Folk Art cushion covers

Some pullouts of work I did couple of years ago - cushion covers developed for Ouma Productions (www.oumaproductions.com) based on Indian truck graphics and Gond art. The techniques I used were digital printing, hand applique and hand embroidery. Image source: www.oumaproductions.com

The Kantha fish on the right

Tree and Deer cushion covers based on Gond paintings

Cushion covers in Khadi fabrics

White base cushion covers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

The Truck cushion

It was the first time I worked with the medium of digital printing and it was a huge task to get the colour matching right. The biggest challenge, I reckon though, was to maintain the stain free white base for most of the cushion covers, since each cushion cover passed through the hands of the printer, applique craftsperson, hand embroiderer and tailor, and was finally ironed and packed by me.

The Circus

As children, I can remember we used to look excitedly forward to go the circus, The Gemini Circus. It was a day that had to be planned well in advance as our school timings were 9 am-3 pm and then we had drawing classes to attend, or singing lessons, or tennis time. And all the children (including my cousins) had different, but busy schedules. But we had to go together, hence the planning. This poem couples facts with a child's imagination. The only way I knew how to write poetry as a child - through rhymes.

The Circus

I went to the circus one day,
I saw a man lying on a pile of hay
There were many more things ofcourse
The circus belonged to Mr.Dorse 

There I saw monkeys,
There were lions too,
Of course we saw the elephants
Like we had seen in the zoo.

The chimpanzees were acting
The people were waiting
To see the show done by
"The Funny Guys".

We saw the clowns
Wearing a long gown
Trying his tricks
By jumping through the bricks

It was a funny sight
Two men were having a flight
We laughed a lot
And tripped on a man on a cot

We thought we must go
Then we saw Mr. To-Do-Fro,
He was laughing very loudly,
Ho! Ho! Ho!

- written on 30th January 1990

The Little Old Man

This time on my visit to my home in Calcutta, I found an amazing treasure. My old poems written when I will still in school. 'The Little Old Man' is the first ever poem I have written, though I cannot remember what had triggered me to write it - maybe I was getting bored one afternoon, or I had seen something cartoon that had brought forward this visual of a man with his head in a can or maybe it was one of Noddy books I read.

The Little Old Man

There was a little old man
Who was very funny,
He put his head in a can,
Cause he thought he had seen a bunny.

His head got stuck
For there was glue in the can
Then the clock struck
And he heard the voice of a man.

He heard a knock
The door was not locked
He heard a call,
"Mr.Noddy, here is a letter from Mr. Hall".

It was the postman of course
Though he thought it was a fraud
Sent by Mr. Mock Morse
And certainly Mr. Noddy was very cross.

Mr. Noddy was very angry,
He was also very hungry,
He thought he will cook in his frying pan,
And then he thought of the can!

The poor little man,
Could not think of what to do
Who would pull him out of the can?
Who? Who? Who?

- written on 27th January, 1990

Horns

Every morning, I ride my Activa from my home to my studio and in that 5 km stretch (I think) and 15 minutes drive, I undergo a flurry of emotions - anger, amazement, humour, compassion and so on. This morning it was inspiration. Enjoy the read...

Horns

I wonder why the horns on the roads,

Go honk! honk! all day long?

If only there was melody in the noise

It could become a never ending song.

The bus driver’s horn is long and loud

Telling other cars to get out of its way,

The small cars horn can be long or short

Depending on what it wants to say.

If late, the hands never leave the wheels

Only to get stuck in the same red light as me,

It would be funny, if they would stop to think

But they are racing against time you see.

The motor bikes’ horn can squeak like a rat

Overshadowed by the big cars around,

Or it might roar with all its might,

And create zigzag patterns on the ground.

As for me, I often forget where the horn is,

At other times I think the horn has gone bad.

Like the humble bicycles who almost never honk,

I think the noisy cars have gone completely mad.

The Kalaraksha experience

Couple of days back, I was having a very interesting discussion with Sakthi (the Dyeing Studio Guru and Indigo enthusiast at NID and a dear friend) regarding the art of appreciation. We concluded that:
1. People in general are too busy to be grateful nowadays, and
2. Both of us have lovely memories of our association with craftspeople.

Dyers, printers, embroiderers or weavers - they tend to remember the smallest thing we have done for them, often unconsciously in our eyes. This is in sharp contrast to the treatment which many design professionals like me receive as independent consultants. The pedestal at which the artisan designers and craftspeople place us on (as teachers) is truthfully speaking, an honour, since there is so much for us to learn from them.

This sense of being appreciated is the biggest reward that a professional can receive and the one place which has made me believe this more than ever is Kalaraksha. Founded by Judy Frater and Prakash bhai (www.kala-raksha.org), Kalaraksha is working towards the preservation of traditional art forms in Kutch and also has an online museum of traditional textile articles. My association with Kalaraksha began in 2008, when I went for the first time to teach at the Kalaraksha Vidyalaya at Vand, a small coastal town in Mandvi taluka of Gujarat. It was the first time I would be teaching rural craftspeople and I was scared of not doing justice to it. However, in my report for the 'Market Orientation' module of 2008 for the women students, I wrote," It was a remarkable experience to interchange knowledge and skills with my 7 students in these 13 days...the fact that someone as old as Kunwarba had zeal to learn something new is inspiring. It truly leads one to believe there is no right age to pursue education." It was challenging to explain concepts like market, client and USP to them in a traditional context so that they could understand its relevance to their craft.

Trying to explain economic stratification of a client

In my report for Year 2009, I described my learning with the students, "...yet another opportunity to teach as well as learn from these master embroiderers. I use the term ‘master’ for all of them, as one needs to practice the skills themselves to realize how difficult the task is, and how easy they make it seem." These experiences at Kalaraksha were teaching me life lessons! And I was grateful for the chance.

Class of 2009

In 2010, I taught Market Orientation to the men's group. This experience was markedly different from my earlier 2 modules, since it was the first time I had taken a men’s class. Most of the students were focused and did not hesitate to ask questions and voice their confusions. While the women’s class is warmer, this class was definitely more challenging.

In the last 2 years, I also taught Collection Development and Finishing (the 5th module of the year long syllabus). My now I had overcome my earlier skepticism of positively contributing to the student's learning. Their confidence in me was also a moral booster. Last year, for the first time I had a combined student group from rural and urban design schools. Students of Apparel Design from National Institute of Design worked along with the students of Kalaraksha Vidyalaya in a co-creation experiment. It was challenging to manage the heterogeneous group, where each participant had different skill sets and thinking pattern. We had many smiling moments, largely due to the communication hiccups; the unforgetable one being about an 8-legged elephant. 

Working on actual scale of the product

Working together in shaping the product patterns

From Left to right: Bottom Row- My students Tulsi, Lakshmi, Mira ben and Jiva ben on the dais. Middle Row - The jury members Priya Kishore, Krishna Patel, Subrata Bhowmick, Judy Frater, Geetha Narayan (Convocation speaker) Radhi Parekh and Alison Welsh

This year in December, I will once again be a part of the Kalarakash Mela - when my students will receive their certificates, marking yet another successful year of imparting education by Kalaraksha at the grassroot level. I have been intending to write about my expereince at Kalaraksha for years now, and it seems apt that my chat with Sakthi triggered this post.  

Kalaraksha has given opportunities to many like me for engaging in meaningful application of design and for that I am thankful. The biggest learning has been from the artisans themselves - I wish to pause, retrospect and appreciate all these people from whom I have learnt so much.