A for apple, B for ball...Maybe not.
For communication designer and design researcher Saumya Pankaj, ‘A’ stands for ‘Ajrakh’ : an indigenous process of block printing prevalent among the Khatrivas community in Kutch; and ‘B’ stands for Bidri, a unique craft technique that hails from Karnataka’s Bidar.
Likewise, in Pankaj’s ‘The India Craft Project’, all the letters of the alphabet and the nine digits showcase a different art and craft form from India.
What started off as a style experiment for the letter ‘A’ soon progressed into a wave or series of many such lesser-known crafts that constitute the couture of ‘ Indian culture.
My wanderings introduced me to (‘T’) Theyyam, a legendary cult worship ritual of Kerala, where god walks on the streets among mortal men; (‘K’) Kavad Katha of mythological gods and (‘P’) Pabuji ka Phad that talks of local heroes – Few art forms from a gamut that might soon be forgotten as the age of all things synthetic, brews to a boil. This is where the A to Z of the craft forms was conceived.Saumya
As part of her ambitious mission to connect rural artisans with their urban counterparts and open the doors to collaborate all across India, Pankaj is campaigning to gather volunteers who travel through the country and explore different forms of art and craft.
As more and more interesting pieces or art and craft are churned out through the interactions, Pankaj is hopeful that it would lend itself to eventually aquiring funds from the Crafts Council of India to facilitate what she calls a ‘Crafts Collaboration’.
We intend to form long-lasting and strong relationships through this project that will be the future drive and roots of our initiative i.e. Craft Collaboration. The India Craft Project envisions enabling rural artists to explore their artistic realms through creative interventions and collaborations.Saumya Pankaj, Artist
“The idea is to build a creative space for them to learn from each other through exchanges; experiment and discover newness while being mentored by specialists in design and emerging market trends, to develop professionally and cater to a wider audience,” Pankaj shares.
As the handicraft industry remains fragmented with challenges in design, innovation and technology and market trend information - this relationship-based approach would empower the artisans to showcase their artwork on a more global platform eventually and set up a model that allows a more entrepreneurial control of their work.
If your wanderlust soul has exploring-Indian -art-and-craft on its wish-list, you can head here and help Pankaj in her endeavor to create an ecosystem of enterprising artists across India’s rural map.