“Crafts cannot be learned on desktop”

Upholding JD Institute’s belief in craft documentation, Ms. Sonali Soni Pal Has rightly said that in order to grasp the true flair of the Indian handicrafts industry, one needs to go to the very root of craftsmanship.

On 12th March JD Institute Of Fashion Technology organized a webinar on the topic, “Crafts of India: The Future of Design”. The session hosted by our Centre Manager, Ms. Ruchi Madan was open to all the students who wanted to learn the course of Indian crafts in the various domains of design. Our speaker, Ms. Sonali Soni Pal has been a trailblazer in the arena for more than a decade. Being associated with various craft clusters throughout the nation, her expertise in the domain is unmatched. The webinar gave our students a much-needed insight into the roots of the Indian craft sector. Our notable speaker shone some light on the scope and design limitations of the art forms with a keen focus on the national as well as international market. This insightful session witnessed active participation from both the fashion and interior batch as the students were intrigued to know the future implications of the “swadeshi” items.

Our noteworthy speaker opened the session by bringing our focus to the sensitization of the crafts for the students.  She further talked about the hierarchy of the artisans i.e., the artisan clusters and the master artisans for every craft. To quote the speaker, “craft is not an aspirational product”. Rightly so, she went ahead and proved her point with a slide dedicated to the different designs of the common broom “jhadu”. Her explanation of how crafts can be used to design even the simplest item was further reinforced by a discussion of a research article published on Google Arts and Culture on the topic of “Different Brooms Around The World”.

The session which started with the discussion of the artisan community and identity of “craft” soon shifted towards the inspiration and evolution of the Indian handicraft industry. Case in point, three different motifs of Worli Art presented by Ms. Pal that successfully showed us how the changing lifestyles have affected the motifs too. While discussing the limitations that the artisan community faces in today’s time, the speaker talked about the lack of craft documentation and the lack of focus on the storytelling of each art style. With this, she talked about the direction that the students should follow while working with these artisans and the aspects of the crafts that they need to highlight while documenting them for their respective projects. Our speaker further talked about how a dearth of knowledge on branding, marketing and promotion has led to sheer exploitation of the artforms.

Making her session even more impactful was the supporting videos documents and the real-life testimonials from the artisans. Her presentation put forth the artisans from Rogan Art, Indigo tie and dye, etc. wherein they talked about the importance of craft contemporization for the revival of several long-lost artforms.

Ms. Sonali Soni Pal is a visionary with experience in building sustainable relationships for implementing social change through collaboration and market linkages for social enterprises and philanthropic communities for non-farm livelihoods. Ms. Pal is passionate about developing and promoting crafts & artisan communities. She is currently working with FDRVC a joint venture between the Ministry of Rural Development & TATA trust. She has pursued her Masters in Design from NIFT (Delhi) & is a Graduate in Sociology Hons – with 20+ years of experience in Design – Training – Business working in areas of Strategic Tie Ups in the Craft & Social Development Sector. She has extensively worked with the textile weaver cluster and contributed to capacity building, product development, and scalability. Ms. Pal has held Principal positions with SEWA Bharat, Access Development Services, Development Alternatives and is a Technical & Design advisor with NGOs & Cluster groups.

As the session came towards the end, the discussion changed its course to the scope of the Indian handicrafts industry. The speaker talked about how the usage of crafts pieces in the domain of costume design has helped in the recognition and appreciation of the crafts. To support her point, she brought to the forefront three case studies that looked at the growing demand for contemporary craft pieces amongst national and international consumers. Towards the end, our students clarified their doubts by asking the speaker about the various initiatives that are working towards the betterment of the artisan clusters and the sound direction of a brand development that is focused on the essence of each craft. Answering these, the speaker brought the session to its conclusion with a vote of thanks from the host.

Watch the webinar