemed in a wealthy Delhiite’s home at which one of the Buyer Seller Meets was held. Her preconceived idea was that they would feel “on the back foot” because of the traditionally low status of weavers, commenting that, “essentially what we wanted to break away from [that], for them to come to the level of the market, to not feel they were anything less than anybody - all of those things we didn’t know if the curriculum was doing…It was really rewarding to see that it did work.” This was seconded by Mehmud Ansari, a weaver from Chanderi, who added, “We got the confidence to speak to buyers. We were made to speak in front of everyone so that made me more confident about the products.” Among THS’s success stories are two graduate weavers from Mubarakpur whose study was facilitated by the Varanasi branch of the All India Artisan and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA). After graduating, they set up a Self Help Group (SHG) and manage a group of twenty weavers; they replaced the two AIACA members to manage marketing and communication, and help other weavers with production. Four weavers from Rajasthan, sponsored by the NGO, Rangasutra, Bikaner, also went onto set up their own enterprise. Valuing and verbalizing traditional and new knowledge SKV graduate (2015), Pachan Premji Siju lives in Bhujodi. He has been weaving fulltime since the death of his father when he was in Class 7 (primary) forced him to leave school in order to support the family. When his older brother, Purshottam, who graduated from SKV in 2008, introduced new designs, materials and colours to their production, Pachan was not convinced they would be successful. His opinion at the time was that “the more pattern in the design, the higher the value,” and he stubbornly refused to learn new ideas, saying “I will design with my own mind and be happy with it.” After years of economic struggle, Purshottam and his older brother, Danji, decided that Pachan should get some understanding of design and he eventually joined SKV when the family was able to support him. Pachan worried that his lack of literacy and numeracy would hold him back on the course but was encouraged by his teachers who said to him “you know your craft - you’re not a student, you’re an artisan.” He worked closely with Pravin, a fellow student on the course and a B.Com graduate. Pachan had a higher level of technical skills and would help Pravin with weaving, and in return, Pravin would assist him with reading, writing and calculating costs. Commenting on the experience, Pachan said, “Initially I couldn’t understand what use [the course] would be for me. They used to give us tasks, like to go and collect some leaves and flowers from the garden. I would say “we are weavers, what use is this for us?”” They were asked to draw from the objects they had collected which helped Pachan to realise, “that everything we put into weaving comes from nature.” He also learnt what colours worked for which market. Pachan won the ‘Most Marketable’ award for his ‘Treasures of the Sea’ themed collection, judged by a group of highly reputed professionals, including Ritu Kumar, Anuradha Kumra (Fabindia), Geeta Ram (Crafts Council of India) and Reena Bhatia (Faculty member, M.S. University, Baroda). Ritu Kumar purchased some of Pachan’s pieces for her fashion show, held the following year in Jaipur. (fig 6) When I visited brothers Pachan and Purshottam Siju with filmmaker Shradha Jain, to film interviews, Pachan eagerly got out his pieces to show us. Like a lot of weavers in Kachchh, it was important for him to talk about and show his traditional products. The dupatta he had made during the marketing class combined the styles of both the Rabari dhablo which is black and white, and the Ahir dhablo which is multi-coloured, by using black and white in the warp and weft and bright colours in the extra weft patterning in the end panel and long borders (sachikor), with herringbone stitch (machikantho) down the middle to join the two pieces. His explanation of how he came up with the concept demonstrated how Pachan had learned to intellectualise the inherent design concepts in his traditional work and make his tacit knowledge explicit. (fig 7) His confidence had also increased. Prior to studying at SKV course, he was afraid of talking to customers in the family’s shop, leaving Purshottam to deal with them; now he will happily meet and greet clients, and enjoys explaining his design concepts to them in the shop and at exhibitions. Where co-design partnerships have taken place, graduates have the courage to assert their ideas and confidence in their input, thus making partnerships between weaver and designer-clients reciprocal. Dayalal Kudecha said that before studying at SKV he relied “100% on the designer”’ but now in collaborative projects it is fifty-fifty on colour, technique, motif and layout. Social media has been instrumental in connecting artisans with the market and designers for collaborative projects, too. If clients are unable to visit the workshop, pictures and videos are exchanged; seeing the process enables the client or designer to understand it and appreciate the time it takes to weave products. The challenges that have arisen out of working with commercially-led, often fast-fashion markets have forced the weavers to meet a new set of demands, very different to those for local clients for whom they made one-off bespoke pieces only when they were needed. The combination of knowledge and pride in their tradition, or rather selected aspects of tradition that weavers believe determine their identity, and a new set of skills and knowledge of contemporary design concepts, builds the weavers’ cultural capital as well as confidence, self-awareness and social mobility. Furthermore, their increased access to the urban and global market through contact with visitors, travel and social media enables them to promote and position their traditional product and story within a ready market while managing diverse identities that are influenced by a mix of the local and popular culture as well as ideas of ‘Indianness’ and an increased global awareness. Work choices and ambitions In 2016, prominent master weaver, Shamji Vishram Valji, from Bhujodi village, Kachchh, estimated that fifty percent of traditional weavers in Kachchh now choose alternative occupations. Indeed, members of his family had done so, as well as other members of weaving families I met during my research. The majority of graduates of SKV and KRV, are keen to continue their traditional occupation and take it in a new direction. For many weavers whether graduates or not, in the more isolated villages of northern and eastern Kachchh, weaving is preferred to agricultural labour or working in a factory. Weaving allows them to work at home, manage their own time and receive the help of family members. Furthermore, there is a strong sense of pride in their hereditary occupation and a faith in the importance of their service (seva). Conversely, numerous weavers across India, particularly those who have been exposed to new opportunities, find weaving boring and irrelevant to them; some view being stuck at home as being powerless, as Venkatesan’s study of the Pattamadai mat weavers reveals. She argues that the motvation behind interventions in the craft are based on idealised notions of historic village crafts that compel weavers to continue their craft to uphold this image. In many weaving areas of India, weavers are striving to escape their traditional identity to get away from its association with backwardness and low social status. Since Independence there has been increased access to formal higher education for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Castes (OBC), the categories to which most weavers belong. In common with others classified as SCs and OBCs, many weavers aspire to a government job after college but due to the high level of competition, government corruption and their lack of social capital few have succeeded. This was confirmed in interviews with students conducted at SKV by visiting faculty member, Usha Prajapati, who reported that, “for me, the best thing I liked about the whole thing was that students were saying “we don’t want to join college, because there is so much competition we might not get a very good job.”” They view formal schooling as a way to improve a household’s economic position and the family’s cultural capital. This can lead, however, to the decline in their craft and their identity as weavers. Despite influential figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore promoting the belief that education should be relevant to an individual’s local context, the separation between school and college education and their traditional occupation is expressed strongly by weavers . This dilemma is articulated by Kumar in her study of the Ansari weaving community in Banaras where basic literacy and numeracy are valued as they enable the weavers to write receipts, complete forms and manage general business activities. But Ansari leaders express the concern that young weavers, if continuing to higher education, will escape their hereditary profession. Reaching higher education is rare, however, among weavers; many, particularly in poorer areas, fail to pass 10th standard which is the basic entry requirement – a fact also noted by Kar among Sambalpuri weavers in Orissa. Even those who have passed 10th standard often can’t afford the risk of leaving the family business to continue in higher education, or to try for a job. The death of a parent constrains them further still, as Pachan’s story (above) reveals. THS and SKV provide alternatives to the existing options of working for a master weaver or pursuing college education. Unlike the Indian Institutes of Handloom Technology (IIHT) – there are nine in all across India - which offer a curriculum that focuses on science and technology, and train traditional weavers and others as technicians in mills, THS works at grassroots level and encourages weavers to remain in their