Crafting the success of traditional artisans

On a pleasant day in September as we meet Jaya Jaitly at an unusually early morning slot. She looks all bright and happy in a pink handloom saree, her trademark large bindi, kohl eyes and a radiant smile. Behind a calm countenance is a person who is workaholic at heart. In 1986, she embarked on a journey to keep alive India’s traditional craft and bring dignity to the life of the craftspersons and now with close to 1,600 members, including individual artisans and organisations and annual craft exhibitions across the country, she looks optimistic and hopeful. 

She says, “Just before coming to Chennai, I had gone to a remote village in Rajasthan. They have women who weave beautiful carpets. Can you imagine that? We associate carpets with Iran, Turkey, China and closer home Kashmir. But here are these women doing fantastic carpets and they are associated with a private body that markets their products in India and to all corners of the world. As I met them, I realised many of them can speak words and even sentences in English and have been taking lessons in the language to keep in tune with changing times and cater to foreigners, who often come visiting to see their art. These women are financially independent and can fend for themselves. Isn’t it extremely interesting? I feel so enamoured every time I discover all these,” she says, with a glint in her eye. 

The love for crafts comes naturally to her. She spent a considerable part of her childhood in Japan, where she developed a natural instinct and love for aesthetics. “I was in Kashmir after my marriage in 1965. I realised there were so many skilled craftsmen rotting away waiting for customers to pick their wares. They were not getting the kind of attention they deserved. They were stuck in a kind of time warp. I came from a socially conscious family background and crafts were a perfect combination of socio-political-public activist kind of interests that are dear to me,” she shares. And finally when she set up Dastkari Haat Samiti, a national association for Indian crafts; it played a major role in revival of crafts in the country. “There are many beautiful traditions and aesthetics that we may have lost. Now they have found a market in the country and abroad. The only important factor they need to keep in mind is to change with contemporary tastes and access to market places. Also the haat technique ensures there is no middleman exploiting them, they get to meet the buyers directly to earn what will sell, and they get a fair price,” she informs. The proof of success of providing a direct marketplace to the craftsmen is evident from the fact that the samiti sustains itself and its activities through them. 

Jaya shares, “The craftsmen do so well at the craft exhibitions that they give 10% back to the samiti and that helps the samiti pay its staff salaries, bonuses, expenses at fairs like generator, electricity, and decoration. With this money we also provide them linkages, helping them out in conceptualising design, paying them to travel to Delhi and train them.” 

Apart from haats and exhibitions, another project of Dastkari Haat Samiti that got huge recognition was The Akshara Project in 2012. It showed the remarkable talent of the Indian crafts person blending their unique skills and traditions with the art of calligraphy. We ask Jaya about her future projects? “We are now focusing on skill application and using on wider canvas for artisans. We are working with traditional Varanasi wooden toy painters, whose art has been long forgotten. They will be using their art to refurbish the 30,000 to 40,000 rickshaws in the city. The other project we are working towards is decorating the interior design spaces of airports using the skills of traditional artists. All airports are now glass and steel and one can’t differentiate. So we thought of using calligraphy to decorate the interiors. We will meet the Chief Ministers of the states and discuss soon,” she says excitedly.