The Ministry of Textiles in India started managing and developing craft practices in different regions of India that are otherwise based on oral traditions. Such craft practices which are sustained through oral traditions need to be documented so as to provide a concrete point of reference for future generations looking at carrying forward these traditional crafts.
Team
Ajay Chauhan, Jasleen Ashta, Khushboo Agrawal, M. Abhijeeta Tejasi, Pranjal Jain, Ravi Shankar
The Need
Craft practices in India are versatile and need the support of various organizations to organize themselves and maintain relevance with time.
"Uncovering Jamdani: A Weaver's Narrative" is a design research project done under the Craft Cluster Initiative of NIFT for the Ministry of Textiles of India to understand the ecology of craft clusters.
Deliverables
Research Report
A document consisting of an understanding of the ecology of the Kalna cluster (West Bengal, India). It explores a multitude of areas, with a focus on the history and the politics of the economy of handloom weavers against the onslaught of power looms variations, sustainability of the craft, SWOT and data analysis, and artisan profiling. Along with this, a focus on understanding the government schemes was founded to facilitate the sustainability and relevancy of the craft through time via training, and education programs.
The document also consists of future prospects and concept developments for the craft.
| Here is the link to the: research report.
This has been shared with the Ministry of Textiles and added to a shared repository maintained by them to aid and develop future programs.
A documentary video was also developed as seen below:
The research not only focuses on learning about Jamdani as a craft but also digs deeper into understanding a more personal narrative created by the artisans who are involved with the craft.
Duration
May 2019- November 2019
7 days of immersion
Research Methods
The research at hand uses ethnography as a methodology and uses socio-cultural practices related to Jamdani. The research also uses field notes as a strategy to conduct a narrative inquiry into how we are looking at these practices. Insight on the craft of Jamdani has also been gained through intuitive knowledge of what we perceived of the surroundings and the people involved in the craft.
There appear to be many problems associated with the ecology of sustaining Jamdani as a craft that this research intends to explore. Deep emphasis has been laid on the sustainable practices related to this craft, starting from the first point of sourcing raw material in the process until it reaches the end consumer to threats of continuity of the craft to future generations.
Some snippets of the findings are as follows:
Other areas that are highlighted in the document include the proposed solutions to the problems along with the material and design interventions by the indigenous artisans.
