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Category Archives: Female Empowerment

Revitalizing, Sustaining and Propagating the Crafts in India

on March 13, 2015 by Jacqueline in Akshara project, artisan, Baskets, Calligraphy, Crafts, Dastkari Haat Samiti, Design, Dilli Haat, Embroidery, Female Empowerment, Gifts, Home Goods, House accessories, House Decorating, India, interior decorating, Interior Design, Kashmir, Organic Products, patachitra, Scripts, Scroll painting, Textile ⋅ Leave a comment

What I have done so far in Meaningful Designs is conduct an interview, then write a feature based on the interview. This time, however, as I sat reading and rereading the insightful interview with Mrs Jaya Jaitley, the founder of Dastkari Haat Samiti, an organization that works to revitalize, sustain and propagate the crafts in India, I realized that I very much enjoyed having the interviewee’s voice as part of the conversation. I also felt that Mrs. Jaya Jaitley could represent an organization she started more than twenty years ago perhaps better than I would be able to write about it. And so in this issue of Meaningful Designs I am the backdrop to this very passionate and dedicated advocate of Indian arts and crafts. So here forthwith is my interview with Mrs Jaya Jaitley!DSC_0016

Can you explain what the name of your organization means?

Dastkari Haat Samiti means Crafts Market Association.

How did you become interested in crafts?

I have loved art, craft and textiles and the beautiful aesthetics of traditional forms and design since I was a child. Combined with that is a strong commitment inculcated in me by my parents to improve the lot of those less privileged in society. The value of handwork expressed in philosophical, economic and political terms by Mahatma Gandhi also influenced me. I am not an artist, though I do passable sketches and have a parallel interest in literature and writing…hence all the books on crafts. Since I can recognize skill, good design, aesthetics and the potential in creative people it combined perfectly with my desire to engage in social and political work for the benefit of crafts people.

Why did you feel it was important for you to start this organization?

Odhisha Pattachitra Wall Panel depicting learning and livelihoods.Dhokra Metal Art with Keybord and Computer for learning, Jharkhand.

I felt the need to create a platform that united crafts persons from different areas, communities, castes and religions to promote their common need for marketing. Once there is a market other inputs take root. Craft skills and livelihoods can be sustained by creating opportunities that widen the market space for them. It also helps to accord them better respect and appreciation. Our crafts members fund the organization so there is a sense of empowerment and partnership in furthering common interests.

Premshila Devi, Applique Embriodery

What are some of the groups that you work with?

The Samiti works with every kind of craft group or individual or household that becomes a member of the Samiti. Members work with clay, wood, metal, grasses, bamboo, glass, paper, cane, utilizing a vast variety of textile skills, and traditional art forms. We provide inputs for improving skills, design and product diversification. We organize three major marketing opportunities a year through temporary crafts bazaars in different cities. We create new openings like book illustrating, teaching workshops, participation in fairs organized by others and linking them with architects and interior designers. We conceptualized and partnered with different government agencies twenty-one years ago to establish a hugely popular permanent crafts marketing space called Dilli Haat in New Delhi where crafts people are offered space in rotation to sell directly to customers rather than through middlemen. Its success set off a spate of such spaces, both public and private.

Are the craft forms in India gendered?

In some cases men and women work together on pottery and weaving although their roles within are generally defined according to tradition. Women weave in the Northeast but mainly men are weavers in the rest of the country. Men do embroidery in Kashmir but women do so in the rest of the country. History and cultural traditions have defined these roles but, as with everything else, there are now crossovers that are good to see. Our common marketing platforms where the producers get together help erase gender divisions.

Artist working on The Hanuman versis on Silk.

Are craft forms localized in different regions of India?

Specific forms, designs and production processes are localized. The beauty of India’s huge variety of craft skills is that each carries the identity of its region. Occasionally it is obliterated when producers begin imitating something from elsewhere, in which case it loses its authenticity.

I would like to know more about the calligraphic art forms. What history can you share with us about this art form?Copper platter with Caligraphy, Kashmir.