cluster. They help the weavers to improve their capabilities and to create opportunities in their craft as well as generating employment and economic capacity in their cluster. The fact that THS is free and provides a stipend for those suffering hardship encourages recruitment. This provision has enabled several poor students to pursue their education but has meant that some students from more stable financial circumstances take the aims of the course less seriously. For example, Mansukh, from Kotay village, and a graduate of THS, was still planning to return to school to re-sit the 10th standard which he had failed, in the belief that it would improve his opportunities in education and employment. Similarly, Kamlesh from Gujarat, was weaving part-time while studying for a BA in Sanskrit before attending THS. During the course he had expressed plans to start a weaving business but a year on is working as a distributor for cell phone company, Idea. This challenges THS; their admission criteria do not exclude non-traditional (or first-generation) weavers, or weavers who are not practising full-time – all of whom are perhaps less likely to be fully committed to handloom as an occupation. It is noteworthy that Mansukh and Kamlesh were both unmarried at the time they were interviewed; without financial responsibilities they would have been under no pressure to rush into a job. The limitations of this essay do not allow for discussion of issues surrounding gender among weaving communities in India; suffice to say that women of the same age as Mansukh and Kamlesh experience very different expectations and responsibilities. A glimpse into the life of Bhavna Sunere, a young weaver in Maheshwar, provides an insight into the challenges faced by women. Choices for women: Bhavna Sunere Bhavna is an hereditary weaver from Malaharganj village which borders Maheshwar. After graduating with a BSc in Maths and Science, she started teaching at a local college and having secured a coveted Government job is an exception among those weavers who have gone through formal college education. She now plans to study for an MSc in Maths. Her family works under master weavers and have a relatively low income. Prior to attending the Women Weave (WW) workshops in 2011, Bhavna didn’t think too much about weaving; it had always been there in the family and she would generally weave in the evening after college, supporting her father and grandparents, or working on her own loom which helped to fund her studies. She identified the transformative effect of the WW workshops, commenting that, “If I didn’t do the weaving course, I wouldn’t have completed studies at all,” and is now interested in starting her own weaving business. It will be something that she will have to fit in alongside teaching, studying and her domestic duties; she has taken charge of running the household since her sister married and her mother became unwell. Her dedication and ambition is admirable. (fig 8) In his work on informality and labour supply in the Banaras industry, Basole gives a fitting analogy for the importance of manual or traditional skill as a sort of insurance: a poori-sabzi (popular Banarasi breakfast) vendor insisted on teaching his sons the skills of his trade, despite them both attending school, because his view was that, ‘“with a skill in his two hands, he will always be able to feed himself.”’ Many weavers in Maheshwar view their skill as just that - a back-up, a way to bulk up their income, or to fall back on should other career paths fail. But ultimately the decision to continue weaving, whether by innovating and branching out to new markets, or to continue weaving plain cloth for the Government, rests on two main factors: a sense of identity which connects weavers to heritage and tradition; and economic necessity. Conclusion In this essay, I have shown how design and business education for traditional weavers in India is challenging the divides and disparities that exist between artisans and the contemporary urban and global market. In narrating some of the experiences of graduates of both THS and SKV, I have attempted to highlight some of the successes and challenges facing both the institutes and weavers. Pachan’s experience demonstrates how SKV helped him to intellectualise his traditional knowledge, reigniting his interest in his craft, increasing the value of his work and enabling him to gain recognition; according to Frater if artisans don’t get this, “they will leave craft, and they should leave craft in my opinion.” The aspirations of students and graduates of THS vary according to their economic, social and cultural backgrounds, which in turn vary because students come from all over India. Weavers in Maheshwar benefit from the continuing support of WW and THS because of their proximity. Although new IT and phone technologies have enabled communication with weavers from different parts of India, those in remote areas still have to rely on the their local NGO for intermediary support; markets and buyers are less accessible which inevitably affects their level of recognition. The school is still in its infancy and according to the director, it may take two to three years for the graduates to absorb their learning at THS. Both institutes help weavers to realise the value in handloom, thereby increasing their future choices; they also show weavers that their traditional occupation can bring recognition, respect and a good income. But it is also important to consider the market’s reception and perception of graduate artisan-designers, as Frater reports, “Many times the jury if they are new people, they’re surprised. They have no idea that artisans can think!” It would be useful, therefore, if craft narratives and debates were to go beyond thinking about craft and design as fixed categories, and if the weavers themselves were involved in these narratives and debates. Sustainable futures in handloom will depend not only on the new knowledge, skills and confidence that design and business education may provide but also on the markets recognising diverse knowledge, creativity and capabilities, whereby the outcome is not only the end product. References Kawlra, A. (2014) ‘Duplicating the local: GI and the Politics of “Place” in Kanchipuram’, Perspectives in Indian Development. Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/7635756/Duplicating_the_Local_GI_and_the_Politics_of_Place_in_South_India. Footnotes Herzfeld, M. (2004) The Body Impolitic: Artisans and Artifice in the Global Hierarchy of Value. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Mamidipudi, A., Sayamasundari, B. and Biker, W. (2012) ‘Mobilising Discourses: Handloom as Sustainable Socio-Technology’, Economic and Political Weekly, 47(25). See: McGowan, A. (2009) Crafting the Nation in Colonial India. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Mathur, S. (2011) ‘Charles and Ray Eames in India’. College Art Association, pp. 34–53. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=66893347&site=ehost-live. Deepali, D. (2001) Crafting Knowledge and Knowledge of Crafts: Art Education, Colonialism and the Madras School of Arts in Nineteenth-Century South Asia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. Mitter, P. (1994) Art and Nationalism in Colonial India, 1850 - 1922: Oriental Orientations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. See: Chatterjee, A. (2005) ‘Design in India: The Experience of Transition’, Design Issues, 21 (4), pp. 4–10. doi: 10.2307/25224014. Kumar Vyas, H. (1991) ‘The Designer and the Social Technology of Small Production’, Journal of Design History, 4(3), pp. 187–208. Mishra, R. N. (2009) Silpa in Indian Tradition: Concept and Instrumentalities. New Delhi: Aryan Books International in association. See Mathur, 2011. See: Wintle, C. (2017) ‘Diplomacy and the Design School: The Ford Foundation and India’s National Institute of Design’, Design and Culture. Routledge, pp. 1–18. doi: 10.1080/17547075.2017.1322876. Clarke, A. J. (2016) ‘Design for Development, ICSID and UNIDO: The Anthropological Turn in 1970s Design’, Journal of Design History, 29(1), pp. 43–57. doi: 10.1093/jdh/epv029. See: Chatterjee, 2005 (#5 above). Ghose, R. (1989) ‘Design, Development, Culture, and Cultural Legacies in Asia’, Design Issues. MIT Press, 6(1), pp. 31–48. doi: 10.2307/1511576. See: Edwards, E.M. ‘The role of veilcloths among the Rabaris of Kutch, Gujarat, western India’. Costume, 43 (2009), pp.19-37. Frater founded Kala Raksha Trust with Prakash Bhanani in Sumerasar village, Kachchh, in 1991, to preserve and promote the traditional arts of the region. See: http://www.kala-raksha.org/trust.htm Interview with Judy Frater, January 2016. Interview with Sally Holkar, July 2016. The school has had one complete batch of female weavers from the local area, and four batches of male weavers from both the local area and different parts of India. The social restrictions on women limit them from studying away from home or becoming entrepreneurs in their own right. Aside from northeast India, handloom weaving is dominated by men, carried out in rural areas in workshops attached to the home; women support weaving with part-time activities such as warping and bobbin winding which they can do alongside domestic chores. Interview Shilpa Sharma, CEO of jaypore.com, July 2016. Educationalist Feruzan Mehta, one of THS’s advisory board members, conducts interviews with the weavers after they have completed the course to understand their experience of it and to determine any modifications necessary for the following batches Interview via Skype: June 2016. The introduction of fees after the first few years allowed potential students to understand the reason for them and enabled them to see the benefits of paying for education after seeing the success of the alumni. Sponsorship by a donor organisation is available to those unable to afford the fees. Interview with Judy Frater and weaver, Shamji Vishram Valji: January 2016 nterview with Sharda Gautam, July 2016. Sharda has since left THS. Interview with Sally Holkar, July 2016. Interview with Neelima Rao, January 2017. Interview with weaver, Mehmud Ansari, July 2016. Interview with Vidushi Tiwari, project manager, AIACA’s Varanasi Weavers and Artisans Society, September 2016. Interview with weaver Pachan Premji Siju: August 2016. Kar, S. K. (2012) ‘Knowledge process of rural handloom community enterprise’, Society and Business Review, 7(2), pp. 114–133. