- NIFT INTERVENTION -
NIFT Craft Cluster Initiative
NIFT with the active support from the Ministry of Textiles, Office of Development Commissioner (Handlooms) and Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) has developed and implemented a new Craft Cluster Initiative Program which aims to provide the students with continuous exposure to the handloom and handicraft clusters, thus providing an opportunity for creative innovation and experimentation. Through this initiative, NIFT aims to reach out to the artisans and craftsmen at the grass root level. The artisans and craftsmen involved in the initiative will benefit through knowledge dissemination and exposure to urban markets and design intervention, innovative designs and linkages with new markets. The Craft Cluster initiative at NIFT is designed with the objectives to sensitize NIFT students to the realities of the craft sector and give insight into regional sensibilities and diversities, resources and environment. Through this initiative, NIFT has been successful in creating a widespread awareness and sensitivity in assimilating crafts into fashion and vice-versa. The Craft Cluster Initiative program is envisaged to provide the students of NIFT systematic, continuous and regular exposure every year to the diversely rich and unique handlooms and handicrafts of India. Under this dynamic initiative, the students of NIFT work closely with the artisans and weavers in clusters of India and undertake activities like diagnostic study, design intervention and prototype development. The artisans and weavers are also invited to NIFT campuses for exposure workshops, demonstration workshops, exhibitions and craft bazaars where they get an opportunity to interact with the craft experts, upgrade their product and design knowledge and understand consumers in the urban markets.
PART 1
ANKAHI
Kavad being a medium to tell stories of God, nobility and mostly people at the upper end of the social spectrum. Through this age old medium of story telling, we wish to tell stories that haven’t been told before. Going with this idea, we commissioned Mr Dwarka Prasasd Jagid to make a kavad for us that tells us his story. Story of a Suthar, practically born into the craft. Our idea is to use this medium-which is an interesting medium to tell stories- to tell the world stories that often remain untold or are forgotten by people.
STORY ANALYSIS
Mr. Dwarka Prasad’s parents.
Mr. Dwarka Prasad ‘s father teaching the art of kavad making to his wife and 3 sons.
Mr. Dwarka and his brothers going to school.
Learning the art of painting and kavad making from his father.
Learning the craft of wood cutting and carving from his father.
Painting together with his father every weekend.
Dwarka Prasad, all grown up, practicing the profession his father spent all his life teaching him.
Mr. Dwarka’s wife, Kamla Bai helps in painting the base coat of white on all the kavads made by him. This is done with the help of white powder color mixed with gum or chuna.
Dwarka Prasad working hard day in and day out in order to be able to sustain himself with this craft
Dwarka Prasad Jangid working on kavad making with other members of his family- His brothers, their wives and kids.
Dwarka ji in his shop- Shri Narayan Arts in Bassi.
Dwarka ji painting a kivad in his workshop.
Dwarka Prasad trying to come up with stories other than the Ramayana and Mahabharata, to give people something different to look forward to.
Mr. Dwarka invited to Dilli Haat to paint the Women’s security check room at the haat entrance.
Mr. Dwarka recieving an award for excellence in his craft.
Mr. Dwarka at a craft exhibition in Delhi. Followed by multiple exhibitions in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and many more.
Mr. Dwarka invited to paint a 25 feet Kavad for Rajasthan Jhanki during the Republic Day Parade.
Mr. Dwarka entertaining buyers at several exhibition opportunities that came is way due his excellence and innovation to sustain a dying craft.
Mr. Dwarka trying to come up with newer stories like ‘Meena Ki kahani” the Alaphabet, ‘Varn Mala’ and many more in order to attract the modern customer who only used to purchase a kavad for decorative purposes.
Mr. Dwarka developing stories and learning materials for school going children.
The turning point in Mr. Dwarka’s lifewhen he won a National Award for excellence in his craft.
PART 2 #MYKAVADMYSTORY
Having thought about it a great deal, we as a group came to the conclusion that an artisan of Mr. Dwarka Prasad’s calibre doesn’t need any intervention in terms of modernising his craft because he is informed enough to have already been doing that. We decided to create an Instagram profile for him to promote the craft among the younger generation that perhaps doesn’t even know about the existence of this craft. Through this social media campaign we seek recognition and perhaps a sight boost in sales. #MyKavadMyStory and #SwaargKiDibiya are the main promotional hashtags that we want people to identify his brand by since he takes the time to customise products for people.
@mykavad
PART 3 In an attempt to make the craft popular among the younger generation and more importantly kids, we came up with a toy called SWARG KI DIBIYA-since the story behind the kavad is that the more you listen to the stories and the people who make them increase thier chances of going to heavan in their afterlife. This toy, meant for age groups 5 and above is a way for people to express themselves and tell their own stories. It is also an excelent way of motor and visual skill development of a toddler. The toy package comes with a plain kavad, painted a solid color which can be repainted by the buyer to suit his/her liking and a set of stickers inpired by the motifs used in the Mewar School of Art. The stickers come in personalized sets created for different personality types and and buyer can choose the set he/she wants. As an experiment we gave this to 3 college students and told them to create a story from the same set of stickers to show how multiple stories can be created for varying perspectives.
Radhika and Mihir (L-R)
They wanted to convey how animals are getting killed by the human wrath and we humans are the only ones that remain.
Pallavi Bariha
Her kavad conveys the worhip of Durga ma and the snense of balance it brings to people’s minds.