India, along with Egypt and China were among the civilizations that were the earliest developers of script. In later years, Chinese and Persian scripts were developed into calligraphy and spread everywhere among those who used similar forms like Korean, Japanese, Arabic or Urdu. India had the Brahmi script that transformed into Pali and Sanskrit. Religious texts carried on being written in Sanskrit. Unfortunately, because of colonization and other reasons, despite having over 700 spoken languages/dialects, and currently 22 official languages and scripts, these never developed into calligraphy, partly because literacy levels also fell drastically and most things indigenous lost value under British rule. There are old stone inscriptions on temples, and fine illustrated writings on paper, parchment or silk, but calligraphy as a separate art is still minimal. Urdu Calligraphy on ceramic, Uttar Pradesh.

Portion of block printed sari with Kanada script, RajasthanIs there a specific group of people who make this art form?

The artifacts created through our Akshara project were encouraged by me introducing the concept of calligraphy to a variety of crafts people. None of them knew calligraphy before. There are a few traditional calligraphers in India who create works in Urdu/Arabic or Tibetan/Bodhi. These are dying out. My purpose was to encourage literacy, an appreciation for our regional scripts, and using their existing crafts skills to give these scripts an artistic form. This opened up a whole new area of design experimentation in calligraphy for crafts people who otherwise felt unqualified because they were non-literate or did not know English.

Let’s turn our attention to some of the gorgeous paintings that you sell. What can you tell us about the history of these paintings?

All these paintings rest on traditional styles. They have been tweaked in colours or layouts to make them contemporary.  Each style has its own history rooted in the local culture.

hanuman Chalisa Phad painting on Silk, Rajasthan.The long scroll called patachitra is used by artist balladeers in West Bengal to sing stories to an audience. The parrot series is a new version of Odisha’s patachitra. Most stories are religious but this one guided by me is contemporary. It is about a caged parrot being educated and helping an astrologer earn his livelihood. The lady painting the table is based on the tradition of painting murals on the walls of homes in Bihar during celebrations. Art shifted to paper and now to wood, metal and even cloth. These are not considered miniatures although there are male and female miniature artists who took part in the Akshara project.

Kalamkari Tree of life calligraphy, Andhra Pradesh with Kashmiri Paper machie art in bowl with painted stones.

Akshara, Crafting Indian Scripts is an art book we created out of this project. It tells the entire story from history to cataloguing our own works with the story of how each piece was created, to how Indian scripts look artistic as common wall writing, on film posters and advertisements. It is available on Flipkart.com, at some bookshops and with our organization.

What has been the reception to your organization both in and outside of India?

Our website (dastkarihaat.org) shows the wide extent of our work, including events in other countries, and with foreign artisans brought to India to work with our people. We were very well received in Addis Ababa (2nd India-Africa Summit), Cairo (India on the Nile Festival Akshara Exhibition), UNESCO headquarters, Paris (Akshara exhibition) , UK (Dilli Haat at Trafalgar Square exhibition, Art in Action art fair near Oxford), Frankfurt Book Fair (Crafts Maps exhibition). The maps made over a period of 15 years are also on the website.

There are large appreciative crowds at all our temporary crafts bazaars in India, and we also run two little not-for-profit shops in a high-end market in Delhi.

In India we are well known because of all our projects, especially the crafts maps documenting all the arts, crafts and textiles in India, and also for setting up Dilli Haat (which is entirely run by the government).  We also have recent events posted regularly on our Dastkari Haat Facebook page and a separate one on the Akshara Crafting Indian Scripts.

What are some of your most notable successes?

I cannot judge that, but I suppose the crafts maps (which also became a book called Crafts Atlas of India published by Niyogi Books), conceptualizing and establishing the Dilli Haat crafts marketplace and the Akshara project. More significantly and subtly, the loyalty of crafts people to the organization and seeing them improve in their social and economic status through the Samiti’s work.

Jewelery in different scripts in calligraphy forms.

What are some of your ongoing challenges?

