Reviving Kachchhi and Indian Handicrafts using Design Intervention and Technological Innovation
(Note: All pictures used in this article are mine unless stated otherwise. More of my photography work can be found at https://vsco.co/keerthipradaa/gallery).
After a short albeit formative stint in Corporate America, I moved back home and took the next year off to…Eat, Pray, Love my way through what was essentially a period of rest and (intense) retrospection to contemplate what I wanted my career trajectory to look like going forward. Then through a serendipitous chain of events, I was introduced to Kirit Dave and Preeti Shroff, two of the founding members of KPMD Ideas and Designs LLP. They were looking to collaborate with someone with technical and engineering proficiency interested in working on challenges in the creative world and I was looking for opportunities that would allow me to use my technical skills in a creative environment. I’ve spent a large portion of my recent years travelling and living in places all around the world and for a large part have left my own homeland unexplored. So I decided to spend the summer in Kachchh immersing myself in their world of handicrafts. As someone who hadn’t sewn as much as a button, it was a summer of many firsts.
With the Cottage Industries and artisans in Kachchh facing challenges in the contemporary market against machine produced goods, KPMD is a studio, lab and makerspace that intends to serve as an environment that fosters innovation, collaboration, experimentation, context-driven product design and design intervention to elevate the status of Artisans to Artists and Handicrafts to Fine Art. The studio has worked on multiple mixed-media projects that combine various handicraft techniques across textiles, metal, printing, embroidery, wood and various other media, with a focus on sustainability, upcycled materials and ethical socio-economic practices.
Beginning of the end?
Indian textiles and handicrafts have long held importance and reverence around the world. The start of the decline of this industry, however, can be traced back to the British Raj in India. From forcing farmers to solely grow Indigo- a crop that would require abundant water, render the soil infertile and eventually result in famine- to be exported to Britain for a fraction of the price, to flooding the Indian market with cheap machine produced clothes during the British Industrial Revolution, the Indian Cottage Industry has long struggled to regain the foothold it once possessed. The slower rates of production, use of sustainable practices, reduced machine usage and higher prices render it a less desirable choice when competing against cheaper, machine-made, abundantly (and conveniently) available alternatives even if those alternatives are of a lower quality, made from toxic materials or produced using exploitative practices. In a time-poor world that prioritises and optimizes for convenience, there is an urgency to preserve and protect the industry, methodologies, knowledge, craftspeople and artisans.
The Indian Cottage Industry is largely comprised of craftspeople who acquired their skills and knowledge from previous generations as a part of their familial tradition and culture. Historically, these were skills passed down from parents to children as a means of self-sustenance, domestic utility and to preserve their history. However, in recent years, there’s been a decline in younger generations being interested in continuing in their family’s trade since it’s these families often struggle to survive on what they make through their craft. With fewer skilled artisans and decreased interest in innovating and contemporising the Handicrafts industry to keep up with the demands of modern society, it brings up the following questions: How does one bring back the relevance and reverence that Indian handicrafts once held and advocate for it in the context of the modern consumer? How can Design Intervention, Innovation and Technology be used to elevate and improve lives of craftspeople in the Handicrafts Industry? Are there alternative pursuits of possessing certain craft skills to help them gain contemporary relevance? How do craftspeople in the Indian handicrafts industry graduate from thinking about only the financial consequences of practicing their craft to more abstract, innovative, experimental, scientific and creative explorations of their craft? How can we incentivize future generations to continue practicing their families’ handicraft trade so that we can preserve knowledge, tradition, history, and, culture, and also elevate existing craft practices without taking away from the core principles of the crafts and the communities practicing them?
Through extensive conversations and observations, I had the privilege of working with multiple people who have been long-immersed in the world of Design, Architecture, Art and Crafts, to identify certain opportunities that could possibly help answer some of these questions.
The Diversity and Resilience of Kachchh and its people
I learnt about Kachchh (or Kutch) in fifth grade when my teacher spoke of deserts and flamingos during our Social Studies lesson. I would eventually go on to forget about the existence of this place until January 2023 when my parents invited me to join them on a trip to this region. I declined since I wasn’t particularly keen on accompanying my parents on holiday with their friends. A few days into the trip, my mom called me up to tell me that she’s certain I’ll regret having said no to their invitation. When I finally made my way to Kachchh in June 2023 I had to admit my mother was right- an event that rarely occurs.
