Towards preserving and embracing Indian artforms
Overview
Crafting innovative solutions for
the artisan community
Music for your ears
Indian handicraft industry forms a major part of the rich cultural heritage and history of our country. Instead of uplifting and preserving these communities, our economic model, directly and indirectly, drive them from their own acquired skills to be a part of the modern industrial sector for economic growth.
The history of Indian craft spans a millennium. Craftsmanship comes naturally to the people who have continued the work of art for hundreds or thousands of years. The need to support and cherish these traditional art forms is necessary to preserve our cultural heritage. It is essential for the upliftment of the communities in the changing times as well as to sustain the dying crafts and traditions. I have ideated few possible ways a community of pottery artisans can be uplifted which includes a Community application, VR/Standalone game, and Interactive art installation.
Project
Self-directed inquiry
Involvement
UX research, UI/UX, service design, product design, communication design
Introduction
The economic model tries to relocate processes from cottage industries to the modern industrial sector. People from rural areas that have worked as farmers, artisans, or any other sectors that are considered to be informal jobs, have to enter the workforce because their work doesn’t produce a liveable income. Hence, they relocate to urban areas in search of employment opportunities that don’t exist for unskilled, unsophisticated migrants. The traditional work that has been passed down through generation, disappears, because of this.
I tried to generate ideas that started with finding ways to provide innovative solutions to Indian artisans keeping in mind, ‘Small is beautiful, a phrase that came from a principle adopted by E.F. Schumacher’s teacher, Leopold Kohr.
which he expressed through his writings in 'Small is Beautiful: Economics as if people mattered. I tried to focus on a small community of Pottery artisans, in Nilambur, Kerala to understand and study how their eco-system has been running for generations and what form of intervention could contribute to the
community upliftment in today’s time.
Strategies for innovation
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Openness to shared knowledge and ideas.
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Collaboration can trigger an increasing pace of innovation at substantially low costs.
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Not focusing on resource and development, but turning the innovative ideas and processes into communal upliftment.
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A government that makes it their goal to support innovation of all kinds.
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A sense of personal, communal, and national mission to support innovation.
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Help those in need bring great ideas to life — through interventions, grants, mobilizing research, networks, upskilling.
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Making most of the existing advantages by innovating areas that can lead to prosperity for the long term.
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Recognizing the importance of capitalizing on its research strengths.
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Government and research institutions work closely with private businesses to co-fund innovation
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By understanding, innovation is much more than automation or converting cottage industries to commercial but, sustaining them.
User research
To understand my target audience (Pottery community), to gain insights
into their lifestyle, to find out if they embrace small is beautiful, what
are their goals, how their community functions, what challenges they
face, how they feel, and think, I conducted a field study. I prepared a
set of questions that I inquired during the visit with the community
members This provided me insights into their ancestral passed down
artform, how adept they are with technology and how their community
functions.
A glimpse into the terracotta pot making by the Pottery artisans in Nilambur, Kerala.
I got the opportunity to interview two artisan family which helped me gain a lot of insights
Empathy map
Empathy maps were created to visualize user attitudes and behavior. This helped in the decision making.
Innovative ideas
“When people ask for education…I think what they are really looking for is ideas that would make the world, and their own lives, intelligible to them. When a thing is intelligible you have a sense of participation; when a thing is
unintelligible you have a sense of estrangement”.
(E. F. Schumacher.1973)
Hover over the images to explore the research
Other initiatives
Nilambur Kovilakam
The Nilambur Kingdom or Nilambur Kovilakam was a former feudal city-state. It is important to identify a hub for local artisans in the community. I have identified the Kovilakam in Nilambur for this purpose. Its location and its history tying it to the heart of the placemarks itself as an important local site. Its architecture preserves the old homes and depicts the soul of the state and the city.
The Nilambur Kovilakam has been preserved by the community as a historical site but there has been modern intervention in terms of new architectural sites. The artisans can use the spot to exhibit their art and use the spot to sync up, conduct workshops, update themselves and exhibit their latest creations. The community should accept this initiative as this could be a tourist spot and preserve our traditional roots. The artisans can share and preserve the extension of themselves through their art pieces. Advancing the continuation and exploration of their ancestral art forms, reviving these physical connections is a thread that acknowledges the community’s existence, not only our culture but to our ancestors as well.
Here is a glimpse of Nilambur Kovilakam:
Tourism and community initiative
The community of Nilambur should be the first consumers of the local artisans’ products. This builds solidarity in the community of the artisans. The hospitality industry can be one of the clients for the pottery and clay art artisans. Incorporating local products produced in the community by hotels, restaurants, tourist destinations will bring across an acceptance for the artisans’ products. Also, it can replace plastics and promote the go-green initiative in Nilambur. Such display of encouragement of local artisan’s art can also attract and develop tourism to the city. It can be a unique identifier to the outside world and can encourage interest to learn and discover community art. As a community, people need to contribute so as to preserve our traditional art.
Government initiatives
Government should preserve and find solutions to preserve local artisan community. There is low penetration of funds and research. To increase visibility of local artisans, government has initiated online portals that list local artisan products. But not all artisans are listed. There needs to be more research gone into the same. The corporate gifting Industry in the country has been growing at a fast pace, if local artisans get the same exposure and money value, it will give a boost to preserve the art. Artisans need to get good value for the products they worked hard to produce. So, there is a need to remove the middle men involved in selling their products. Government need to find ways to boost the demand for art and craft but keeping in mind that converting cottage industries to commercial is not the solutions.
Takeaway
The community of potters and clay art artisans wants to embrace ‘small is beautiful’, but due to external challenges and the need for faster material growth, some opt for gigantism. My design process was not with the intention of developing them. I wanted to understand how as a community they have sustained, how they embraced "small is beautiful" and how can we as a community contribute to preserving the art. With the right innovative solution and research, the community will be able to sustain itself.
To read more about my take on E. F. Schumacher's "Small is beautiful",