All challenges are opportunities to create something better!

Having said that, however, I am at present trying to get our government to frame the agenda and format of a new national institution – the Hastkala Akademi – to assimilate the vast and varied cultural heritage that sustains crafts in all their aspects in India. It adds the ‘cultural history’ to each skill and object and gives it a unique identity and greater value. I had proposed the idea, which was formally accepted by the government last year. The building blocks have now to be put in place.Story telling and songs with Applique and Embriodery, Bihar.

Finally, how would you say your organization has impacted how the crafts are doing in India today and where do you see your organization going in the future?

Kanada script, RajasthanI have never seriously thought about the future of our organization, but only of how its work can benefit the future of India’s crafts persons.  I am sure that 29 years as an organization, and my own almost 20 years of work before that, has played some part in reviving, sustaining and propagating many crafts.  There are many other dedicated people doing this in different ways. On the whole, we try to inspire crafts people because their work inspires us to plan new vistas for them. I can’t say when I will stop getting new ideas or run out of steam!

 

Until next time!

Many thanks to Carmen Fernandes and Annie Paul for help with this interview.

 

Jamaican Women Make Exquisite Embroidery Purchased by Royalty

on September 1, 2014 by Jacqueline in Design tips, Embroidery, Fashion accessories, Female Empowerment, Gifts, Home Goods, House accessories, House Decorating, interior decorating, Interior Design, Jamaica, Jamaica Hardanga Heritage Trust, Queen of England ⋅ 4 Comments

Exquisite Embroidery from Jamaica Purchased  by Royalty

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For a long time it seemed to be only myth and rumor that there was a group of embroidery makers in Jamaica who made work so beautiful, so refined, that it was purchased by royalty. I remember the first time I heard the story, I considered it nothing but a tall tale, and immediately dismissed it, only to find out that it had been true all along. The women of the Jamaica Hardanga Heritage Trust in the parish of St. Mary did make work for the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

Hardanga cover                    n-2 “It is a fact,” says Ms. Norma Nugent, President of the Jamaica Hardanga Heritage Trust, “that the Queen of England ordered a tablecloth from the group for the royal wedding, which the then Jamaica government paid for as a gift to her.”

What is Hardanga Embroidery?

But of course you, my loyal readers, are wondering: What is Hardanga? Hardanga or Hardanger is a form of embroidery done with only white thread on cloth. The embroidery is made by the pulling and counting of thread and the stitching of fabric. Because it often involves white thread on white cloth it is sometimes called white-work embroidery.

Hardanga Embroidery in Jamaica

Hardanga has long been practiced in Jamaica, but, like so many handmade art forms, it was in rapid decline on the island. That is, until Ms Inez Barrett, who first learnt the art form as a student at the Moneague Teachers’ College, became so enamored with the all-white embroidery some thirty years ago that she ended up putting together a group of five women to continue the embroidery tradition. The group has grown to twenty-five women, with fifteen very active members. Backed by the Bureau of Women’s Affairs, the group was initially a skills training group for middle-aged women, but today the Trust caters to all groups of women.

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The Jamaica Hardanga Heritage Trust

With headquarters in Richmond, St. Mary, the Jamaica Hardanga Heritage Trust makes delicate and exquisite tablecloths, table napkins, runners, sheet sets, curtains, and, to a lesser extent, garments. Given the counting of thread involved, I wondered how long it takes to produce a piece of work.

“Usually a job takes anywhere from five to fourteen days to complete. A runner, for example, takes from three to five days, which is not that long,” Ms. Nugent explains. “A sheet set, however, can take up to three weeks and we have to work as a group to complete works on larger pieces, which we actually enjoy doing, in fact. In the same way that the construction of a car takes on many different skills, so too the workers of the Trust come together as a group to complete a job, when we have a really big project on hand.” 15_n   Hardanga 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The group is looking to be contracted to do much larger pieces, however. “Today, the Trust remains a form of part-time employment, but the aim of the group is to make it a means of long-term employment for more women in the community,” Ms. Nugent shares. “Should we be contracted to do larger pieces, we will be better placed to offer more consistent employment to members of the group, and to more women in our area.”

