BHUBANESWAR: ‘Chandua: Canopies of Labour’, a bilingual book documenting Odisha’s living appliqué traditions, will be unveiled here on Sunday.
The publication, an initiative of Odisha Craft Odyssey (OCO), a collaborative effort of the MGM Foundation and Bhubaneswar Experimental Art and Design Studio (BEADS), explores Chandua traditions through the labour, memory, history and cultural knowledge embedded in the craft.
BEADS co-founder, MD and OCO advisory board member Sandeep Hota said the book goes beyond the finished craft object to document the communities and artisans who sustain the tradition.
The 2026 edition, published in English and Odia, has been edited by Premjish Achari and Sibdas Sengupta, with research and documentation by researcher Madhulika S Naidu and archivist Raj Maurya.
A full-day symposium titled ‘Mapping Transitions: Art, Craft and the Ethnographic Turn’ will also be held at the Odisha Research Centre (ORC) prior to the book launch. Noted designer and curator Rajeev Sethi will address the event.