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1 Contents A special volume on Crafts of India: Part II About the volume.......................................................................................3 Documenting Crafts Jeypore Portfolio: Revival of traditional building crafts Vanicka Arora.............................................................................................5 Thathera Craft of Jaipur Ayush Kasliwal.........................................................................................13 Crafts in Transition Crafts of Nagaland: Continuity and transformation Kezochole Rhetso, Khate Kezo, Medosenuo Kesiezie .......................23 Sanganer: Traditional printing, modern challenges Suki Skidmore ..........................................................................................33 The Brass Work and Braziers of Hajo Barnali Goswami......................................................................................43 The Case of Bishnupur: Challenge of revitalising crafts Somi Chatterjee and Jagan Shah............................................................49 Papier Mache: A craft of Kashmir M Saleem Beg and Hakeem Samir Hamdani.......................................59 Lessons from Creative Collaborations Learning from Crafts: Lessons in sustainable living Aratrik Dev Varman................................................................................65 Leather Crafts in Kutch: The designer’s role Anita Chandramohan-Kulkarni.............................................................67 History of Dakshinachitra: Preserving and promoting heritage Deborah Thiagarajan................................................................................75 Kalaraksha Vidhyalaya: Designing a sustainable future Judy Frater ...............................................................................................79 About Few Crafts Pottery: Traditions and variations Ajit D Nagpurkar......................................................................................88 Tonk Calligraphy Kanika Gupta............................................................................................90 Crafts of Karnataka Indu Ramesh.............................................................................................92 Disclaimer: All articles included in this issue express individual view of the author and not of any organisation. All photographs are contributed by \ 3 Chief Editor Shikha Jain Editor (Special Issue) About the Volume Anuradha Nambiar Managing Editor Though the crafts of India are an integral part of the country’s cultural Prabha Prabhakar Bhardwaj heritage and identity, we have yet to identify its economic potential as a Assistant Editor national industry and as a tool for development. The recent government Parul G Munjal initiative of setting up a National Mission for the cultural and creative industries is a much needed and long-delayed step in this direction. However, Consulting Editors much work remains to be done whether it be in undertaking a mapping Ajay Khare, Cheena Kanwal, Kewal Khanna, Suchandra Bardhan exercise to understand the extent of this sector and the issues that it is ridden with, conserving cultural skills and knowledge, creating sustainable Editorial Advisors employment for crafts persons and artisans, disseminating craft skills or Adam Hardy, [ PRASADA, Welsh School of Architecture, section of society. Cardiff, UK As part of our commitment to the revival of crafts, DRONAH presents two A G K Menon QR[ Convener, Intach Delhi Chapter New Delhi essays by various sectoral experts on a wide range of issues pertaining to the development and conservation of Indian crafts skills. Thus, the section Madhuri Desai titled ‘Crafting Futures’ discusses potential directions for policy development Assistant Professor and the role of craft education and knowledge dissemination in creating an Penn State University, Pennsylvania, USA appropriate framework for development initiatives. ‘Access, Livelihood and Development’, showcases particular examples of successful design Rima Hooja and market interventions in the crafts sector as well as highlights various MSID India Program, issues that impede artisans’ access to sustainable income as well as working University of Minnesota, USA Q[R! Shankar Ghose notions of what constitutes ‘craft’ and the manner in which such notions Charkha, impact the economic value as well as aesthetic and intellectual appreciation Development Communication Network, of crafts objects and skills. Finally, the ‘Crafts and Environment’ section New Delhi deals with the environmental impact of the crafts industry and contemporary Monideep Chattopadhyay experiments in environmentally sustainable models for the same. Chief Executive Centre for Habitat, [ Environment and Disaster Management, Kolkata sections ‘Documenting Crafts’, ‘Crafts in Transition’, ‘Lessons from Creative Collaborations’ and ‘About Few Crafts’. It covers collaborations of crafts Layout & Design communities with designers, educationists and organisations with the aim of SN Graphix understanding the spectrum that is the Indian crafts sector in varied ways, as (011) 46142909, 9891299959 \#$% Copyright © 2010 Dronah, India Dastkari Haat Samiti, Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya and Dakshinachitra. All rights reserved including the right to reproduce and contents of this publication in whole or in part The articles in these special volumes address some of the ironies and without prior written permission of the publishers. inconsistencies that plague the crafts sector of India. For instance, while Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic ‘Dilli Haat’ is a benchmark initiative that acted as a catalyst for setting up - similar regional and urban crafts centres across the country, traditional crafts ing and recording or by any information storage and retreival system, without permission in writing from clusters across the country (such as the Kumartuli settlement in West Bengal) the publisher. which have become part of urban areas are now being included in the ‘slum Printed and published by DRONAH improvement sector’ under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal A-258, South City - I, Gurgaon-122 001 Mission (JNNURM) scheme. It is apparent that all such urban developmental Tel: 0124-4082081,2381067, Fax: 0124-4269081 initiatives for the sector require a multi-disciplinary participation, with Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.dronah.org artisans, designers, entrepreneurs, NGOs, architects, urban planners and other stakeholders working together towards creating a practical framework and ISSN No : 0973-502X action plan. We hope these two volumes shall serve as a catalyst for just such a joining of forces! Vol VII Issue 1 Spring/Summer 2010 - Shikha Jain A special volume on Crafts of India: Part II 4 Documenting Crafts Documenting Crafts Documenting Crafts 5 Jeypore Portfolio Revival of traditional building crafts1 VANICKA ARORA ABSTRACT The preservation and revival of traditional building crafts, central to the philosophy and practice of architectural conservation in India today, originated in the mid 19th century and is inextricably linked to the Indic version of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The crafts revival has been analysed through a critical examination of Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob’s work who was one of its chief proponents. The focus is on the ‘Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Details’, an encyclopaedic compendium of architectural drawings, documenting the details of historic buildings in and around Jaipur, compiled by Jacob in an attempt to promote the building crafts of the region. INTRODUCTION The building crafts of India represent an enduring cultural tradition An architect, Vanicka Arora graduated and have come to be regarded as a unique resource of ‘living’ heritage. from the Sushant School of Art and Thus, the preservation and revival of this tradition is presently a Architecture, Gurgaon. She has an MSc in fundamental principle underpinning architectural conservation ‘Conservation of Historic Buildings’ at the philosophy in the country.2 The idea of ‘reviving’ indigenous crafts University of Bath, Bath, UK. has persisted since the mid 19th century, when it originated in the Indic version of the Arts and Crafts Movement3 and was subsequently 6 Documenting Crafts An arch detail from the Jeypore Portfolio with no explanation An arch clad over a modern steel and glass facade in Gurgaon of construction technique or context popularised in colonial India by several prominent [ British architects, art historians and scholars. The in India which often follows a similar approach. context within which the Indian ‘crafts revival’ was ' TRADITION OF BUILDING IN JAIPUR, which it was based and the means by which it was ITS REVIVAL initiated, are being examined. *!\+ The subject under scrutiny is the ‘Jeypore Portfolio Mughal architectural styles.5 Mostly, his fascination of Architectural Details’, an encyclopaedic collection centred on the ornamental details of the historic of details, compiled by Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob at buildings of these styles. His view was that though the turn of the 19th century. Widely regarded as one the buildings themselves had been ‘designed to meet of the chief proponents of the revival of building the requirements of an age that (had) passed,’ (Jacob crafts in the region, as well as a leading exponent of 1890, Preface) the elements could be incorporated the ‘Indo-Saracenic’ style, Jacob strove to adapt the successfully in modern buildings.

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