Contemporary Design, Traditional Craft October 3, 2009

IMPORTANT!!! The event will be held at Badami House, Opposite City Corporation Office, N.R. Square, Bangalore – 560 002.

CONTEMPORARY DESIGN, TRADITIONAL CRAFT
Creative Collaboration or Communication Gap?

Over 10 million craftspeople are part of India’s living heritage, practicing hand skills unmatched by any other country. They weave, embroider appliqué, block print; work in wood, bamboo, bone, terracotta and leather; cast, etch and emboss metal, paint and sculpt in numerous vernacular idioms; knot and coil grass, reed, jute and coconut fibre, blow glass, stamp fibre - hundreds of different techniques and traditions unique to each community and area – a cultural and economic strength whose full potential remains untapped.

Side-by-side, Indian design schools mushroom all over India, creating an explosion of young designers, equipped with the contemporary language and expertise of professional, mainly Western, design principles. Bridging these two disparate skill-sets are government institutions, grass roots NGOs, hard-nosed retailers and exporters - each with their own agenda and vision. This interaction between rural craftsperson and urban designer can be a recipe for fulfillment, but also intense frustration. The results are sometimes brilliant, sometimes heartbreaking.

This talk explores both the triumphs and the tribulations of working with differing perceptions of craft and design.

LAILA TYABJI.

Official Website: http://artscapeindia.org/