Craft CoLaborative Fellowship : Leena Jain

LEENA JAIN & ANWARBHAI KUMBHAR

Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC), CEPT University, Ahmedabad

AN INITIATIVE UNDER: Manthan Educational Programme Society, India

‘Technology and Design for Sustainable Craft Sector’ in Kutch and Saurashtra Region of Gujarat State an i-STED project supported by: NSTEDB, DST Goverment of India

Craft Colaborative Fellowship 2018 The Craft Colaborative Fellowship 2018 is an initiative towards meaningful collaborations between craftspeople and design fellows. The idea was to expose craftspeople to new concepts, ideas and a new perspective to look at the craft practice, and for fellows to be extensively involved in the community, understand the nuances of the craft, the material and the practice.

Book Contributors Design Fellow : Leena Jain Craftsperson : Anwar Alimamd Kumbhar Design Innovation Craft Resource Centre, CEPT University Manthan Educational Programme Society, India

Project: Craft Colaborative Fellowship Initiative of: Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC) Nilpa, University Area, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380009 Manthan Educational Programme Society,India C-1, Sukruti, Manekbag, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015

Š Craft Colaborative Fellowship I January 2019

LEENA JAIN & ANWARBHAI KUMBHAR

Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC), CEPT University, Ahmedabad

AN INITIATIVE UNDER: Manthan Educational Programme Society, India

‘Technology and Design for Sustainable Craft Sector’ in Kutch and Saurashtra Region of Gujarat State an i-STED project supported by: NSTEDB, DST Goverment of India

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TABLE OF CONTENTS WHO The Fellow The Craftsperson/Craft family Other Stakeholders The idea of Fellowship The idea of Community

WHAT The idea of products Craft design process Explorations and Prototyping Final product range

HOW Fellowship Craft design collaboration

WHERE Position the products Position Yourself

WHY Fellowship Craft Design Collaboration

REFLECTIONS Reflections and acknowledgements

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WHO?

Craft colaborative Fellowship

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CRAFT DESIGNER FELLOW LEENA JAIN Leena was born in Indore and has grown up in Chennai, Nagpur, Raipur, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad with her ancestral roots originating from Kutchch, Gujarat. Her constantly evolving surroundings led to a fascination with people, stories and cultures.

Expressing through words and visuals, she has worked in the diverse areas of content, copywriting, communication design, research, and branding.

She pursued a degree in Fashion Communication from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Gandhinagar where she was the recipient of the innovative graduation project award and the meritorious student award in 2018. She has facilitated several experiential workshops and often dabbles in creative writing and visual art.

Crafts are a part of the lifestyle and socio-economical dynamic across clusters. An integrally indigenous part of the identity, the craft practice becomes central to an individual, the family, community and the local culture. Leena brings a holistic perspective to the idea of craft, and how it is central to the system.

In her previous work, she has worked with the Khadi cluster in Ahmedabad & Gondal; Tibetan folk & Buddhist crafts in Dharamshala & Mcleodganj, and regional crafts of Okha - Mithapur region.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

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the craftsperson ANWAR ALIMAMD KUMBHAAR Anwarbhai, the son of Master craftsperson Alimamd bhai is a young, optimistc motivated twenty-three year old upcoming craftsperson, interested in taking the craft practice forward with new ideas, and perspectives. The elder son of Alimamd bhai and Sherbanoben, Anwarbhai is married to Ruksana, and they have a one-and-a-half year old son, Imran.

Anwarbhai has a younger sibling, Yasar Alimamd Kumbhar and an elder sister, Sugraben stays with her in-laws and husband at Bhujpar, about 25 kilometers from Gundiyali. Aisha ben, Alimamdbhai’s mother, stays across the street from Alimamdbhai’s house.

Alimamdbhai Daud Kumbhaar is and his late, elder brother Abdullahbhai Daud Kumbhaar was among the most innovative craftspeople in the community. Alimamdbhai often explores in form and shape along with technique. Before the fellowship, Anwar had only been working on the usual form of the birdfeeders, mugs, diyas, lamps, moneybanks, but is constantly looking forward to take up challenging ideas. At the same time, he majorly takes care of the trade, the store at Kranti Tirth, the tourists walking by in the workshop and the distributors as well.