The Trust has had some notable successes: In 2009 some of the members travelled to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and to Barbados and St. Martin to showcase their work. They have also gotten a few gifts of sewing machines, needles and thread, fabric, and even office furniture, from various organizations. The Bureau of Gender Affairs also assists with materials and training.

But challenges remain. Presently, there is no electricity in the Trust’s office, and indeed a bigger office is needed to accommodate larger works. There is also some difficulty in consistently paying workers. “What we would really like to do is break into the overseas market. We also need more funds to take our products to more craft fairs abroad. We are also thinking to expand into doing more clothes for sale,” Ms. Nugent notes.

20_n    Hardanga 5

Creativity as a Means of Development

“If we could do those things, if we could get more of our products sold, and develop more of a local and overseas clientele, there is so much more we could and would do for our community, especially for the women in our community,” Ms. Nugent continues. “I am hoping that more and more people hear about, and see, the work that we are doing, and buy our work, contract us to do work, and help us to showcase our work in craft fairs and other venues around the world.”

The work of the Jamaica Hardanga Heritage Trust is gorgeous and despite its delicate appearance, the embroidery is in fact, long-lasting. I wouldn’t mind filling my own home with the all-white embroidery of these women. It truly is heartening to see the women of the Jamaica Hardanga Heritage Trust, despite their many obstacles, working so hard to safeguard a tradition that they find meaningful.

Hardanga 2Hardanga

 The Jamaica Hardanga Heritage Trust best exemplifies how creativity can become a means of economic development. Let’s hope that the group will break into the overseas market — and get commissions for larger pieces, indeed for pieces of any size — that would see the group meeting its day-to-day needs, maintaining an office, and providing even more employment for women in the community.

The Jamaica Hardanga Trust has a Facebook page (jamaicahardanga) and can be contacted by e-mail at hardangaheritage@yahoo.com, and by phone at (876) 418-2597; 876-541-4077.

Until next time.

Norman Gordon contributed reporting for this article; some of the photos in the article are copyrighted by Norman Gordon.

Creativity as a Means of DevelopmentExquisite Embroidery for RoyaltyHardanga Embroidery in JamaicaThe Jamaica Hardanga Heritage TrustWhat is Hardanga Embroidery?

Gorgeous Recycled-Paper Goods from Women in Morocco

on June 9, 2014 by Jacqueline in Design, Eco-Friendly, Environmental Conservation, Female Empowerment, Furniture, Home Goods, Interior Design, Morocco, Organic Products, Recycled Paper ⋅ 3 Comments

Five years ago when a friend gave Asmaa Benachir a small beautiful bag made of recycled paper, her friend had no idea how she would be changing the artist’s life. Ms. Benachir was instantly enchanted with the little bag and started experimenting with recycled paper. The result was Au Grain de Sésame, an arts and crafts initiative that trains disadvantaged women to design and create organic products based on an innovative technique of recycling paper. Table 2 Based in Rabat, Morocco, Au Grain de Sésame specializes in producing a great many home goods from recycled paper, including center tables, stools, baskets, vases, trays, bags, and a host of other products. Indeed Asmaa Benachir, though the work of the Au Grain de Sésame, is pioneering a new form of furniture made only from recycled paper. Ms. Benachir sees the work that the women of Au Grain de Sésame do as “preserving and promoting the local art and cultural heritage of Morocco. Au Grain de Sésame contributes to raising awareness of environmental conservation, while encouraging the choice of eco-friendly purchasing.” Vase 4

But can paper possibly be sturdy enough for such things as center tables, waste baskets and stools?

Yes, Asmaa Benachir answers emphatically. You can make home goods, she says, in paper that will hold up as much as any other household product does. The trick to all of this is in knowing what you are doing, and building something that is durable.

