When designers decide to take up the cudgels on behalf of the traditional crafts, the outcome is refreshing, functional and priceless, says Saimi Sattar
When one enters the Kisan Haat at Chattarpur, you could get the feeling of having arrived at Dilli Haat, the usual saris, stoles, woollens, handicrafts and knick-knacks on display. And then there we take a closer look. Chikankaari makes a splash — and no it is not anarkali kurtas, flowing dupattas or even potli bags that it decorates rather there are shoulder bags, ipad-mini sleeves and mobile covers made of cork which are livened up by this traditional art form.
It is clear that there has been major design intervention and a lot of thought has gone into creating the product as well as quality control. Traditional crafts have been reinterpreted, combined with contemporary elements and given a look which make them both timeless yet modern. One also discovers, that most of the stores are run by small-time designers who do not have a commercial establishment and retail mostly through social media. They manufacture the products themselves in collaboration with the artisans.
The Design Fair, organised by Dastkar, is a confluence of more than 50 designers and artists with a variety of wares. Hand-crafted silver jewellery to leather bags, crocheted products, Kalamkari and block printing, embroideries, home decor, hand-painted, hand-woven saris which are curated — there is something which is sure to catch the fancy of everyone.
One of the first stalls to catch the eye has saris and blouses on display. Nothing out of the ordinary, one might say, but it is the Madhubani paintings on the back of blouses which are hung neatly in a row on the stand which stand out. Dimple, the brains behind the venture says that she mixes a lot of things. “While I do the block printing and hand painting myself, the traditional art is done by the artists. I give them the designs as well as the colour combination and they create the pieces which I later combine with other elements and create the products.” For the Madhubani work, Nandidimps, her brand has got on board artists from Mithila and the Kalamkari is done in Andhra Pradesh.
And the results are artistic. So one can practically carry Lakshmi on the back (of a blouse) in vivid colours of orange, green, red and black or perhaps what resembles a mural of an entire scene from the epic done intricately.
But this is just one of the more unusual shops. What draws us next is one dotted with ajrakh and chikankaari — two absolutely diverse elements which have been used in a manner that are a far cry from the traditional. There are bags, made of a material that from a distance looks like leather, but is actually cork as Nandini, who started the brand Mrittika along with her friend in 2016 informs us. “We wanted to start working with handlooms and handmade fabrics but also do a bit of a design intervention because both of us are design students. We wanted that whatever we create should have the essence of the fabric but at the same time would be presented in a different manner,” she says.
The started with Ajrakh and initially combined it with PU to make bags as they wanted an alternative for leather. “We went to Gujarat, stayed with the artists and got it designed. Now we are working with a craft cluster in Barabanki where we are getting the chikankari made on khadi while the ajrakh was on regular cotton.”
They’ve also managed to combine this traditional craft with cork, which was the original material that they were looking at. “We were a small cash-strapped company and at that time cork was not easily available. But over time it became popular and that made it more accessible.” So the bags have lapels that are embroidered with murri chikankari, which creates an impact.
So naturally the next question is whether cork has the strength to lug around everything that goes into a large-sized bag? Nandini allays the fears. “There is a fabric backing and then it is also lined, reinforcing its strength. Moreover maintenance is not too difficult. It can be hand-washed and spot-cleaned,” she says.
The idea to use cork occurred to them when they saw entire bags made from the material at the Coach store. “I found it to be an interesting concept especially since it was an alternative to leather.”
Nandini says that the essence of the brands was to engage with artisanal communities and work with Indian textiles. “Traditional textiles have a lot to offer but they are usually presented in the same old way. Chikankari pops up in a potli bag while ajrakh is seen in a dupatta or stole. When we started, there were very few companies which were combining two diverse elements. We wanted to make it functional like a daily accessory but add a priceless element to it. So these bags came into being.”
What has further added to the appeal of the brand is that some of their customers have interpreted their products very differently. “A customer bought an ipad mini sleeve and she is using it to carry her water colours and notebooks. The brushes are placed where the pens are supposed to go and scraps of paper are stored in the slot which was created for the ipad mini. It has become multi functional as the customer made it her own,” says Nandini. The products at Mrittika start at Rs 826 for a mobile cover and the highest priced one for a bag with chikankari embroidery costs Rs 4,100.
A little distance away from this display was one by Chaak Mati. Priya Yadav, a ceramic artist, combined two things that she loves — pottery that she made and jewellery that she wore — to start something new. “In 2017 I started experimenting with clay and making jewellery out of it. Whatever ideas I get about the ways to use ceramic, I craft jewellery out of those. I use ghungroos for a traditional touch and also old coins.”
There are myriad colours and combinations. While none can really be called tiny, the earrings start from small to really large ones as do the neck-pieces. The colours are a splash of white with red, blue with green as well as blues and oranges. Of course, it being ceramic makes them a little more fragile than your average jewellery. “The bigger pieces break more easily,” says Priya. However what she has tried to do, successfully, is to shatter the stereotype that ceramic is very heavy. She tries to make it light and thin so that the earrings, especially, won’t tax the ear lobes. And that is borne out when one picks it up. The earrings are priced in the range of Rs 500-1,800 and the neck-pieces from Rs 600-4,500.
The next store that is a head turner is another one displaying jewellery. So while Chaak Mati was earthy (like literally) this one brings on the bling element. Muted gold and silver are combined with colours that seem to blend in seamlessly to create pieces that are sophisticated and classy. Iguana by Swasti Parekh makes use of Mukaish work for its jewellery pieces. Swasti, a fashion designer makes western wear with zero embroidery. Her foray into jewellery began when she had to get some mukaish work done and she realised that her karigar preferred to ply an e-rickshaw as that paid better. “I realised that I needed to revive the craft and do it in a different way and that is how Iguana started,” says Swasti about the venture which started last year and catered to only the US market. The fair is her first time out in India and already there have been enquires by stores which want to retail her work.
“When I researched about handmade jewellery, I realised that most people worked with sequins and beads. Moreover, no one does such intricate stuff,” she says. For creating a piece, she sits down with her karigar to understand whether it works. “We do different pieces with the same kind of design. There can be smaller pieces, square ones and more. We work on same concept and play around it,” she says. And yes, she can customise right down to the colours and the particular jewellery piece that you want. Priced between Rs 1,800 for tiny tops to Rs 7,700-8000, these are surely conversations starters. However, she points out that it is not the size but the time that decides the price.
Traipsing through the fair opens up myriad possibilities about the way traditional elements can be used and interpreted.