In the family, Alimamd bhai is well-versed in hindi, gujarati and kutchchi and is able to articulate his practice and the soul behind the process.

Sherbanoben has an incredible understanding of the material, and further, her mother - in - law, Aisha ben has a great hold of traditional knowledge and illustrating, on the products.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Other stakeholders THE COMMUNITY AT WORK The project was more than a collaborative effort between the fellow, Leena and the craftsperson, Anwarbhai, it was far and wide with the entire community being involved at different points. Specifically with Leena’s approach, where the derivation of the product range was based on the narratives, stories and the ethnographic research, there were a lot of stakeholders, craftspeople and locals involved.

For the research stage, while gathering narratives, the entire craft cluster was associated, and as the product development stage arrived, since the products were central to the traditional set up, everyone in the neighbourhood became a part of the process. From Reshmaben, and Faridaben in the neighbouring house, to Alimamd bhai, Ayeshaben and Ruksanaben in the house, to the children around including Javed, Amir, Shehzad, Bilkish, and Aksa, everyone became a stakholder in the project.

In the making stage for the miniature game of the house, a woodwork craftsperson, Anwarbhai Luhaar and a local, Abdul Yakkubbhai Kumbhaar were involved for providing clay based bajra husk boards for making the walls and the structural framework of the house.

With all the products, the potter’s house, ‘bharat kakri’ and ‘sih bakri’, there were elder members of the community and further children who would question, and the dialogue began towards traditional knowledge for the kids of the community, that they now viewed from a new perspective.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

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WHAT?

Craft colaborative Fellowship

The idea of fellowship For Leena, the idea of the fellowship was about the stories of the community. Terracotta as a material has been associated with narratives of an ancient time, whether it is the Venus of Wilendorf or the Chinese army. Narratives further reveal various nuances of the thought process of people in a certain time and place. They also bring forward insights about the present and the future.

Crafts, she believes are at the center of the dynamic, whether it is how the lifestyle of the individual is, relationships and dependencies within the family, the community, and further, social issues including economic welfare, gender roles, sociological, psychological factors for thought processes and upbringing. There’s also a great impact of these in religious and regional practices. Crafts are also an indigenous identity of a specific individual and place, that brings them closer to their roots.

Having grown up in multiple cities and towns across India, and belonging to a family having distinct roots to Kutchch, yet never having lived there, it was fascinating for her to hear the dialect, see the indigenous textiles, the earthern pots in the making in their authentic set-ups. It also gave her a lot of perspective into her own identity, as growing up, she was always surrounded by the dialect, the various textiles - from the Ajrakh shawls, to the embroidered pieces from her grandmother and great grandmother’s, the quilts made from waste and old fabric put together aesthetically and largely, the earthern pots, a few vessels that her family always had, whereever it was that they stayed. It was always organically there and it was an ‘obvious’ factor for her, until she was exposed to other cultures across the cities..

With this background she dived into the fellowship where the first few rounds of brainstorming were based on her insights about the history Craft colaborative Fellowship

of terracotta, the narratives of the larger world that we live in, and how the craft can essentially look at a market in the existing evolving times.

In her secondary research, she studied the history of terracotta, the stories and different perspectives about the material. Further, she studied the various publications of the work done by DICRC with the cluster, and also discussions with a fellow designer, Bhargav Padhiyar for his work at the cluster for his thesis at NID for a new media innovation, looking into documenting craft artefacts.

As she gained more insights, she went to the field for intensive field research with some understanding of the community. The first few days were observatory, when she also tried stimulating the ideas of art, gamification and preservation of the craft, to further understand the approach and perspective of the craftspeople and specifically of Anwarbhai. Further, she lived with the community in the cluster to understand their routines, the nuances of the culture, the role dynamic within the cluster. Slowly this emerged into a series of organic conversations with people from diverse age groups, whether these were elderly craftspeople, children, women, men, non practicing families or other locals staying around.

