From thread counts to market trends...

Fifty-year-old Hairya Vankarno hands over to a customer, her business card which has 'Kaam Bole' (work speaks) in bright orange and green font. She gives her email id for the details of the order the customer has given. She, along with 11 other textile and design artisans just wrapped up an exhibition, 'Craft Re-defined', that was held on Saturday at Artisans Art Gallery at Kala Ghoda. The event was part of their course in Business Management for Artisans based in Kutch, Gujarat.

The 12 artists were the first graduates of the pilot 10-month-long BMA course in January, where they have been taught how to produce and sell their traditional art and design in the mainstream market.
Judy Frater, the founder and director of Somaiya Kala Vidya (SKV), where the course is taught, says it is a one-of- a kind course in India as no other initiative has been taken to preserve the fast depleting traditional skill and art.

"The course is held in Kutch for the traditional artists based there, but we wish to open more centres and bring these people to the foreground. The course is free for women artists as they are not earning members of their household. They should know how to create an edge in the market with their identity and innovate inside their own tradition. They will not attend the course otherwise, and the tradition will die out with them. We take Rs20,000 a year from the men, which includes lectures, material, food and boarding," said Frater, who began with teaching design in Gujarat through Kala Raksha Vidyalaya that already has 124 graduates since 2005 but is now working through SKV.

Frater said that the artisans already have a body of skill and design but are now learning business, how to make a collection and exhibit it. As a part of the course, the students had to create their own label and brand too. Soyab Khatri has used Van Gogh paintings as inspiration for his Ajrak block print sarees and stoles, whereas Zakiyaben Khatri has used the tomb in her town as an inspiration. The graduates include weavers, Bandhani and Bathik artists, embroiderers, and Ajrak and block print artists.

The traditional village artists from Kutch now talk product life cycle, market surveys and online portals as Ramji Maheshwari, a 3rd generation weaver already has clients from Australia, France, UK and Italy. He claims to have seen a 100% increase in his business. His family is the only weaving family left out of 60 families that did this work in his village.

Forty-year-old Sajnuben and 21-year-old Mongiben belong to the Rabari nomadic tribe and Debhariya tribe, both of whom joined the course after completing their design course. They plan on creating a separate 'Sahasra' group to support other women and hold more exhibitions like these. "If we promote ourself, the value of our art also increases. When they know the process of our work, the art's value increases. I plan to enter the garments and accessories sector but haven't learned pattern making. I'll learn and do more exhibits like this," said Mongiben.

Hariyaben says that if she doesn't keep up the tradition, her children won't learn, and it will die out. "I work as a Suf and Kataab embroiderer and my husband is a farmer. I travelled from my village in Subrasar in Bhuj to Adipur where the course is and stayed there to learn BMA. I enjoy my work and want to be remembered by it. I am taking a new step and I don't know if my business will sink, but I'll keep doing it," she said.
The students will have a final course in Analysis after the exhibit and have an oral exam in January. They will join a mentorship and internship period after graduating. "They have now learned networking, inventory handling, costing, scheduling and managing the supply chain. They now understand the difference between being production centric earlier, to now being marketing and client centric," said their professor of planning and management at BMA, Hitesh Bhatt from Institute of Rural management, Gujarat.