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HERITAGE A young French engineer named Corentin de Chatelperron sailed from Savar, Dhaka, on 12 February 2010, on a voyage to France. He entered the Bay of Bengal via the Kuakata channel on a specially designed fishing boat made of jute composite material. This was the first time anyone had attempted such a journey on a tiny, seemingly fragile vessel. The boat, built in the Tara-Tari shipyard at Savar, used a unique technology combining Jute and fibre glass, devised by leading French naval architects Marc Van Petegher and Vincent Lauriot Prevost, and engineer Yves Marre. The purpose of this ambitious voyage is twofold - to attract global attention to Bangladesh’s golden fiber, Jute, and, to find an innovative solution to the problems faced by fishermen in coastal areas. Tari-Tari shipyard is a project of Friendship and is sponsored by Bengal Group. Boat Museum Since 2003, Bengal Group has been assisting Friendship, a leading NGO, in reviving the lost craft of boat building. The Tari-Tari shipyard set up in Savar on the bank of the Bangshi River, has manufactured a large floating hospital and several new types of fishing boats using jute and glass fibre technology developed by naval engineer Yves Marre of Friendship. A parallel conservation effort has been carried out on the river bank by overhauling old wooden boats. The repair, refurbishing and fitting out process, as carried out by master boat-builders and craftspersons, has been carefully documented by Yves Marre. The boat museum stretches for about a kilometer on the bank of the Bangshi River.
Corentin de Chatelperron preparing to sail his jute composite boat . Bangshi River . 2010
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Top : Corentin de Chatelperron stepping on French soil at La Ciotat, after completing a challenging 6-month cruise from Kuakata, Bangladesh. The jute fibre and plastic composite boat is the first of its kind in the world. The boat was manufactured in the Tara-Tari shipyard at Savar. 17 Aug 2010 . La Ciotat . France Facing page : Abul Khair, Chairman of Bengal Foundation (3rd from left), showering Corentin with flowers to commemorate the first day of spring (Pahela Falgun), minutes before his departure. Others from left, Luva N Choudhury, Yves Marre, Advisor, Friendship, and Runa Khan, Director, Friendship. 12 Feb 2010 . Bangshi Bari . Savar . Bangladesh
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I am extremely happy to mention all the synergy and goodwill that we found in Bengal Foundation and Bengal Group to support the activities of Friendship. For the protection of national heritage, Bengal helped immensely in organizing an exhibition in its Gallery. We have together set up a traditional shipyard in Savar, a personal contribution from the Chairman, Mr. Abul Khair, and constructed the world’s only life size versions of a ‘Large Shampan’ of the Bay of Bengal, and the ‘Patam’ boat found in the Meghna River. Bengal participated in building a shipyard in its Savar premise, in order to help Friendship's health sector. The largest floating hospital, ‘Emirates-Friendship-Hospital’ and two of the first Friendship catamaran ambulances and 2 catamaran service boats were built there. Today the refitting of the ‘Lifebuoy-Friendship-Hospital’ is being done in the same premise. Bengal has partnered and cooperated in the building of the first fiberglass fishing boats of Bangladesh, one of which integrated 40% jute fiber and sailed to France with Corentin de Chatelperron at the helm. For the future, we are glad that Bengal is considering setting up the permanent ‘Living Museum of traditional boats of Bangladesh’ on its premises on the bank of the Bangshi River. It would comprise of a permanent exhibition and a living traditional shipyard to preserve, showcase and transmit to the next generation, centuries-old technologies handed down through generations, which would otherwise disappear from the world. Friendship has not enough words to express its gratitude to the Bengal Chairman, Mr. Abul Khair Litu, and all Bengal personnel for their past, present and future support and synergy in all these generous actions. Yves Marre Advisor, Friendship
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CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENT Heritage Page in the weekly Holiday Bengal Foundation sponsored two pages on Heritage and Art & Culture in the English weekly Holiday, from Jan 2001 to Jun 2003. The Heritage page contained information on heritage sites, articles on conservation, preservation and environmental issues. The objective was to inform and create awareness among the readers about our heritage, environ ment and culture. The page was compiled and produced by Bengal Foundation for a successive 30 issues of the weekly. The articles brought to light many viewpoints and raised questions about heritage, culture and environment concerns.
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CRAFTS
Ruby Ghuznavi has revived natural dyes with the objective of promoting the ecological, social and economic benefits of this ancient craft tradition of Bangladesh. Started as a Research and Development Project in 1982, over the following years it standardised 30 colourfast dyes and trained many artisans, craft organizations and business enterprises within the country and abroad, including the UK, Turkey, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. As the Chairperson of the Natural Dye Programme of the World Crafts Council – Asia Pacific Region, Ruby Ghuznavi is working closely with Asian experts to promote the extensive use of natural dyes in the Region and beyond. Researching for new colours, designing natural dye textiles and writing extensively on the subject, she has also worked for decades with the development of the crafts of Bangladesh, particularly the fine textile traditions of Jamdani and Kantha which are unique to this country. Ruby Ghuznavi is the founder and Executive Chairman of Aranya Crafts Ltd.
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Aranya Crafts . H- 60E (Gr) . Kamal Ataturk Avenue . Banani . Dhaka-1213 . Bangladesh
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Aranya was set up in the early nineties as a fairtrade microenterprise to establish the commercial viability of natural dyes and to promote them in the mainstream markets, domestic and international. It has done so with great success. Aranya has a Production and Training Centre in Dhaka along with its own showroom. Although labour cost of organic dye textiles are higher than synthetic dyes, the multiple shades from each dye solution and colours extracted from waste materials like onion skin, leaves, petals, peels etc., tend to balance out the price of the end products. Moreover, they have the added benefit of generating increased employment opportunities, specially for women. Exhibitions, workshops and media coverage have gone a long way in creating awareness about the non-pollutant and non- toxic qualities of natural dyes which counter the detrimental effects of chemical dye waste on our river systems. Demand for natural dye textiles has far outstripped their present production, so from the first quarter of 2011 Aranya has been handed over to Bengal Foundation which has a deep commitment to supporting the arts and crafts of this country and is best geared to take natural dyes forward to the next stage of expansion. The use of organic dyes is an ancient craft heritage of Bangladesh and its exquisite range of colours has created a brand image of Aranya’s products , making them instantly recognisable for their subtle beauty
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