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17465681211237592. Interview with Dayalal Kudecha, January 2016. Pachan was recently part of a group of weaver-graduates of SKV who collaborated with students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Human Ecology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH1LpfaD8Mg SKV strongly encourages an understanding of low and high quality but the popularity of the ‘Kachchhi shawl’ (a re-interpretation for the popular market of a regional tradition that expresses cultural identity), and the increase in selling platforms, including exhibitions, e-commerce sites and notably, fashion and home brand Fabindia, has led many weavers in Kachchh to mass-manufacturing. Kasturi describes this as ‘manufacturing tradition through industrial production.’ See: Kasturi, P. B. (2005) ‘Designing Freedom’, Design Issues. The MIT Press, 21(4), pp. 68–77. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25224020. Judy Frater also discusses the issue of scale on her blog: https://threadsofidentity.wordpress.com/2015/07/05/scaling-out-an-answer-the-question-who-are-the-workers/ See: Hobsbawm, E. and Ranger, T. (1992) The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge University Press. See: Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distincton: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London and New York: Routledge. Venkatesan, S. (2010) ‘Learning to weave; weaving to learn ... what?’, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 16, pp. S158–S175. doi: 10.2307/40606070. Interview with Usha Prajapati, February 2016. See: Bordieu, 1984. Jeffrey, C., Jeffery, R. and Jeffery, P. (2004) ‘Degrees without Freedom: The Impact of Formal Education on Dalit Young Men in North India.’, Development & Change. Wiley-Blackwell, 35(5), pp. 963–986. Available at: http://10.0.4.87/j.1467-7660.2004.00388.x. Kumar, N. (2000) Lessons from Schools: The History of Education in Banaras. New Delhi: Sage, p.125. Interview with Bhavna Sunere, July 2016. Basole, A. (2014) ‘Informality and Flexible Specialization: Labour Supply, Wages, and Knowledge Flows in an Indian Artisanal Cluster’. St. Louis: Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. Available at: http://search.proquest.com/docview/1698749082?accountid=14693 Interview with Judy Frater, January 2016. Interview with Judy Frater, July 2015. List of illustrations Fig 1: Apprenticeship in weaving at Bhujodi; weavers Prakash and Jyantilal overseeing the first warp. Fig 2: Jyantilal Premji Bokhani demonstrating the hand-throw shuttle loom (haat sar). Fig 3: SKV design batch of 2015 working on their logos. Fig 4: THS students taking inspiration from the carved stone decoration of the fort. Fig 5: Dibya Darshikusum and Shahid Ansari, students of THS batch 4, practising different weaving techniques. Fig 6: Pachan’s presentation to the SKV jury: Anuradha Kumra (Fabindia) examining a silk sari. Fig 7: Traditional dhablo woven with un-dyed, hand-spun sheepwool beneath a dupatta woven by Pachan on the SKV course. Fig 8: Bhavna Sunere with her father, Santosh; her paternal grandparents (dadi and dada) are in the background.When the Managing Director of Nagaland Handloom and Handicrafts Development Corporation, wanted me to come to Dimapur to explore a design assignment, I was both thrilled and apprehensive. Thrilled because I always wanted to visit the interiors of North East India and wanted to savour the sights and crafts of the place first-hand. Apprehensive because like all common people, I was worried if the place was safe from terrorism and whether I would be able to do a successful project in an alien culture with an unsure set of artisans. As the flight was descending down upon Dimapur on mid-summer morning, I was amazed at the greenery I could see from the skies and I was as excited to land as the Japanese couple sitting next to me and was raring to go. When I met the friendly face of the co-ordinator, all my fears disappeared. I knew I was going to enjoy my stay there. When one refers to Nagaland, it is always about the place, its greenery, its mountains, its cuisine, its proximity to other cultures all over the world, etc. Of course, Nagaland has been well endowed. But what struck me first, about the place was the genuine friendliness of the people. Not the polite, Delhi-type of friendliness, but gregarious. They all have a great sense of humour, a life style that is more laid-back than most and an easy-going nature that makes any outsider comfortable. My project was to assess the skills of the artisans of the cluster, Nagarjan, identified by the NHHDC and see their product range. After assessing the skills, I had to design products that will match the skill-sets with the kind of products markets all over the country and also abroad will like to buy. As a designer, I found the challenge both exciting and interesting. In my first visit, I met a range of artisans who were into a variety of products. Products ranged from the ethereal to the practical. On one hand- a carved chair that resembled an eagle which took 2 months to make by one artisan and on the other hand a simple rice plate that is carved out of local wood which is used for daily eating. | |
The Eagle chair | The Rice plate |
There were also a lot of other products that were made for the local markets and the emporiums. These include Spears and spear holders, small shelves, corn leaf decorations, boxes and similar decorative items. | |
Traditional Crafts: Dolls made of Corn leaf, Bowls, Mithun head Plaques | |
Design Approach My task as a designer was cut out for me. I had to use these skills of carving and carpentry that these wood artisans of Nagarjan were so familiar with and design products that the markets in Delhi and other places will enjoy buying and gifting. In this task, I had keep in mind that these products should not lose the Naga identity which is so typical and yet make products that would be universally appealing. Moreover, I had decided to create a new range that will be less of a decorative product and more of a utility item. This way, there is a possibility of repeat purchase value for the products. My second and third visits to Dimapur consisted of two week stays. Each time I designed prototypes of new products at my Delhi studio and trained all the artisans to make these. There were several rounds of prototype development, so that artisans learnt to make these to perfection. After initial reticence, the artisans understood my approach. I took inspirations from museum pieces of the traditional tribal products of Nagaland. I researched the ancient objects of culture from Nagaland. I revived some motifs, borrowed some others from a variety of traditional products. Also designs and motifs from traditional animal shields, smoking pipes, jewellery and tattoo marks and patterns were chosen for products of utility like lamp bases, kitchen trays and photo-frames. Some techniques were retained in a new format. The artisans who made spears as give aways were trained to make photo frames with spears fixed on them. | |
Spears that are made for gifting | New design photo frame with small spear |
Artisans who decorated these spears with red and black dyed goat's hair were trained to use this technique for a new design of lamp base. | |
Goat's hair technique | New design lamp base |
Traditional motif of the bull's head, called the ' Mithun' in Nagamese, was used as a motif on a couple of kitchen products, to give commonplace products a Naga identity. | |
Spice Rack with Mithun head motif | New design Tray with animal motifs |
Since the Nagas are predominantly Christian, the product range also included some Christmas products like Candleholders and special photo frames with Christmas motifs. | |
Candleholders inspired by tribal jewellery forms
A brand was created to reflect the new range. |
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"KOHIMA", the brand was meant to identify these new products that are both aesthetically appealing to everyone, yet totally Naga in outlook and feel. The products were exhibited in the India Habitat Centre for feedback and orders. All products received some order or the other, which was heartening because it means that the design has been appealing to a cross section of people. Additionally, several were interested in exporting these products as well.This project gives a whole new meaning to cross-cultural interface. When the Naga statue lamp base reaches the bedrooms of the world, and people from various cultures eat out of the salad bowls, made in Nagarjan, I know my task has been done. | |
Photographs: A. Balasubramaniam / Shailan Parker © Copyrights: A. Balasubramaniam: [email protected] |
