Daksha – Crafting Voices

Daksha– Crafting Voices presented to people the ethos of harmonizing tradition with contemporary lifestyle. The exhibition was hosted at Birla Academy of Art and Culture from June 21st-25th, 2023. The exhibition showcased different art and craft of West Bengal and their creative producers, whose artistic innovation is changing the landscape of our creative industry. These rural art and artists are a part of Rural Craft and Cultural Hubs (RCCH), a collaborative effort of Department of MSME&T, Govt. of West Bengal and UNESCO, implemented to revive traditional cultural practices and make them a viable livelihood source for the practitioners. The project has supported skill enhancement of the creative practitioners, who are now producing a range of innovative lifestyle items using their traditional crafts. Director of Contact Base, Ananya Bhattacharya said, “The rural artists of West Bengal have reached a height with the RCCH project support and this exhibition brought to people the story of revival of traditional crafts and how these practitioners promote the ethos of sustainability through their creative offerings.”

Traditional crafts showcased in the exhibition include Sabai, Shola, Wooden Doll, Kantha, Madur, Sitalpati, Chau Mask, Wooden Mask, Dokra, Dhokra, Basketry and Patachitra. Craft demonstration, B2B meets were part of the event. The exhibition also brought to the guests authentic Baul music and Rabha song and dance from the rural corners of Bengal. Screening of three films on Chadar Badar (tribal puppetry), Sabai craft and Kantha embroidery along with a live performance of Chadar Badar was held at the exhibition. Two panel discussions, one on Crafts and Hospitality and the other on Crafts for GenNEXT were held on 21st and 23rd June respectively.

Chadar Badar Film Screening along with Live Performance

The panel discussion invited panelists from diverse backgrounds including design, hospitality, sustainable fashion, retail houses, academic and industry experts. Srila Chatterjee, Founder of Baro Market, Darshan Dudhoria, Owner and Director of Bari Kothi Heritage Hotel, Partha Kar, Chief Consultant of Biswa Bangla, Raj Gope, Design Lead of Reliance Retail Ltd., Samiran Banik, Member, ABID and Sunil Kumar, General Manager of J.W. Marriot were the panelists on 21st June. The session was moderated by Designer Swarup Dutta. The discussion was on Crafts and hospitality and how traditional rural craft can be incorporated in the Indian Hospitality sector.  Sunil Kumar, GM at JW Marriott stressed on the need to go local while designing the interiors of hotels. Darshan Dudhoria focused on the importance of telling stories through handcrafted products and how locally produced objects can help in setting up heritage hotels in a rural setup. Hospitality and craft goes hand in hand and therefore one should pay more attention to sourcing from local communities, thereby safeguarding the art and culture. Eminent architect Samiran Banik said local projects led by local artists are sustainable. Hoteliers can come forward and work with both designers and local artists, and create exquisite craft based products. However there is a need to bring in more local artists and for that it is important to focus more on art classes in schools and higher education so that the younger generation takes up local art and craft practices as a profession. 

Samiran Banik, Darshan Dudhoria, Raj Gope, Swarup Dutta, Sunil Kumar, Partha Kar, Srila Chatterjee

Partho Kar narrated how Brand Bengal was born with the whole idea of leveraging local artists, their art and craft practices. He mentioned experiential selling of products, need to build a connection with the products and that is only possible with products that are unique,handcrafted and represents our tradition and culture. Srila Chatterjee believes in the power of crafts to blur the lines between past and present and that craft based products must be accessible, replicable and should be procured more. Raj Gope mentioned how there should be more thrust from corporates regarding procuring from local communities and focus on craft based products that are sustainable. Panelists along with the moderator agreed that there should be more awareness regarding procuring different kinds of craft based products that narrates stories of different tradition, culture and there is need to style our interiors especially hotels with traditional craft to create memories and experience for those who are visiting and staying. Traditional crafts have that capacity to create experiential narrative for consumers and visitors. Swarup Dutta, the moderator of the panel re-emphasized some of the points such as the need to assert identity of the local artists and the capability of the products to introduce culture through craft.