Geographically, culturally and ecologically, Kachchh is an extremely diverse region with multiple microclimates, communities, and environments co-existing within a relatively small area. While it’s the largest district in India, it’s been historically overlooked and forgotten. With a long coastline along the west and south, the salt desert (Rann of Kachchh) to the north and grasslands (Banni) to the east, this region which is the westernmost portion of mainland India has a long and complex history. The northern portion borders Pakistan and the Kachchh district of Gujarat speaks Kutchi, a language whose script has been long extinct but is similar to Sindhi, a language spoken in the Sindh region of Pakistan. This is a region that’s served as throughway for various migrant communities through the centuries and has come to be a melting pot of cultures from the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia. In just the last 70 years, Kachchh has seen adversity like no other through wars, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, and forced migrations (India-Pakistan partition). All this to say, the people of Kachchh have persevered great hardship to not only survive but also preserve their culture, tradition, crafts, language, knowledge, stories, food, ecology, and more, making them one of the most resourceful, enterprising and diligent people.
Types of Kachchi Crafts
Kachchh is home to over 12 different kinds of handicrafts practiced by different communities. Usually, each of them practices and specialises in a different handicraft with the entire family being involved in various aspects of design, production and sales. However, in recent years there’s been a sharp decline in the number of families that practice their traditional craft. This not only means the erasure of crafts and culture, but the death of hundreds of years of accumulated indigenous knowledge in textiles, metallurgy, natural and non-toxic materials, sustainable techniques, eco-friendly practices, forestry and animal husbandry. These communities have been creating locally sourced, low emission, sustainable, environment friendly, ethical and regenerative products since before it was cool to do so and the destruction of this industry will mean the loss of a treasure trove of knowledge. Non-profit organisations such as Learning Living Design Center (LLDC), Shrujan and Khamir have long been working to uplift, preserve and develop Kachchhi crafts and the communities practicing them.
During my time in Kachchh I got to visit various artisans on-site and learn more about the process and technique behind nearly nine different craft practices which left me in absolute awe. From weavers who use indigenous wool to weave beautiful carpets to the world-famous Ajrakh block printers who create mesmerising hand printed fabric, I was left in a combined state of disbelief and shame when I realised the amount of effort that goes into producing the smallest product and the carelessness with which consumers consume, myself included.
Weaving
Embroidery
Woodworking
Lacquer Painting
Metal Working
Bell Making
Rogan Painting
Printing and Dyeing
Namdha (Wool Felting)
Some other crafts I unfortunately did not have the chance to learn about in person, explore deeper and document the process of were Pottery, Leather Working and Lippan Kaam (Mud Work).
Opportunities
A part of my mission was to assess the industry to find opportunities for improvement through the lens of Innovation, Technology and Design Intervention. With the region going through consecutive turbulent events, the native communities of this region realized the importance of working together with organizations and nonprofits created by socially responsible citizens in order to change the socio-economic landscape of this region especially in the past few decades. That being said, the climate is ripe for collaboration, innovation and experimentation that empowers artisans to elevate their practices and the environment around them.
Integration of Technology
With easier access to modern technology such as 3D Modelling and 3D Printing, there is scope for artisans to incorporate it into their design process to be able to explore their creative boundaries and push it. Using these tools for rapid prototyping will allow them to save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on building time consuming lo-fi prototypes and instead use it to explore various iterations of their product digitally before committing to one.
One area which has already been targeted and scoped for future projects is the use of 3D Printed Models in metalworking. With metalworkers having to create wooden prototypes that are used for mould-making for each design variation, using computer aided design and 3D Printing to create prototypes for the moulds, it empowers them to push their creative boundaries to design pieces that would otherwise be hard to prototype in wood and by hand.
Digital Strategy and Market/Consumer/Product Research
Kachchh is not the most accessible place for domestic and international consumers alike, thus making the need for a stronger online presence important. This includes a better e-commerce and content strategy and targeted marketing effort using social media, search engine optimization and compelling digital storytelling. Moreover, this would also give artisans direct access to their consumer base and which gives them an opportunity to be a part of the feedback loop. For artisans to continue to refine and elevate their practice, it is important they have firsthand information to the changing market and consumer trends.