The fellowship further became an insight into the lives of people, the community, crafts and it’s association with everything around it. The products became the manifestation of the conversations and insights.

The product development process also became an interesting one, where everyone became a participant. Ethnographic research with communication design outcomes in form of a collaboratory exposure became the basis of the fellowship, and are of interest for Leena in her practice, which helped her in materialzing her goals with the fellowship.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

The idea of community The community was at the center for the fellowship, since the first step was to explore narratives, and stories within the cluster. Whether it is the dynamic between the various gender roles, with the women engaged in handling the material, preparing it for the wheel, or the ornamentation of the product, once it is ready.

There were other areas of conversations that started, with intercommunal relationships, the identity of the ‘potter’ or the ‘kumbhaar’, and the religious identity. The interactions with nature, surroundings, animals, and the understanding of built environments and how it impacts human life. Stories about the material, it’s soul and essence above the monetary value was also evident. It is essentially the ‘maati’ that kept the community well bound.

The fact that everyone usually returns back ‘home’ and back to the ‘clay’ were strong sentiments that led to an enquiry into the essence of tradition. An imperative discussion was about how one lived, lives and hopes to live. With Leena’s curiousity about the authenticity of identities and traditional living styles, she explored further into community life. With the Muslim identity, the marriage as an institution would happen in the blood lines with first cousins, and preferably within the cluster. There is also a strong emotion associated with family.

The idea of community further emerged as what brought people together, the idea of the home - for which people who were working in larger cities returned back, the idea of ‘maati’ or the traditional livelihood and it’s association with the material, and the moments of togetherness. Exploring further, she found out about how preservation of traditional ideas could evolve into individual products.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

As there was an immense trust and constant conversations within the community, Leena could delve deeper into the nuances of collaborations in the community - among the craftspeople who were largely associated in familial relations, locals practicing other crafts, including woodwork, and those who have moved to other trades and their involvement in the community as a whole.

There was a great sense of collaboratory effort within the community, when if someone had difficulty in getting something done, people would come together and offer suggestions, and help organically. With the product development process too, there were a lot of suggestions for the iterations and the complications we were facing in the making process.

Leena would often get into conversations with the elderly in the community, who were keen to talk about stories from their past, how they entered the community(the women), what their families were into before they were married in Gundiyali and how they’re now a part of the pottery practice. Then there were conversations with the eight craftspeople who were a part of the fellowship, what they felt about the craft, what they think of the evolving markets, and what is their view on the traditional way of living.

One interesting aspect of the community dynamic was children, who would surround Leena at all times throughout her time there, especially during product development as the games fascinated the children largely.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Emerging Narratives

The idea of products The fellowship’s main idea was to look into products from a new perspective with the fellows and craftspeople as collaborators. With her conversations in the community, Leena first created a larger rich picture of all the emerging narratives, from where she brainstormed several product ranges.

One emerging narrative was in ‘the idea of home’, which talks about Gundiyali as an identity for the people. There are many narratives of people returning to the cluster after having worked elsewhere and abroad. The idea of ‘Kutchch’ and the land - or ‘des’ was the immensely portrayed in the community. Taking the concept of home, in how the arrangements are, what are the nuances of the material used - forms across the house, traditional elements, earthernware, what is now left, and how it was earlier. Then there were narratives about the material, the sentiment behind association with ‘maati’ which was a strong one since the community also fought for keeping a land area that was their source of clay against an MNC. Nature is another point which is truly synchronized in the lifestyle, with sustainability being an organic part of life, instead of imposition. The points on history, body and community are also imperative points that shape the thinking process and comprehension of the various individuals, families, and the community.

This graphical mindmap or rich picture has emerged out of a daily journal of conversations, observations, photographs and quick drawings on field. These included personal interactions, photographs of the interiors of the homes, and other insights. Based on this, further insights were drawn which bring out the different ways to manifest these ideas in form of tangible products, and an intangible impact.