 Amitra Sudan Saha,  Sreenanda Palit, Mitul Das, Meghna Nayak, Ayan Dutta, Vishal C. Bhand (left to right)

Vishal C. Bhand, Associate Professor of Viswa Bharati University, Mitul Das, CEO of Urs Digitally, Meghna Nayak, Founder of Lata Sita, Sreenanda Palit, Associate Professor of NIFT and Ayan Dutta, Director, Natural Fibre, Industree Foundation were the panelists for 23rd June, sharing their insights on Crafts for GenNEXT. The session was moderated by Designer Amitra Sudan Saha. The discussion started with Dr. Bhand expressing the problem of continuing craft traditions by younger generation due to lack of prospects. The discussion also focused on a very critical aspect – the need for traditional crafts to embrace innovation and evolve with time. Incorporating creativity of artists in the pedagogy of design curriculum was also stressed in great detail along with retaining the legal copyright issues of artists and their creation. The panelists also shared their insight on how traditional craft practices can withstand the test of time. Example of Kantha embroidery and how the balance between artists’ creative labour and price point can be maintained was also discussed in the panel. Dr. Palit from NIFT shared on how strategic positioning of design in a kantha embroidered piece is crucial to make the product time and cost effective with better market prospects. In this regard, collaboration with designers becomes crucial. However, maintaining ethics in the collaboration and truly upholding the motto of co-creation by giving both the designer and the artist desirable respect and recognition was taken up in great detail by the panelists. In this regard, how design fraternity can overcome their exclusivity and endorse a more inclusive approach was discussed by Meghna Nayak. The issue of conveying the message of sustainability through traditional craft practices was also discussed. Ayan Dutta spoke about Industree Foundation’s 6 C’s – create, construct, capital, capacity, channel, connect and also highlighted the need for craft production houses to have rural-based operations, where artists reside, gave an interesting insight to the discussions. Optimal utilization of digital technology, not only to expand artists’ reach and connectivity, but to facilitate ethical balance between artists and designers or other craft experts was stressed by Mitul Das. The vocabulary of the craft industry in India is still exclusive and the discussions highlighted different avenues of addressing this gap. The discussion positioned GenNEXT as the future of crafts and highlighted the need for dialogue and entertaining diverse viewpoints in the craft sector, instead of hierarchizing them as the mantra towards a more ethical tomorrow for traditional craft practices.

Embracing a wide paradigm of activities starting from showcasing of traditional crafts in new avatar, film screening, panel discussions nad artists demonstrating their traditional craft practice and the process followed, the exhibition was infused with both a creative and a social cause. Co-creation of rural artists and urban designers was geared towards developing a range of decorative and utilitarian products for the hospitality and creative sector. This creative cause was supplemented with the social cause of connecting these rural crafts persons directly with the market and expanding the reach of their creativity. This exhibition was specially curated for designers and organizations working with craft products both in domestic and export space, organizations looking for handcrafted products for hospitality and interior decoration and new craft based startups. The exhibition also provided the space for dialogue with traditional craftspersons and understanding the age-old process they follow for creating the craft pieces. Swarup Dutta was the lead designer and curator of the exhibition assisted by other designers. When asked about his vision for curating Daksha, Mr. Dutta shared, “As a curator of the exhibition it was my endeavour to develop a contemporary voice for our folk craft practices, so that the products and the producers can connect to the large urban market, specifically for the hospitality sector”.

To conclude, Daksha was curated to make the creativity of rural artists vocal and enable them to reach markets responsibly, on terms favorable for both the buyers and the sellers. The exhibition was inaugurated on 20th June inviting members from different embassies like France, Germany, Australia, and Italy. Representatives of British Council, India, ICCR, Crafts Council, Asiatic Society and other reputed corporate, craft and hospitality experts also graced the inauguration ceremony with their presence. The exhibition witnessed a footfall of over 2000 visitors and received extensive media coverage.

Author : Sneha Bhattacharyya