The ongoing Dastkar Design Fair features contemporary works by artisans from various regions of India. It highlights some changes being done to traditional craft to make it saleable in the global market
While galleries from across the globe are gearing up to put up a grand show at India Art Fair, folk artists from various parts of India have already displayed the best of their craft at Dastkar Design Fair. Dastkar, in partnership with Delhi Tourism, has organised the fair featuring the work of innovative designers working with traditional craft, hand-skills in handloom textiles, regional embroidery styles, garments, jewellery, accessories, decorative objects and furniture. Karvada is a section dedicated to the work of graduates from the Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya: A Design Institution for Traditional Artisans.
Abdul Vahab Khatri is an innovative craftsman from Kutch who has been practicing the fine tie-dye art of bandhini with his family for the past 19 years. A few years after joining his father’s business, Abdul was encouraged to join the Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya in 2008, an experience which completely changed the way he perceived his traditions and craft. He realised how diverse the craft traditions of Kutch were and how his own business would benefit by collaborating with his classmates who specialised in block printing and weaving. Having now experimented successfully with his block-printing colleague Juned Ismail, Abdul has realised how the interplay of his traditional knowledge and contemporary design practices can help him influence his market. Soyab Karim Khatri is another graduate. When he joined his father in the traditional family business of ajrakh block-printing at the age of 16, he knew he had to do something different to give new impetus to the family’s dwindling market presence. Soyab’s mind and skills opened up to contemporary concepts of colour development and design conception. He has expanded the traditional colour palette of dyes his father used, to an array of vibrant combinations and, most interestingly, his design inspiration comes from the American abstract expressionist, Jackson Pollock. His current collection includes his internationally renowned designs amalgamating traditional ajrakh motifs and Pollock’s drip painting technique. He aspires to usher the time-honoured ajrakh traditions and his family’s name to a global market.
Arifa Jan, a trainee of the Craft Development Institute in Srinagar, took up the craft of Kashmiri Namda felting as she wanted to work towards reviving languishing crafts. Enabled and facilitated by Commitment to Kashmir (CtoK), a programme to support a new generation of craftspeople from Kashmir, Arifa’s journey from a struggling craftsperson to a confident design-entrepreneur with her own company is truly inspiring. Being the first in her family to become an entrepreneur, she is providing employment to 18 other Kashmiri craftspeople under her label ‘Incredible Kashmiri Crafts’ in the area of patterned and embroidered Namda rugs, thus helping this craft to once again provide a sustainable livelihood to its practitioners. Having achieved success in her venture, Arifa is now a role model to artisans who work with her as well as Kashmiri youth in general. The range on display at Dastkar Design Fair will be a design collection developed under the CtoK program by Priya Ravish Mehra, a noted textile designer.
Arts of the Earth Gallery will showcase regional art from Warli, Madhubani and lesser-known pictorial forms from states like Assam and Gujarat. The fair will continue till February 2.