Potter’s Abode | The house of a Kutchchi Kumbhaar | Sukoon | Home - The first product idea was the taken from the concept of ‘home’ which was about the sentiment, the historical traditions, the culture and also the lifestyle which shows a great integration of the craft practice as a livelihood, and how the family life exists around it. There are cultural nuances and specific reasons behind everything that’s there in the house, whether it is the curved halved clay modules (or desi nariyas) for letting rainwater pass through smoothly, keep the house warm in cold days and vica versa with air passages, or the large earthernware pot, ‘kuthi’ to store grains for a longer period. Interactive gamification for an educative experience with a tangible physical existence of material, a doll house from the Indian origin of sorts.

Accessories with traditional nuances - A range of accessories originating as a product idea on the history of terracotta and pottery in the ancient ages.

In Egypt, there was a culture of wearing small pots as earrings, and using that insight, with miniatures being an imperative product of the family, it could be an interestingly marketed product, with traditional earthernware shapes of the ancient times in Kutchch, talking about their specific use, form and shape as a part of branding.

The idea of drinking tea: The tea culture in India is starkly different from that the Europeans practice. The gestures, the noises, the way the ‘rakabi’ is held, the way one sits while having tea, the scenario for drinking tea - it all differs, and has a contextual meaning to it. Usually tea is the breaktime one gets between work, it is a drink you have with your colleagues, friends or family when you relax - sitting on the floor, clasping the ‘kulhad’ in your hand. Unfortunately, when it comes to toys for Indian kids, all toys depict the European etiquette of drinking tea, which is reminiscent of the tea party culture, with a stiff posture, and holding the cup by the handle.

Oral traditions in regional games: Taking inspiration from the regional games played through oral traditions passed on from generation to generation, two strategy based games, ‘bharat kakri’ and ‘sih bakri’ originated. No more played by the current generation of children, these oral traditions and games are simply lost, with the influence of video games, and internet games. These regional games also reveal a lot about the virtues the culture tries to teach children through it, whether it is to use the mind well, or to be strategic and careful with resources in life.

The human body and the earth: Alimamd bhai once said, ‘We’re all made of clay, and just like a lump of clay, human body has the same proportion of water.

So as the clay reacts with the temperature outside, so does the human body, in the same way - that’s why drinking water from an earthern pot is syncronized with your system as it is in syncrony with the environment, unlike chemically temperature controlled systems. The product idea was to create human shaped water bottles to portray this line of. thought. However, the idea was not taken ahead, because there was a conflict and doubt in the interaction between the user and the product, and the inherent meanings that could come out of it, against how it is intended.

Mapped board games: A game specifically designed with the craft cluster in mind, on how a traveller should experience the cluster. Gamified on the extent of experiences taken, and the route mapped. For this thee did map the entire town, and looked at ways to quantify it for a game, it seemed heavy on who the target audience would be, it would make more sense to make this as an interesting way of articulation when travellers are brought to experience the cluster.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Craft colaborative Fellowship

HOW?

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Craft Design process Gauging the interests of the craftsperson along with understanding the different factors of all the different product ranges, three main system products that presented value were the ‘the house’ game which would need constant iteration, and a series of explorations for the complex pieces that it requires. The other two products are the traditional regional games that were orally played, physically drawn on the ground which could be preserved and played in form of board games. The design process the craftsperson and the fellow took from here was a constantly evolving one.

The house was a more ambigious product to form, since it needed to have some permanent parts to make the framework of the structure, and a few dynamic ones so there is interactivity and tangible outcomes of the activity. Also in terms of the material to build the basic structure, whether the structure be a modular one or an existing joint system, how to go about using clay in a modular system. Also what pieces would be included, what do they imply for someone who is playing the game. Traditionally, the Kumbhaar community developed a ‘ghar-ghar’ set which had toy forms of everything one needs to maintain a house, and it was gender specific to girls. For the boys, there were horses and camel shaped toys to play. Bringing together these ideas and looking at an entire system similar to a doll house of a kind - in an authentic form based on the community itself.

