KOCHI: The National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad is organising ‘Kaitha-Kadha’, an exhibition of screwpine craft products at the Bolgatty Palace. The two-day exhibition will conclude on Tuesday. The motto of the exhibit is to promote traditional crafts in the state and to restore their market in today’s time.
According to the organisers, this new generation exhibition is the result of three stages of design development workshops on screwpine crafts with 28 artisans who were trained over a span of 45 days.
The screwpine artisans belong to two organisations in the state named Kottapuram Integrated Development Society (KIDS) in Kodungallur and Jawahar Memorial Social Welfare and Public Cooperation Centre (JSWC) in Thalayolaparambu. The aim behind the workshop is to develop new opportunities for the artisans besides handicraft, tourism and commerce industry through this eco-friendly craft.
“The artisans were taught twilling, braiding and circular mat weaving in the first workshop. The second workshop was held at NID where they learnt to make various products with good outlines. In the last workshop, they were taught to make products which meet the benchmark of international standards,” said Jonak Das, senior associate designer of NID.
Most of the artisans were financially challenged and belonged to minority communities. KIDS and JSW have been an aid to these artisans by promoting them in various aspects and keeping their dignity as valuable citizens intact. The NID design team has worked with artisans in order to guide, train, expose and empower them to create products with international standard both in quality and design.
The Ministry of Minority Affairs launched USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) in September, 2015 for the benefit of minority communities. NID is appointed as a knowledge partner under USTTAD to contribute its knowledge, skills and experience to the minorities.
“It was a new experience as they taught us how to work with machines. We would have regretted if we would not have joined the workshop,” said Geethamma Aravindan, an artisan from JSWC.
Table mats and runners, floor mats, wall mats, ladies bags, wine bottle covers, cushions, lamps, gift containers, board games, i-pad bags and clutches were the products put on display. Enakshi Ghosh, senior textile designer of NID headed the project.