Design education in India has been wrested with a continuing contradiction of focus between the organised and unorganized sector since it was formally set up through various institutions across the country. Through the socialist economic model of development to its integration into global business, the argument of social responsibility and hardcore commerce has lost the passion that it once aroused. The emerging wisdom has recognized that ultimately design ought to be integrated into the process of commerce and business. However, at a more intrinsic level of design approach and overall orientation, design education is distinctly inclined to cater to the organised sector of industry clientele. The potential for job opportunities, sustained patronage and predictable business structure are some of the reasons for this. The vast unorganized sector that includes handicrafts and sustains millions of artisans has not had its share of professional design intervention in actual practice. The reasons for such an imbalance are obvious. The organised sector has the ability to hire and sustain design expertise. The perceived opportunities of work and placement are greater and stable with enterprises. The process of delivery and nature of work profile is defined as well as limited to a role largely enabled and conceived through the nature of design education. The values, concerns and expectations of a life as a design professional are best met through metro centric work opportunities. Even the best of corporate organizations find it difficult to source quality professional expertise if the place of work is far removed from the popular metro destinations. Such a reality makes it all the more difficult for design education to instill in students a sense of equal or greater opportunities in craft sector. This is not to say that the issue is not addressed at all or that no designers get closely involved with craft sector. The concern is to determine the difference in approach and process of design intervention between a structured organised industry and craft sector as well as share experiences that qualify this essential difference in characterizing the approach in the structure of experience during design education. At an academic level, the reputed design institutes in India have strived to create a holistic dimension of Design as a process, method and coverage. The concerns through a world view realized from such an approach address the larger aspects of quality of life and the values that go with them cutting across all possible influences and structures that can be leveraged to achieve the larger developmental concerns of humanity. Design professional is almost seen as a bridge between the organizations and the world to project their ethical social concerns into products, services and processes. However, in practice a large part of these inherent concerns is diminished under the immediacy of business compulsions. Often the inherent academic structure, evaluation criteria and the organizational norms negate the potential opportunities in the minds of students. Handicrafts in India exist at different organizational and operational levels. The large part of craft exports from India is essentially carried out by firms, which are owner driven business houses with fair amount of mechanization and captive work force under direct control. The products involve lot of skilled handwork in predominantly finishing and assembly with low technology mass production. At the same time there are a multitude of traditional artisans who continue to produce small volumes of individually crafted products and artifacts across the entire rural belt of India. These are mostly dependent on small sales and marginal income. The diminished local markets, limited conduits for their wares to urban / global markets, unfamiliarity of market tastes and needs, little access to funds & working capital and lack of requisite capacity have made these crafts often unviable for survival. As a part of developmental responsibility, Government and Development Agencies have recognized Design as an important input for craft revival and sustenance. As a result a large part of funding & initiative in Design comes from these agencies. Majority of design initiatives are supported involving professional designers, design students and design institutions. Among many issues being addressed through such funding, new product development and training of artisans are entrusted to design professionals. There are very few initiatives with any significant impact from private sector in handicrafts. All design interventions in craft sector have a predominant product focus akin to the model of design services with private enterprise. The product outcome is tangible and hence measurable unlike initiatives that may be equally critical but intangible. The impact of such interventions is most often limited and excludes the artisan from the intellectual process of design and product development. Such initiatives also lack the focus on market linkages, positioning and requisite furtherance of the efforts to convert into business for the beneficiary artisans. While such initiatives have validity in terms of need to reinterpret crafts to match contemporary market reality, the actual value retention for the artisan is limited. Time investment by the designers is most often proportional to the funds available and defined outcome in the brief, which invariably is only in number of designs. The extent of familiarity on part of the designers to craft techniques, processes and ability of the artisans to explore and deliver distinct products determines the quality of outcome. At a human interaction level, the artisans are really the skilled resource to convert alien product / design ideas into prototypes with little or no insight into the complexities of such products and their possible use environment. Conflicts of ego, paradigm and resistance to change are expected in any situation where a new order is introduced before it is understood and accepted. The interaction between artisans and designers is not any different. The position of superiority and power assumes an opposite dimension where a designer generally subservient to the client dictates, assumes the role of the client as well. The creature comforts often become the irritants between the ideal and operational extent of involvement required from the designers. Is design intervention in crafts different from a typical design project with organised sector? There are some key differences in the recipients of design expertise, which characterize the need to address artisans differently. These differences are defined by the resourcefulness, scale of operations, control on the operations, opportunities, market network, enterprise, fund raising abilities, profitable business practices and organizational intelligence required to consciously conduct and develop business. These ingredients vital for linking any production or business activities to mainstream commerce are the ones, which are missing in the most part of craft production and artisans' mind set. It is important to interject the context of experiences based on which these observations have been made. National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi introduced a design programme in Fashion Accessories, which I was invited to conceive and implement in 1991. The programme was designed to include the unorganized production capabilities of Indian traditional artisans as an important resource in the supply chain envisaged for accessory products. The curriculum envisaged two courses focused on traditional crafts. The students got initiated to traditional crafts through field study as documentation of the larger socio-cultural and economic reality of traditional crafts in the 2nd year and followed it up with an interactive design development course with practicing artisans in the 3rd year. Christened as Craft Based Design Project undertaken by the 5th semester students in the Accessory Design Programme at NIFT. The structure of the interaction is designed to get the artisans at the design schools rather than send the students to the artisans. The assumption is that artisans are unhindered from their routine chores and are therefore, able to commit quality time with an opportunity to respond with open mind in a new and stimulating environment. Another factor is the costs involved in working other way round as well as the problems of creature comforts concerning students especially the issues of accommodation in rural parts. Incidentally, two of the eleven such interactions have had students being at the artisans' workplace for five weeks at a stretch with its own advantages of learning experience. Both these have been possible as they have been part of a larger project initiative by the faculty wherein this component of students involvement was envisaged and cushioned sufficiently with funds and requisite infrastructure on field. The typical approach and process that students are trained to apply to design & product development is based on the nuance that design initiatives must make meaning in the market place. This necessitates the process to articulate existing and emerging opportunities, positioning in terms of consumer/ market segment, price, retail and merchandise strategies, material and technical feasibility, influences and tastes as well as aesthetic & functional dimensions of the product range. Ability to anticipate and visualize the entire complexity of issues that can affect the design is single most concern through the approach that aids in mapping, analyzing and synthesis in the process of ideation and concept development. This approach which can be termed as design - marketing interface, is re-emphasized through increasing complexities of design projects for students to internalize the efficacy of the design process endorsed by the inherent philosophy and structure of design education curriculum. It is important to note that the experience, insight and synergy among the entire concerned design faculty to impart such a process and methodology is the most critical aspect of effective inculcation of the complexities of concerns that the methodology addresses. The process presupposes a specific and initiated client willing to commission design professionals in environment where many of the issues being addressed are either a continuous internal process within his organization or are ones that the client will provide inputs or judgment with a clear business direction in mind. The language and contents are familiar if not fully appreciated. The arguments that build around an approach or a product concept can be supported with understandable data; observations, insights and conclusions to help make decisions between designers and the clients that hire them. This is possibly the single most differentiator when design intervention is carried out with artisans who are not really the most informed lot capable of reflecting