The two traditional games that were taken forward from generation to generation orally, had parameters of clarity and some parts where we needed to derive meaning, form and shape. Some discussions on size, shapes and form were done there as well.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Rough sketches and ideas for the development of the house based on initial observations

Craft Design process Documenting, observing and learning about the different elements of the ‘home’

Throughout the making, brainstorming, initial research phase, various aspects of the cluster, and the sentiment of ‘home’, ‘traditional earthernware’, ‘cultural nuances’, existing products, arrangements were documented.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

In the initial phase to start prototyping, they started with all clay based material, making things by hand, just to understand what was required and how it could be developed.

Creating internal elements Establishing scale: Starting with making miniature earthernware and internal pieces in the house - there are limitations to how small an object one can make on the wheel, and the skill level of the craftsperson, since Anwarbhai was making miniatures for the first time. So taking the Kuthi and the Kulhad as the reference points for the largest and the smallest object - they together established the scale of the house.

Traditional earthernware miniatures: Beginning with making the miniatures, there would be inputs from the entire neighbourhood around, whether it was Ruksana, cousin sister-in-laws living closeby, Alimamdbhai, Shayaraben, or even the kids who would pass by, and with this Leena imbibed several cultural nuances of these artefacts.

Evolvement of the structural component : Clay walls and grooves: The idea at the beginning was to use only clay to make walls, and using grooves to connect them. But since clay is fragile, and also when it interacts with the close surroundings, it often expands and reduces, so there could be problems with the grooves.

Clay - donkey poop mix walls with magnets: Donkey poop is a material often used to give strength to clay if a flat surface needs to be made. With magnets inserted inside the walls and joining them together, it could have a modular structure. With this the modules had to be very small, and post firing, often clay tilts to one side. This makes it difficult for the wall to look one when attached in parts.

Clay - bajra husk boards from the chulla workshop: After exploring a few materials including wood, ply and micro-fiber board, they found the boards that are used for chullas, which are locally known as fiber boards or bajra boards. They were pressed, dried clay boards with a mix. One could drill holes in these, and create a structure. This was the most apt for the house framework.

Different elements of the house The living space: The house wiith a living room and a bedroom, is equipped with various regional and cultural nuances, with the ‘Pachni’ (a raised platform on the wall against the door) where plates and utensils are arranged aesthetically, then ‘Madhuni’ to keep interesting pieces in the house, along with ‘Khaats’, ‘Petis’ as the bed, storage cabinet, and earthernware pots used for various occassions like the ‘Ghadi’, which has a significant use in weddings.

The work space: The workshop area is an open space with a roof overhead, where one could squat / sit and turn the wheel making artefacts, and keep them around to dry out. This space is full of products to be sold to customers or to distributors who come in.

The organically emerging ‘aangan’ space: The ‘Aangan’ is a space where the living and working meet, with ‘Khaats’ to sit around and socialize among neighbours, to play area for the kids, storage and to dry the artefacts, also to do the ornamentation part. This also worked as a display for trade.

The roofs: The roofs have a specific architectural style, as semi round modules that are thinner in the start, and wider at the ends, called ‘desi nariyas’ which fit in each other creating space for air ventilation and for rainwater to not enter the homes. These also kept the homes warm in winters and cooler in summers due to the properties of clay and the air current flow designed in the apt way.

Final product range The final product range has three products 1. Sukoon | The house of a Kutchchi Kumbhaar This is a traditional form of the house - house or ‘ghar-ghar’ or in modern times, the ‘dollhouse’. To be essentially played by kids between ages of 8 years to 12 years, it is an interactive educational experience, with information about the community, the craft and earthernware, it also gives them an insight into ancient form of buildings and a reasoning behind it. The roofs are seperate and the second layer of clay modules is to be attached the players themselves.

2. Bharat Kakri - Visi | Visi wars The traditionally played regional game of Bharat Kakri is a strategic two player game where one needs to place three of their coins in one straight line, against the opponent’s attacks. Here for the coins we’ve taken inspiration from the traditional form of the ‘visi’ or piggy bank and the subtle outlying meaning here is that one looses their hard earned savings, if they’re not careful in life.

3. Sih Bakri | The game of tigers and goats Known as Wagh Bakri in the rest of Gujarat, the game of Sih Bakri is a popular regional game, that has two tigers and nine goats, while the tiger can eat up a lone goat, it cannot destroy a herd. There are intricate meanings to it, that tell about the cultural nuances of unity and being a part of your community, and supporting your people to protect them from destroyers. It simply talks about how there’s life in unity.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

The game Bharat Kakri or Visi wars.

