As part of a project to save dying traditional crafts, textile design students of NID worked with women of Juna Vadaj and Karanataka
With an aim to revive traditional crafts, textile design students of National Institute of Design have co-created labels with artisans from Ahmedabad and Karnataka.
The students worked with handloom weavers from Molakalmuru and Bagalkot, Karnataka, whereas for Ahmedabad, students worked on appliqué crafts with women of Juna Vadaj. The main motive is to restore identity and gain insight into each other's creation processes. The students spent five weeks with the artisans.
Swasthi Singh, course instructor and professor said, "The attempt of the course 'Heritage textiles' was to engage with artisans, gain traditional knowledge and work as equal partners. Usually artisans are used as skilled hands to execute the idea of designer. We wanted to change that and ensure that the artisans are knowledge partners in terms of imagining and co-creating the garments."
Students were asked to understand the uniqueness and strengths of tradition and what imparts typical identity for the tradition. The idea was also to give their tradition a unique identity, Singh said. "For example, students who worked with silk weavers in Karnataka found that their traditional Molakalmuru saris are overshadowed by Kanjivarams. The tradition is gradually losing its identity. Often times, the middle-men sell out these saris as Kanjivarams going by it's popularity. Students then came up with design strategy to give distinct identity to the tradition."
Students worked with leftover fabrics in Juna Vadaj given by an NGO in Karnataka. The students were asked to create products in line with their theme, using skills of the artisans, which would then be marketed.
Twenty-year-old Bhumika Ahuja who worked with women from Juna Vadaj said, "Working with the artisans gave us an insight into their issues, including not having design freedom, etc."
These women were highly skilled and had strong design ability, added Bhumika. "We had to introduce a collection for women aged 20-30. While discussing about the theme with the artisans, they narrated moral values that they imbibed from childhood folklore. It was then we decided to narrate stories of Panchatantra through our designs using applique technique. Also, applique is extremely relevant today as it is all about upcycling waste and left over fabric into creating something meaningful."
The students will soon be putting up the co-created collection with the label of artisan and students on sale at NID's shop.
COMMON MOTIVE
- The students worked with handloom weavers from Molakalmuru and Bagalkot, Karnataka, whereas for Ahmedabad, students worked on appliqué crafts with women of Juna Vadaj
- The main motive is to restore identity and gain insight into each other’s creative processes
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