We have currently identified a few avenues that can be used to achieve this. First would be the creation of a website that not only supports the sale of unique and exclusive creations but also serves as a platform to tell the stories of people behind the piece. Next would be to leverage social media and build a strong visual brand that’d be instrumental in reaching the desired audience. In specific, incorporating Instagram’s shopping feature would be advantageous. Not only is this an avenue to improve online sales but is also a means for artisans to understand user preferences and market trends, interact directly with their audience, and gain inspiration from around the world.
Multimedia and Collaborative Projects
A craft practice is usually isolated to a certain community and each community is usually isolated to a certain geographic area which makes it hard for craftspeople from various practices to jointly create and innovate. It is my belief that giving artisans the opportunity and a space to get together on a recurring basis would be a fruitful initiative that encourages them to push each other out of their comfort zones and expose each other to different technologies, techniques and processes that could serve as inspiration. By creating an environment that they are able to use to be experimental and playful, I believe they’ll be able to focus on experimentation, learning and innovation without in a bubble that shields them from the financial responsibilities of pursuing their craft.
As far working on commercial projects go, KPMD has worked with artisans to produce pieces that combine various handicraft techniques across textiles, metal, printing and dyeing, glass, embroidery, wood and more to create multimedia pieces for modern consumers.
- Agrocel House in Bhuj, Gujarat: The newly built Agrocel Corporate office in Bhuj collaborated with KPMD to commission various pieces that are an ode to the local arts and crafts of the Kachchh region. From clam printed Mushru fabric dividers to Khavda Wall Art inspired by the Mutva community and Ari Embroidery panels, the entire space is a reflection of Agrocel’s commitment to the Kachchhi Art and Crafts community which manages to seamlessly incorporate local cultural elements into an official and corporate environment.
- Baro Market Art Gallery Show in Mumbai, Maharashtra: From June 10th to July 9th, 2023, KPMD in collaboration with Baro Market, 47A, Satish Reddy and the craftspeople of Kachchh curated a show titled “Kachchh Born Again”. The emphasis of this show was to make use of traditional Kachchhi craft practices to create contemporary and multimedia designs with commercial appeal for the modern consumer. The show was the effort of 20 craftspeople across weaving, embroidery, metal working, wool felting, printing and other mediums who came together to create over 170 unique pieces using handicraft techniques native to Kachchh. While created using traditional techniques, the designs were very contemporary. This show was a very successful example of how KPMD uses design intervention and context-driven product design to create pieces for the modern market using time-honored practices.
Design Mentorship
A common occurrence in the world of handicrafts is that designers and curators often get a majority of the credit (and profits), leaving out the craftspeople whose skills and efforts have been indispensable to the creation process. On interviewing craftspeople across various practices, I found out that this is a huge factor of demoralisation that makes craftspeople weary of collaboration and seeking unfamiliar territories. To mitigate this, it is important we enable artisans with the skills and knowledge necessary to strengthen their artistic and commercial intuition so that they are confident in playing a larger role in the creative process. Not only does this empower craftspeople to elevate their practice but also gives them the morale boost needed to advocate for themselves and seek out innovative/experimental projects. Skill building workshops are crucial along with access to technical knowledge, health and safety compliant practices, modern equipments, updated research, and commercially viable skills that go beyond their respective crafts.
Crafting the Future of Kachchhi Handicrafts
Kachchh stands as a microcosm of diversity, resilience, and craftsmanship, bearing witness to the fusion of cultures that flourished despite adversities. In the heart of the intricate tapestry that is Indian handicrafts, a need for transformation and preservation emerges, signaling a call for design intervention and technological innovation. Amidst the tumultuous history that has shaped the Indian Cottage Industry, the struggle for relevance and survival becomes evident. The clash between tradition and convenience has led us to a pivotal crossroads where safeguarding heritage must outweigh fleeting gains. Amidst this landscape, KPMD emerges as a sanctuary of collaboration, where the essence of artistry converges with modernity by bridging tradition and innovation.
While this article is a mere attempt at trying to condense the vastness of the knowledge I amassed this summer, I can only hope more people have the chance to experience what I did. This was a summer of many firsts and filled with life changing art, stories, food, people and landscapes. More importantly, it was an experience that snapped me out of a year long professional hiatus with a renewed sense of purpose accompanying me going forward. The road ahead is illuminated by the sparks of innovation and the commitment to preserving an age-old legacy. Design Intervention and Technological Innovation, hand in hand with the people that bring the magic to life, hold the potential to rewrite the narrative of Kachchhi and Indian handicrafts — a narrative of resurgence, reverence, and resilience.