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WHERE?

Craft colaborative Fellowship

position the products

The products are a manifestation of cultural nuances, keeping the community at the center of the ideas. The idea is to bring a new way of looking at tradition, heritage and lifestyle - one that doesn’t reject the past, but embraces it well, understanding the core of it, and incorporating it in the evolving times of today.

The origin of using terracotta to produce artefacts began with making a ‘pyaala’ or a bowl, and eventually figurines, utility based products, art pieces and even more today. With an evolving identity of the material, the craft, the practice and the practitioner, there’s a lot to be explored. Terracotta isn’t just limited to being a material, then. In the context of Indian culture, there are lines of community, caste and identity drawn by the occupation. In the modern urban lifestyles, we rarely think in these ways, but there’s still a huge impact in how one thinks based on where one comes from.

Through the medium of terracotta. Leena aimed to probe into the aspect of identity that the craft associates with, and how the lifestyle of the community is centered around the craft, along with the various ideas and narratives within individuals.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

The potter’s abode or the house of the Kutchchi Kumbhaar is an educational interactive toy house that has interesting elements, can be a bonding factor between urban kids who are alienated from their roots and their grandparents who are now away from where they grew up. An interesting scope for the product is also with Non-resident Indians who find an association with the cultural nuances, and a way back to their roots, while residing far. The product talks about a community, a culture, a new one for those who are curious. Curious, culture enthusiasts from around the world are another potential market, whether it is the physical tourists who visit the cluster or the ones looking for interesting pieces, games, books, resources online or in musuems.

The board games are interesting for everyone, it has a cultural context, yet is as universal in approach. The games can be played simply as board games, and placed in curated retail stores, they could be used as a part of the hospitality and/or utility in concept stores, cafes and restaurants, there is a possibility of musuems, galleries and cultural centers to make it a part of their collections. Although regional, these games often have a counterpart in other regions named differently, and the visual stimulation brings in a glimpse of that for many. Schools, exhibitions, fairs, cultural fests, art festivals are all good places for the products to be positioned.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

position YOURSELF The products materialized are specifically from the community’s lifestyle itself, it comes from within. Leena believes that her role was to also show how ideas from in and around could become products.

Her research process wasn’t limited to exposure of the data to herself, but also working alongside Anwarbhai while talking to families in the community. Anwarbhai became like a co-researcher in the initial part of the process, where Leena also encouraged him to talk, understand, document along with her to expose him into what can emerge out of the surroundings.

With communication design as her background, research, and writing as her areas, product design and technicalities were difficult to navigate around. With collaborations within the community with different people - whether it was Alimamdbhai’s idea of using the fiber boards usually used for making chullas, and bringing in Anwarbhai Luhaar to help with creating the structural framework of the house. Anwarbhai Luhaar builds the larger houses in the village. Her role she also looks at as one that brought the community together to work on one product collaboratively, being from different trades. It gave Abdulbhai ideas on how he could bring together his traditional trade of pottery with the new trade of his clay-bajra boards, and also how he could begin making it himself.

Giving a new life to the craft, these initiatives will further help to bring the next generation even more closer to the practice.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Craft colaborative Fellowship

WHY?

Craft colaborative Fellowship

fellowship Collaboratory approach between traditional makers, craftspeople and ancient art practitioners with professionally trained designers, architects, artists, and other creative practitioners is an exposure for both sides to understand each other’s perspective, and build something authentic, and yet an evolved form of what exists, or going back to the basics and bringing out new meanings from existing, or olden practices.

The fellowship was an interesting opportunity for both the craft community and the fellows to intuitively experience a new culture, and a new way to work. While the process of craftspeople is an organic one that emerges from years of practice or the influence of the previous generations around them and how they worked, the fellows primarily had a process and system based way of going about product development, a good balance of both was needed and was what the fellowship evolved into.

