Where traditional meets chic

Abigail Dace, a young design graduate from London's University of the Arts, has been in India barely two month. She says she is overwhelmed by the variety and quality of Indian craft work. Dace is well placed for an overview. She is here as an intern with Delhi's new Skills Academy, a no-profit venture that aims to teach young Western designers traditional Indian craft skills.All the better for them to incorporate in their designs.
Dace's classmate, Jim Rokos, is also an intern. Mike Knowles, a British designer now settled in India, says the Skills Academy is a win-win prospect. Knowles, who set up the Academy on the outskirts of Delhi, says young Western design graduates benefit immensely, as do Indian craftsmen.
"The best thing about coming to work here is that the younh Western designers can come up with an idea and then see it take shape. In the West, it's not that simple. India still has some great craftsmen from whom one can learn," he says.
It's part of the move to contemporize India's traditional crafts and turn them into stylized, chic and high-value products to sell in the West.
But Jaya Jaitley, president of Dastkari Haat Samiti, the nationwide association that brings together craftspeople from all parts of India to expand the market for handicrafts using traditional skills, cautions against imposed Western design ideas on Indian craftsmen.
Jaitley argues that crafts should be contemporarized with the cultural context firmly in mind. "One can't fish out a motif from a particular craftwork and place it out of context in a modern looking design. The respect for what the craftsman is saying has to be there." Jaitley believes that design evolution requires the craftsman to be equal partner with the designer.
Knowles agrees. He says it is appalling to "talk down to" craftsmen and insists the Skills Academy is meant to "assist craftsmen to produce fine products. We don't teach them; rather they teach us, give us their wealth of knowledge."
But what's in it for the craftsmen? Lots, says Priya Sethi, who graduated in design from London's University of the Arts and is currently at the Skills Academy working on stoneware matkas. "Unlike the terracotta matkas, this one is long-lasting. Once kumhars start making these matkas, they will be able to upgrade their skills as well as increase their income," she says.
The initiative is praised by Pradyumna Vyas, director of Ahmedabad's National Institute of Design (NID). There's no harm using technology to improve the quality of a craft product, he says, recalling NID's encouragement to the jawaja (leather) bag-makers of Rajasthan to mechanize. "The hand-produced leather wouldn't last long. So we decided that if they made it mechanically, they would get more time for the design and have a better product," says Vyas.
Jaitley agrees that contemporizing is key and recalls encouraging Orissa's patachitra-makers, who traditionally drew mythical images on palm leaves to feature contemporary people engaged in modern village life. "We helped them to make the subject matter more relevant, something that would evoke interest among younger buyers. It also helps them to take their art to a different level. Otherwise, they get stuck in a time warp," she says.
Equally important is design innovation and that's where the West can help, says Knowles. India needs many more design graduates and "it's the application of design that's important," he says. Sometimes, it can mean the difference between a dying craft and a living and lucrative design form, he says.
A few years ago, says Knowles, he took Rajasthani metalware, which had lost popular appeal, and made modern tables that found a place in homes across the West. Artisans, barely able to make a living from metalware, are back in business today in a happy symbiotic relationship between traditional craft and modern aspiration.