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Craftspersons get a global platform

Jewellery and more: Craftspersons at a workshop ahead of global jewellery summit ‘Abhushan' in New Delhi.

NEW DELHI: To provide a platform to practitioners of crafts to share traditional techniques and traditions, World Crafts Council, a non-government organisation working with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, has launched a three-day global jewellery summit, “Abhushan”, which opens at Hotel Ashok here on February 4.

Addressing the media to mark the opening of a weeklong Craft Exchange Workshop at Rajiv Gandhi Handicrafts Bhavan here, WWC president Usha Krishna said the Council was set up way back in 1964 in New York to promote public awareness of crafts and raise the status of crafts and craftspersons. It was co-founded by Aileen Webb with Margaret Patch and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay.

“The WCC has grown over the years and today it is spread over five regions – Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and Latin America. This is the first time since the organisation's inception that India has had the privilege to host the presidency of WCC. Crafts are an extension of culture and expression of creativity and civilization. One can tell the status of a society by the way its crafts are nurtured and its craftspersons are respected,” she added.

Pointing out that the present-day world of consumerism and fast life has robbed craftsmen of their leisurely life and creative zeal, Ms. Krishna said it is driving them to give up their traditional source of livelihood and take up alternate employment. “Unless we identify avenues of sustainable employment and growth for craftspersons, many of the traditional craft practices will vanish in due course of time... Jewellery offers enormous scope for variety and creativity appealing to all sections of population and all strata of society. We thought an international event for stressing the role of crafts in as diverse a field as jewellery would appeal not only to craftspersons but also historians, artistes, designers, entrepreneurs, marketers and above all consumers to understand the latest trends the world over.”

Union Textile Ministry Secretary Rita Menon, who suggested the exhibition's nomenclature, said craftspersons are the most respected citizens. “We are totally in unison with WCC president Usha Krishna that craftspersons are our national heritage. We are not giving up on them; let their tribe grow. Crafts must remain in tune with large skill development programme. Our craftspersons are getting better income in the handloom sector. We are shortly going to bring up handicraft sector census in which we have mapped all clusters.”

“Abhushan” seeks to create an interaction between traditional craftspersons and experts to analyse and apply a wide range of international design concepts. An interesting selling point of the exhibition is that it will be branched into three distinct exhibitions under one roof.

“Seed to Silver” will see masterpieces by 100 craftspersons from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and India. The basic idea is to transform paper, plastic, wood, recycled material into exquisite jewellery pieces.

Contemporary jewellery designed from unconventional eco-friendly materials like fibre, natural fibres, wood and bead will be displayed at “Craft Jewellery Bazaar”.

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