on any of the above issues with requisite exposure and intelligence. The onus therefore, is on the designer to assume a dual role of a creator and a critic of the new development. It is not to conclude that artisans are not capable of developing an entrepreneurial acumen and be equally informed to be in a position to determine the above issues. There are many successful artisans turned entrepreneurs who have done well to go beyond the traditional limits of their reach and have established markets across the country and even abroad. Still the large part of the traditional artisans is devoid of the business intelligence that is required to integrate their capabilities to mainstream commerce. How does the design process acquire a different nuance to address the craft sector? The design process involving students invariably requires substantial planning and operational structure to be put in place prior to interaction with artisans. The design faculty involved with such an initiative primarily carries this out well in advance. The selection of artisans is based on either specific brief from the funding agency or a strategic mix of materials, skills and techniques envisaged as possible combination. The decision to invite specific artisans is influenced by prior experience, recommendations of NGOs / local agencies and by actual on field interaction as a preparatory visit. The familiarity between students and artisans through field studies in craft documentation is often the effective manner of establishing continuity by inviting representative artisans from same areas. This however, needs to be planned ahead as there is a gap of almost one year between these two different interaction platforms. Effective correspondence, communication and confidence building in the minds of the artisans is critical to ensure not only their participation but also the entire purpose and requirements of materials, tools & related infrastructure needs. The student groups are briefed ahead of the actual interaction concerning the nature of crafts, techniques, materials, existing product range, intended directions and requisite groundwork to be done by the students. The detailed evaluation of crafts and their contextual potential is one of the important aspects studied and articulated as a part of the project brief. For example, quarrying of stones is getting difficult and hence it is important that the size of the products envisaged is kept in mind. Similarly, lantana as a raw material is available in abundance at low cost and can be used suitably. Such orientation is supported by visual & verbal presentations and intensive discussions. Tentative allocation of the artisan groups and student groups is finalised for the students to initiate related inquiry pertaining to the crafts. Students are often expected to communicate with the allocated artisan groups concerning specific requirements for artisans as well as themselves. Most importantly, the student and the artisan are termed as equal "Resource Persons" with joint responsibility of working together towards a specific outcome. This is very significant to establish equality of competence, which is different but collaborative as a process between the students and artisans. The design faculty (at least two) involved through the five to six weeks duration, interact with the various resource groups on different possibilities. Simultaneously, the artisan and the student groups carry out explorations through the materials, techniques and skills. While it is important to give exposure to the students about ground realities pertaining to artisans and their larger work environment, it is equally significant to orient the artisans to environments of the designers as well as actual consumers. The familiarity of the artisan with market place, competition, retail environment, similar production units and practices in urban business set ups is another dimension to create a dialogue around new possibilities with design student. The student and the artisan team often visit many of the above-mentioned situations to explore possibilities. The use of examples through products and experience help in effectively communicating the attributes and parameters required to respond to contemporary markets. These experiences also offer a set of aspirations that the artisan can strive to achieve in market reach, product possibilities as well as business practices. The nature of an intense and extensive dialogue between the collaborators facilitated by faculty attempts to cover every possible issue that needs to be accounted for as a sense of anticipation and design parameters. Metaphors and analogies are extensively used to ensure that both the student and artisan as collaborators appreciate the concerns to be addressed in new design possibilities. Often basic issues of using measuring tools effectively, understanding simple drawings, interpreting photographs, appreciating different aesthetic styles and similar seemingly simple capabilities are interspersed in the entire interaction to enhance effective appreciation of nuances that concern communication and meaning. Students on their part receive very pragmatic insights into methods, tastes and practices from the artisans. The issues with both collaborators are different but real and need to have synergistic outcome where both of them understand, appreciate and apply their minds and hands together as a team. The larger purpose of the interaction is to arrive at more insights and possibilities rather than just products. The experience culminates in form of a display of entire exploration to be presented to invitees representing some or the other interest related to crafts and artisans. This adds another dimension of learning for student and the artisan who face different people and their feedback, which while being encouraging most often, can also have surprisingly different response. There is a tendency to contain the artisans based on their skills and traditional expressions of their product manifestations. This often negates the potential and capability of the artisans to think and respond differently given the opportunity and environment. Artisans are as keen to incorporate their newer experiences and insights in their work. The Orissa painters used to making mat hangings with painted birds and animals are equally adept at interpreting high technology and urban products such as cameras, computers, McDonald burgers and cars with great precision, proportion and details. This was one of the recent outcomes of the collaborative process between the accessory Design students and artisans. While students were catalysts in initiating this new application of skills for gifting through the patronage of food chains or MNCs, mainly artisans contributed the realization of these amazing miniature objects. Similarly, the experience of developing footwear with the traditional Mojari makers from Rajasthan has been equally demonstrative of the application of minds jointly between students and artisans. While these platforms provide for a proactive design intervention in craft sector, they are limited by virtue of being part of a much larger design focus that includes product categories beyond crafts. The inherent focus of the design programme as is now, does not fully address the extent, intensity and depth required to make substantial impact in enhancing the all round capability of artisan to take independent design and product innovation initiative. Although almost all artisans who have participated in these design interaction workshops have, continued to explore the added insights beyond the workshops. Many of them have shared their new developments. The issue then is the development of genuine capacity of the artisan to restructure his capabilities in form of competitive and marketable products. Various training programmes and workshops aimed at such an education are too short and hence hardly create a new level of understanding. If the professional design programmes with best of selected and talented students require three to four years of full time education for them to become professionals, it is difficult to visualize any significant change through short bursts of training in the artisans who are far removed from the market context that they need to penetrate. Recent project initiatives in craft sector by Accessory Design Dept. of NIFT have attempted to address the aspect of capacity building of artisans. The approach in both the projects has been derived from the inherent abilities of design thinking that characterizes the potential of design application beyond products. In both the projects the focus has been to develop various capabilities that will initiate a proactive response from the artisan groups to understand, appreciate and apply nuances of contemporary market parameters to ensure competitiveness of their produce with better value realizations. The first initiative was taken up as a part of rehabilitation package for the artisans affected by the earthquake that displaced thousands of people around Kutch, Gujarat in 2001. The situation after the calamity was extremely different in terms of people's priorities, anxieties, response to outsiders and ability to receive any contribution beyond immediate needs. CARE India, the funding agency was also for the first time investing in design expertise as a part of rehabilitation initiative. The project was time bound with deadlines to meaningfully use the funds within the time frame of six months. Apart from design & product development, the main focus was on enhancing the artisans' capabilities concerning product knowledge, new techniques and methods for production, design interpretation abilities, quality concerns, aesthetic nuances of the contemporary markets, inter dependent production structures, skill based distribution of work, costing & pricing, exposure to markets & supply sources, consistency in production and overall orientation to the potential applications of their craft skills to various product categories along with an insight into the way the products actually are used by the customer in distinct markets. The project strategy also envisaged specialized facility center for certain production and finishing processes as a shared facility to add quality dimensions to the products. The students were involved at various stages of the implementation of the project for them to appreciate the larger context of applying design expertise although their main task was to develop new products over five weeks of intensive field interaction with the artisans. Over 25 training modules were carried out with artisan groups from basic understanding of measuring tools to introducing them to new techniques jointly by faculty team and students. As mentioned earlier this was the first of the two projects as a part of the module "Craft Based Design Project" carried out on the field. