Introduction Jaya Jaitly and Aman Nath

A textile craftsman in Gujarat prepares the warp thread on a vibrant piece of fabric. Image Credit: Mapin The crafted elements that are unique to India and some South Asian countries offer the true meaning of “bespoke” in any field of design because they can make the client feel special and pampered. While each interior is differently imagined according to the interaction between the interior designer and the client, when this is enriched through the third element, of a craftsperson interacting intimately with the designer, the palette of possibilities increases. All designers chase innovation, and this is most achievable when working with skilled craftspeople.

Handmade tiling for floors, textures for surfaces or furniture, custom-woven textiles, lamps individually fashioned out of pliable bamboo or even handmade paper: these are all innovations that can happen more easily in the handmade sector and for individual interiors that do not need a large number of units to be economically viable. The amount paid to the craftsperson sustains an average family unit of five for months, which adds an extra level of satisfaction. But it isn’t easy to ensure any continuity of demand even for master craftspeople, putting the sustenance of their families in jeopardy. The death knell of any craft strikes when the next generation is lured away by the easy security and magnetism of urban offices. The civilizational abacus is falsely seen to be illiterate against the laptop glitz of soulless, glass-enclosed cubicles.

International design journals have an expected repetitive quality about them. Glass and steel, faux leather, monochrome colour palettes and meaningless abstractions on the walls are a common aesthetic. Most settings are pristine and seem not to hold much life. This is perhaps because these journals are heavily supported by major international companies that supply bathroom fittings, rugs, kitchen units and glass. In comparison, Indian designers can instantly adorn any room

with voluptuous colours on walls, tables, cushions and any remaining space with tropical plants. The vibrancy and variety of life seems to burst forth. This is what tourists come to find in India. Our public spaces, tourist resorts and hotels have the greatest options in the world to offer multiple cultural expressions through the hands of our craftspeople, combining with the sophisticated contemporary sensibilities of interior designers and architects of today.

To understand the power of the continuous design thought or the eternal in India, enter an educated, current-day “designer” into the home of an ikat weaver working on his loom on the eastern coast of India. Give the designer all the thread and dyes at hand as also a crash course on how the hand-spun thread on the spinning wheel is stretched and dyed in advance, and then carefully preserved in the inherited wisdom cradled in the master craftsman’s mind to become a peacock, the annam or a seaside conch. The weaver has to plan the design to be woven well in advance. The threads stretched across the loom are divided carefully according to the proposed proportions of the design on the body of the finished piece. The entire piece has to be imagined well before execution. There can be no second thoughts. Knots are tied at intervals where the colour of the dye has to change. After the knots along the full length are tied, the weft is woven in to create the motifs and complete the pre-conceived layout. To imagine and then to translate into reality a fabric where the real magic lies in the plan as well as the tying and dyeing, and not the actual weaving, is hard to grasp for a layperson. Let the designer try out the educated hand, linked to a literate, computer mind, to shuttle through the warp and weft of ignorance, if one may say so, to be humbled to contemporary dust. This is Indian craft for us all: reverentially quiet as the garbha griha of a temple, modest yet mind-blowing, riddled in its own economic poverty but rich enough to be never counted in a rustle of fresh bank notes. This process can be repeated at the workplace of all Indian craftspeople who sit confident in their own arenas. This demands humility.

Every form in Indian civilization has evolved with centuries, if not millennia, of usage and refinement between the user and the creator. Craftspeople aware of the strengths and limitations of their materials, climatic concerns and other constraints have mastered and steered their practices through many a storm. The storms now blow again and many of them are reinventing themselves, with new designs and innovations, to stay afloat while still observing the rules of their practices. This book will feed the fertile minds of today’s creative people and, we hope, continue this process

New Faces of Permanence