With Leena’s entire experience of being associated and living with the community for almost a period of one and a half - two months was enriching, and a revealation on how our minds in urban cities are stuck on what’s around us, and coming out of that construct and understanding the reasons behind why a process or a community functions a certain way, reasons behind how homes were built to the ingredients of food, and how it is cooked. Her journey into the ‘why’s’ of the community became an inspiration for the outcomes of the fellowship.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Final product range The product range serves more than the purpose of creation of new products, it is headed towards making the community have a certain sense of pride in their traditional practices, the structure of the olden traditional home arrangements that are now vanishing into concrete, and also an exposure into how one doesn’t need to ape something from outside to create better, but look inside, and around in the surroundings to bring out creative, new and bold products.

The range also gives the craftsperson and the fellow to test their limits of exploratory and executionary work, it was a challenging task, especially to make the miniature clay modules, which are more than 1500 in number, both Anwar and Leena had to work longer hours to bring it to shape. With the help of a woodwork craftsperson, it was interesting to see the structure of the house to manifest. Eventually the entire family got involved with Shayara ben helping with the clay, the material, and how it could get better with donkey poop or for a layer of clay on the house, Alimamd bhai with his knowledge of traditions and the form, Ayeshaben in her years of practice in ornamentation, and Ruksana also got involved in the process while painting the miniatures, and so did the neighbours.

It was interesting to see the children deeply involved in the process too, interacting with the elements, getting to know about traditional forms, games and just the initiation of the dialogue.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Essentially these products for the target audience is also a glimpse into a new culture, and perhaps for many going back to their roots, or the essence of that. The products with their material also dive into the aspect of sustainable, circular economy as a part of creating, going beyond the industrial revolution, and talking about slow design, the essence of the ‘hand-made’ and against the idea of ‘uniformity’.

With the cultural context strongly in place, yet open to universal experience, there are ways for the products to become pieces of interest for a niche market - culture enthusiasts, tourists, museums, fairs, art exhibits and more.

Physical interactions with hand made objects also breaks through the whole component of our dependencies on digital mediums today. Children no more play together, there is no more an organic physical essense left, especially in urban spaces, and slowly penetrating into rural spaces as well. These games bring back the initiation of ‘hey, let’s play’, playing as a group activity in the same space in a physical sense, with tactility being a very important tangibly intangible medium.

Inherently this makes it an authentic manifestation from the community and a holistic experience for the end consumer.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

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REFLECTIONS

Craft colaborative Fellowship

REFLECTIONS&and acknowledgements& Reflecting back on the experience, the journey was truly immersive. The material, the craft practice were new for Leena. Her ideas evolved from her secondary research phase, where the focus was essentially on urban scenario to bringing together the urban and rural at the primary field outcomes. Discussions with Radha Devpura, Rishav Jain and Jay Thakkar at DICRC, helped to think of new perspectives. The publications further gave an insight into the community. Discussions with Bhargav Padhiyar, who was a fellow at DICRC for his thesis project on crafts and new media (Kala Kosh) who had extensively worked in the Gundiyali cluster brought in newer perspectives.

Field visit, intereractions with the community, primarily with the craft families, and key people, Alimamdbhai for understanding the practice, perspectives and how to move further, Shayaraben for material expertise, and ornamentation, Ayeshaben for her experience, talks about the community, culture, historical references of her times, and for her skills and knowledge in ornamentation and illustration, Yasarbhai for helping with materialization, and documentations, Jiluben with her cheerful attitude and constant source for information, Ruksanaben, Faridaben, Jamilaben for their contant inputs on the process. Abdulbhai and Anwarbhai Luhaar for their resources, time, expertise and advice on using material, scope and scale of the product.

Anwarbhai’s constantly optimistic approach towards the project in difficult times and good, along with the ability and willingness to take up challenging tasks were really inspiring for Leena, and one major learning point has been to accomodate flexible changes, and never give up, but only evolve or improve the process for wherever the constraints lie.

Craft colaborative Fellowship

Project: Craft Colaborative Fellowship Initiative of: Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC) Nilpa, University Area, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380009 Manthan Educational Programme Society,India C-1, Sukruti, Manekbag, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015