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the complications of coordinating the entire module spread over five villages around Anjar Block of Kutch involving 30 students and 250 artisans was extremely challenging. In absence of many habitable buildings and infrastructure damaged due to earthquake, the task of initiating and sustaining the morale was daunting. That two of the students continued to work for six more months for their final graduation projects funded by CARE INDIA was indicative of the extent of interest that such experiences generate in students to get involved with craft sector. The nature of activities and concerns being addressed in academic environment through various faculty initiatives has a direct bearing on the way students look at opportunities and their role as designers. While the project outcome was satisfying given the short time of six months, it was clear that it required long term follow up initiatives to consolidate and sustain the positive influences generated. This is most often the weak link in such assignments where requisite synergy between various agencies as well as expertise are found wanting. The lack of local NGO tie up, structures of self help groups, pragmatic business and market linkages and most importantly the actual feeling of ownership amongst the artisans are issues that often go beyond the realm of design expertise as practiced. It is extremely difficult to visualize any long-term impact that can be brought about to change the reality of craft sector to make it genuinely competitive and profitable through the prevailing structures of design education. Like any other business enterprise, the artisans can only be as good as their ability to convert market opportunities into a sound product and business response. Exposure to, understanding of and intelligence about the market place are among the many essential ingredients to ensure acceptable product offerings. While the artisan practices a particular craft, a designer is not so bound by a set of skills and techniques with definite product/artifact as an outcome determined by tradition. This is what differentiates the designer and the artisan. The entire premise of design for craft sector is based on the need for marketable products that fetch more value to the artisans. Design is by no means the only input that is necessary to ensure marketability. The factors are many including quality, raw materials, production capacity, schedules, packaging, promotion, finance, etc. Since the artisans practice a particular craft, the concern is predominantly to enhance and build on their specific capability. The ability to design is therefore restricted to its application on their prevailing skills, techniques and materials. What is required therefore is to interpret their material skills and techniques differently with the ability to generate a variety of applications that most suit the market needs. What will help the process of regeneration of craft activities is the conscious adaptability and change in methods and products. Any initiative to regenerate the artisan groups will need to focus on larger entrepreneurial abilities supported by a worldview that needs to be inculcated amongst them. The capabilities will need to be diverse and interdependent within the artisan groups, as different expertise requires different aptitudes. The current model of independent artisans as family unit will need to be replaced with more collective models of working to develop visible capacity. Unlike the design students in design institutes, the artisan is not in a position to devote sustained time and requisite financial resources. If the artisans have to benefit by any efforts aimed at strengthening their sustainability, it will have to be based on a simultaneous learn & earn model. The inputs for their learning will have to be within their context of craft practice with continuous demonstration through actual applications. The effectiveness of building any expertise including design amongst the artisans will largely depend on new models of imparting education and training to them. While the practiced design education models may have something to offer, the complexities of providing specialized education to the artisans where basic education is unavailable will require to be thought through as a new paradigm. |
MY EXPERIENCE AT THE KALA RAKHSHA VIDYALA Traditional crafts in India are having to redefine themselves due to the need to find new markets. A pioneering move in this direction has been the setting up of Kala Raksha Vidyalaya at Vandh in Kutch. There have been institutes to promote and uplift crafts before but a formal design school specifically for traditional craftspeople has been set up for the first time in India. When I was invited to teach there for a month I was excited, as I wanted to be part of this promising experiment. Having worked in the handicraft sector and conducted numerous design workshops before, one felt that although workshops are exciting and the results are fruitful in developing contemporary products, the percentage of new products actually being put into production are very small. There are numerous reasons for this
Teaching craftspeople design and marketing helped to look at these factors in depth. The module aimed at introducing improved management practices and market driven design development. In workshops designers are normally in control and steer the course of action, but it proved to be a greater challenge to get the craftspeople to come up with ideas and suggestions on their own. Over the years the craftspeople have also become too accustomed to be told by the designers what to do, so the normal response from them is “You just tell us what has to be made and we will do it” Being in the position of the teacher helped to look at each craftsperson as an individual, analyse their strengths and weaknesses and help them build their potential. This kind of time and space is not available in a design workshop. The craftspeople were taken on field trips to see high end stores selling craft products, interact with shop owners, visit the Calico museum. This drove home the point that the only way to empower them and make them think for themselves is to provide them the relevant exposure. The aim was to familiarize them with the changing market scenario and align them with new challenges and emerging opportunities. A lot has been done so far in terms of design but we are far behind in marketing the products. Issues like pricing, customer demand, quality, reliability, customer follow up, need for innovation were emphasized during the course. Other issues covered were market dynamics and application of modern marketing concepts and methods; effective production planning and cost optimization. In advanced session topics like finance planning and management the flow of funds as well as exposure to institutional support systems of government, banking sector etc. can be covered. A study of successful craft businesses needs to be taken up to understand best business practices specific to the crafts sector in India. Taking separate batches for men and women meant understanding their dissimilar contexts. The need and the kind of education required for the women is completely different from that for men. The women’s batch required a lot more involvement and handholding but their strength lies in the fact that they work better in groups. This programme has helped bridge the gap between the craftsperson and the designer each understanding the other better at the end of the process. It is a beginning of a process whose results will be fully realized over time. |
Each encounter with design students and practitioners these days acts as a reminder that design education is going places I have never been. The vocabulary used with such ease, and their assumption that I can follow it, makes me long for the bad old days when few understood why design should be taught or practiced. In those days, one searched for terms that could hasten understanding, as even 'design process' was considered obscure. Since then the language of design has been transformed by accelerating technology and the inter-disciplinary demands of a new age. The IT-inspired jargon is easy enough: digital design, design for digital experience, new media design, interface design, human/computer interaction and interactive design are examples. These now form streams of education along with others newcomers: accessory design, design for retail experience, smart design, sustainable design, green design, universal design (to guarantee equality of access), and even social design --- which, come to think of it, is what all design should be about anyway. Much of this language would have been Greek to those struggling to establish the design profession through Indian education back in the '60s and '70s. And if all that is not enough, the fashion industry has decided that India needs 'lifestyle'. The result: 'designer' has moved from noun to adjective, quickly challenging an earlier and cherished belief that design is about caring and service. A decade into a new century, these changes demand an understanding that extends beyond grappling with words.