I first became aware of Asmaa Benachir when she came to an exhibition I had in Morocco. When we got to talking, so fascinated was I with the idea that recycled paper could make household goods that I went to visit her at her gorgeous little gallery in the medina in Rabat. I saw the many paper-goods she had in the gallery, including an astonishing series of furniture, but a part of me still wondered, despite how sturdy they were to the touch, if they could actually hold up. So in 2009 I decided to take Ms. Benachir up on her challenge.

Furniture 1

I commissioned from her a large suitcase-like bag that I would use to carry artwork back from Morocco to the United States. Let me be clear here, I told her, the bag would not actually fly with me in the plane, would not be part of my carry-on luggage, but instead would be checked onto the flight. And it would be carrying some of my precious artwork.

No problem, Ms. Benachir said. I can do that for you.

I am happy to report that so many years later, that bag is still going strong. bag 1

When I said this to Ms. Benachir in preparation for this article, she was delighted. “And it’s a natural product!” she said, leaning back in the workshop of the new and larger space in Rabat that she has just opened. “And think about it. Paper will not harm the environment, and that is one of the reasons I so enjoy working with recycled paper. It is sturdy and strong and it will not harm the environment! That is what I am trying to impart at Au Grain de Sésame. I am trying to sensitize women to the socio-economic importance of protecting the environment, and I want as many people as possible to know that you can do this by working with recycled paper, and that you can make beautiful yet durable things from recycled paper.” Frame 3Frame 2

The work of the Au Grain de Sésame is twofold. On the one hand, the space functions as an artistic gallery. However, as Ms. Benachir explained to me, the larger aim of the work of Au Grain de Sésame is “the empowerment of women.” Ms. Benachir is of the belief that art can be a means of development for countries like Morocco, and this is what she is showing and showcasing through the gorgeous handmade recycled paper works at Au Grain de Sésame.

And it is important, too, for Ms. Benachir that she works with women.

women 1

Says she, “One of the things that is known about Morocco is that we make beautiful products. Women in particular make absolutely beautiful products, artisanal products. Women in fact make these products quite easily.” What was missing from the work that women do, though, Ms. Benachir found, was a way for them to “professionally market and sell their products.”

 She was also quite troubled by the ways in which female artisans were “dependent on a maâlem—a person who has extensive knowledge about a certain craft but who is often reluctant to transmit this knowledge to others.” These are some of the obstacles for women that Ms. Benachir seeks to overcome in the work she does at Au Grain de Sésame.

women 2REV

Benachir achieves her goal through a series of workshops. “The workshops that we run,” she told me, “include book-binding, artistic packaging, furniture decorating, art framing, and a workshop on making strong durable furniture from cardboard. We also have a print workshop and run a gift shop and cafe, as well.” Vase 1

She admits that the work of development is hard, with one of the main challenges being securing funding to keep the enterprise going. “We were lucky to get a SEED grant recently,” she says. “And we have three enthusiastic American volunteers who are working with us. But every day it is a struggle.”

But for Ms. Benachir it is a struggle that is clearly worth it.

Because of her strong belief that there is a lot of unchanneled creativity particularly in women in developing countries, she hopes that in the work she is doing with Au Grain de Sésame she is launching a project that can be duplicated in other countries.

She points to the name of her collective, to explain why she remains optimistic despite the many challenges she faces in doing her job. “A grain is such a small thing,” she says from her new workshop, bright sunlight pouring through windows and doors as we talk. “A grain is a seed, something that, if you take care of it, can give you a lot. The first seed that you plant and take care of can give unintended results. Beautiful results. A seed can be magical. In fact, a seed is a magic formula—like in the myths of ‘open sésame.’ When you bring the two ideas together—Au Grain de Sésame—you bring together will and work to realize dreams.”

  AsmaaAnd a little bit of magic too, I would add, looking at the beautiful works that Ms. Benachir and the women of Au Grain de Sésame create.

Asmaa Benachir and Au Grain de Sésame can be contacted through their Facebook page. In a few weeks their new website www.augraindesesame.com should be up and running.

Until next time.

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