Bringing a piece of history to your living room

VADODARA: Having grown up seeing phad' paintings, Rupal Khator now wants to revive this 600-year-old folk art by blending it with contemporary concepts. Khator, a resident of Rajasthan's Bhilwara district and a student of M S University, has come out with a range of home furnishing products and souvenirs to attract Indian and foreign tourists frequenting Rajasthan.
The idea is to expand the market for the art which is otherwise restricted to wall paintings.As part of her dissertation work, Khator, final year master's student in the Department of Clothing and Textile (DCT), undertook a study to explore different ways to use phad' paintings. "I have grown up seeing phad' paintings and it is a very time-consuming art. The unique aspect of these paintings is that they depict local epics in pictorial form. I wanted to do something to safeguard this art in today's commercialised world," said Khator.
Having interacted with artisans and their families, Khator learnt that newer generation had migrated to cities for better job prospect and they only do these paintings as and when orders come their way. "The only way to sustain this art was by diversifying it into traditional hand-crafted products. I used phad' paintings to create an artistic and aesthetic range of interiors and souvenirs," said Khator, who worked under the guidance of professor Dr Amita Pandya, ex-head of DCT in the Faculty of Family and Community Sciences.
"When I showed the final product to one of the phad painters Kalyanji Joshi, he was thrilled to know that his paintings could be used in other forms as well," Khator said.