What has changed?
The importance of language in education is, of course, profound. Changes in design vocabulary also reflect accelerating emphasis on interdisciplinary links for both learning and practice, and on the partnerships that have become essential in a more complex environment. For old-timers, some of this can be baffling. A notice displayed outside a university campus advertises a quick course on "Traditional and design process in India" (sic). What could that be? The Sunday paper carried an ad from another institution promoting a degree course of 18-months in "fashion communication". What on earth, I wonder again. The other day a PG design student came for advice on a project that would conclude her studies. I discovered that her project would in no way test her design abilities, and yet it would lead to a design degree. It would focus instead on social mobilization skills for which, as far as I could gather, her institution had provided no training. None of this seemed to trouble her. Was I missing something --- or was it the student, her teachers, as well as her institution?
When I joined NID in 1975, it took a school-leaver over five years to reach the proficiency required for a Diploma. At the post-graduate level, the minimum requirement was two full years. The products of that system today lead the profession, while today's trend is toward compressed schedules and faster turnover. So should the system change that produced the role models, or the attitudes that are changing the system? There are no simple answers, and perhaps my doubt is misplaced. Design education in India has for fifty years been going places where few have ventured. The road map educators now use may be therefore be more relevant than speculating on destinations wrapped in mist.
Then & Now
Tracing the history of design education in India most often begins with the 1958 India Report1 by Charles and Ray Eames and the subsequent creation of the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad in 1961. Yet its roots go deeper. The introduction of schools of fine art, engineering and architecture in the late 19th and early 20th century reflected the Arts & Crafts movement of William Morris which became the foundation for design education in Britain. The swadeshi movement, impelled by the ideas of Tagore and Gandhi, gave India its first design revolution and the first outlines of an Indian education that could be grounded in tradition while directed at the future. The contribution of NID and others was the adaptation of curricula developed at the Bahaus in pre-war Germany (and then at Ulm in Switzerland) to Indian need. The past fifty years have seen design education expand beyond Ahmedabad, first to the Industrial Design Centre at IIT (Powai) and then to serious institutions elsewhere, as well as through fashion institutions preoccupied with 'lifestyle'. (The recent proliferation of 'design tuition' bucket shops at every urban corner is symbolic of design's arrival as well as of current risks).
The emergence of design as a prized profession contrasts with the incomprehension that greeted the first batch of NID design graduates in 1975. In that protected market, design graduates of NID and soon from IDC were seeking jobs in a marketplace that understood designers to be either engineers or artists. The concept of an interdisciplinary profession specializing in generalization seemed absurd. Copying rather than problem-solving was an accepted understanding of 'design'. Today there are queues at every design campus for entry into a lucrative and often media-driven activity. This spread has been accompanied by transformations in technology, the jettisoning of older ideologies, and accelerating competition. Even in those early years, placement efforts revealed that design gains acceptance first wherever competition rules. The first design career opportunities for young Indian professionals emerged where competition was pushing the envelope. Exporters of engineering products, advertising agencies, and crafts threatened by mass the machine were the earliest design clients for young professionals. Indeed, it is competition that has made design an imperative beyond argument, putting a decisive end to what was once a "Why design? We can copy" syndrome.
A report card
India's design capabilities are totally globally respected, and its teaching institutions are ranked with the best. These reputations may reflect the success of India's initial pattern of design education more strongly than current trends and short-cuts. Yet the original system demanded time, as well as dedicated teachers with students of patience and stamina. Today's generation is in a hurry, both in academe and industry. So, fifty years on, what benchmarks can be used to assess the progress of design education in India's development? Do the transformations themselves constitute its report card, with an A+ for effort and at least a B for performance?
Despite incredible transformations and remarkable achievements, the challenge is daunting. Supply of designers lags well behind demand, even at a time of global slowdown. IT and the computer have transformed both education and practice. The need for numbers confronts the model of education established by pioneering institutions, where a high teacher-to-student ratio was a hard-won non-negotiable for quality. Accelerated demand now risks the threat of degree and diploma factories, with an accent on skill and quick turnover to fill positions vacant in industry. Yet if the environment is becoming more diverse and inter-disciplinary, will quicker turnovers in design schools provide the conceptual and analytical abilities needed to resolve increasingly complex needs? NID once admitted less than 30 students per year into an undergraduate programme of 5 years with a high student/teacher ratio. Its teachers were practicing professionals who dedicated lives, careers and earnings to the cause of a new profession. They had students who asked for more, not less, time to learn and qualify. That system worked: products of the 70s and 80s are today's design leaders with world-class credentials. Today's pressures and standards can make earlier commitments of teachers and students seem wildly impractical. NID has three campuses and some 900 students at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Some will spend only 18 months before qualifying for a design diploma, of which only 12 are spent on campus.
Challenges of scale are thus transforming the original concept of Indian design education as a process of learning and experience in which both time and the student-teacher relationship were fundaments of quality. That relationship has also been transformed as the computer opens new ways of learning, and the education task is increasingly seen as that of mentor and guide rather than that of demonstrator and guru. Or is that a facile assumption? Can anything replace the time and dialogue needed for analysis, exploration and experiment? Can internet surfing ever replaced apprenticeship with a practicing master? What might design education retain from its past as it moves into a new millennium that needs numbers no less than quality?
Scale is not the only challenge as Indian capitalism masquerades as its new socialism. The 'designer' adjective challenges the service ethic that brought the profession to India as a force for social transformation. That adjective and the fashion industry which created it dominate both the marketplace and public imagination. Its preoccupation with promoting an image of modernization that is dressed in the garb, hair and skin tones of New York and Paris constitutes a colonialism that Indian design has happily absorbed rather than countering it with alternatives of relevance and dignity. The future of design is thus also about the future of India.
Indian design education: the unacknowledged revolution
Today's educators can be reminded that design education in India helped introduce several revolutionary concepts. The first was the decision by NID's founders to buck the university system. They established an approach and curricula for professional education outside the grip of a rigid and obsolete university system. NID introduced a demanding curriculum that rejected exams and percentage marks for both admission and learning. It replaced these with creativity, professionalism, market experience and continuous evaluation. A second innovation was to attract young people into the design profession straight after school, and thus to encourage an openness to knowledge and learning before minds could be trapped by rigid systems of higher education. NID was among the first experiments of this kind anywhere in the world, and that too from within a 'Government' environment. While the Institute paid a huge price (in teacher's salaries, government grants and 'recognition') for offending the orthodox, the outcome is there for all to see. A third revolution was to introduce the concept of professional education --- learning through hands-on experience of real-life problems, with the marketplace of actual clients brought directly into the classroom and studio by practicing professionals. Designers emerged as not just graduates but as young professionals with a body of work of proven, marketable quality. In this, NID and other design schools have made a phenomenally important contribution to educational reform and to the promotion of inter-disciplinary attitudes. Today these approaches are recognized as essential well beyond design education. The recent national debates stimulated by the Yash Pal Committee and Minister Kapil Sibal's efforts at reform underline the visionary and pioneering quality of India's experiment with design education. That quality is still undervalued, even within its own community, as pressures continue for 'deemed university status' --- the very trap from which NID's founders had set it free more than fifty years ago.
The stress on inter-disciplinary teamwork as essential to design practice --- the designer functioning within a team, never solo --- has been a common denominator throughout. It came with the integration of Indian experience into a curriculum borrowed from the West. It drew on older establishments of architecture, engineering and art (which had helped produce India's first industrial designers and the 'commercial artists' who were the first expressions of Indian graphic design), as well as on experience in Europe and North America following the Bauhaus and Ulm experiments. It focused on three broad streams: product design (products made by machine and by hand, furniture design, ceramic design), textile design (for both mill and hand production) and communication design. The latter sought to sharpen and strengthen what was known as commercial (or applied) art with the technology and science of graphics, photography, film-making, and printing. Colleges of engineering and architecture offered partners and links that developed as design education extended its reach through professional practice, later moving directly into these institutions. The Industrial Design Centre (IDC) at IIT Powai, IIT Delhi and New Delhi's School of Architecture were trailblazers.
Past forward
Did the past anticipate the astonishing changes that have taken place in India during the years since 1961, and perhaps more dramatically in the past two decades? Were today's needs and challenges within the imagination of India's design education pioneers? Looking back in order to look forward can be a challenge at many levels, raising question after question. Has the original concept of design education lost relevance with the pace of technical and market change? Can teachers and students of design leap-frog the intense interaction that was once seemed so necessary for inter-disciplinary problem-solving? What does this demand of educators who may no longer have the opportunity to mentor students through several cycles of practical experience? Or possess the same willingness for personal sacrifice? Does design education need to shift toward design training, with an emphasis on skills rather than concepts, and the ability to access knowledge through surfing the net? And what about the crisis of poverty and identity that brought design education into India in the first place? When will design finally emerge as India's instrument of genuine change and empowerment? Can it resist rather than promote the mindless mimicry of irrelevance and of bad taste, dressed as modernization and imported from elsewhere? Will Indian design ever return to service, and redefine 'lifestyle' the way Gandhi once did?
In fact, the decades of change do indeed underline the relevance of the vision that pioneered design education in India, echoed in the mission set out in at least three milestones: the 1958 India Report of Charles and Ray Eames, the Thapar Review Committee Report on NID (1973), and the Ahmedabad Declaration on Industrial Design for Development (1979) that emerged from the first UN conference on design held in that city as a tribute to its design pioneers. Each of these articulations anticipated the speed of market change, the importance of inter-disciplining teamwork, of education that built minds capable of brave and strategic choices, and above all of design as a force for human development and confidence. All three documents are also uncomfortable reminders, in pre-occupations with shining design, of the balance that is still required if the design profession is to serve the needs of many Indias. Who then is to define and prioritize those needs?
Design's jury
The revolution in education fostered by the Indian experiment would suggest that the first place in which to seek future directions is the market. What is the impact on teaching quality of the past decade or more? What is industry's expectation today of a design teacher? Are design graduates delivering the service their clients require after emerging from compressed schedules, new disciplines, and very different classroom situations and transformed teacher-student relationships? Is there a need for the original intensive programme to be retained as one option among many? Where and how are design teachers to be created to match the rush of design students? Is there a need for distinct streams of teacher training that can meet the demand for numbers as well as retain the importance of thought and guidance in nurturing quality? Is there a need for a better distinction between education that creates enlightened problem-solvers and training that can provide skills and numbers?
One looks for answers to the stakeholders most directly impacted by 50 years of design education. The first are clients of design, at every level of Indian industry. How have their needs evolved? How well are Indian designers delivering in a hugely competitive market, in which design is often the cutting edge for survival and growth? Some feedback may already be available in the fora where designers and organized industry meet. Design awards and a National Design Council are among these opportunities. Yet it is unlikely that the needs of smaller enterprises, of the craft sector (the largest Indian employer after agriculture), or of teachers, doctors and farmers are ever heard at such gatherings. While India may be an agrarian economy, agriculture has never been in the forefront of design practice. Although the craft sector has become a rich area of design expression. There are still no systems available to bring artisans and designers together in a sustained, long-term relationship. Unlike the scintillating career prospects that are being demonstrated in engineering, media and fashion, the social challenge remains the elephant in the room.
After industry, we need to hear from users. How would the Indian consumer rate the designer's contribution to her life? Which consumers should one talk to ---- those with 'footfall' in the shopping malls with their overwhelming influence on current perceptions? Or the millions daily endangered by pollution, adulteration and unaffordable prices? Despite a growing consumer movement, the Indian consumer and the Indian designer do not share a space for dialogue.
Practicing designers may be the most critical members of a national design jury. An encouraging indicator is their increasing engagement in education. As stakeholders, they have the decided advantage of perspective. Many have emerged from the old, intensive school of design education yet live each day with current realities. Not a few have the vision and idealism of their teachers as well as a thoroughly practical wisdom. With one foot in the real world and another in education, design graduates are an immediate and informed resource for understanding where design education has brought us, and where it needs to go. Their experience may be the best bridge on the past-forward road, the one best equipped to envision the future.
Design for need
Dialogue on design education that can embrace these three stakeholder groups --- industry, consumers, design professionals --- must also take into account those still missing from the table: agriculture and the social sector. A major failure within India's design movement is the comparative neglect --- in education, application and career opportunity --- of design service to these sectors that unquestionably represent the largest areas of Indian need. There have been brilliant demonstrations of what design can do for livelihood generation, craft transformation, women's empowerment, education, health, lifting the quality of life of Indian children, and in design for conservation and cultural identity. A limitation has been that these opportunities vest largely with NGOs still new to marketing as a discipline, and therefore to design. Few have either the experience or the resources to absorb design services optimally. Government departments, while awakening to design, are usually incapable of providing careers that can survive red tape and corruption. Some international donors have emerged as important clients for social design - setting standards of remuneration in the social sector that have little relevance when service must move to Indian clients working on Indian budgets.
Making a career of design service in the social sectors can thus be very difficult. Support systems familiar in organized industry do not exist, despite the indications of what can and should be done. An incredibly rich source has been put together by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), which has combed the Indian hinterland for innovative approaches at solving major problems. A wealth of creative solutions has been harvested, awaiting design entrepreneurship. Incubation of ideas and efforts at NID and elsewhere add to this potential through recent demonstrations such as Kranthi Vistakula's development of climate sensitive fabrics transformed into garments that can deal with India's temperature extremes. The question is how to take ideas into successfully manufactured products, marketed at affordable prices. Answers are emerging and they point to partnerships that can bring design innovation and management together in the profit-making enterprises geared to basic needs. At Stanford University, Prof B Banerjee looked at India's horrifying rates of child mortality, sent his students to Bihar and elsewhere, and focused on the need for infant incubators that could reduce the enormous loss of life between rural locations and distant medical services. The result: an incubator that can function on pedal power, reducing incubator costs from Rs4 lakhs to Rs400.
The classroom and the lota
Moving from idea to delivery therefore requires management systems driven by a concept of interdisciplinary design, based on real needs (not only the acknowledged ones), as well as on an ethic of equity and empowerment. A real effort to transform the social sector into India's engine of design relevance is awaited. It is here that design is yet to make the difference that was promised in the India Report. If so much has changed, the original vision of design as a force that can lift the quality of Indian life is as powerful today as it was six decades ago. There can be little doubt that the classroom must be the laboratory for defining what constitutes a quality of life for India in a new millennium. It is there that attitudes, taste and the ability to choose intelligently can be moulded and made as important as skills and technologies. The hope has not and cannot change that the designers of tomorrow will help deliver "the dignity, service and love" 1 that made the lota the supreme symbol of industrial design to a visiting genius in 1958, and the inspiration for a national design movement that has followed.
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