Namaste my friends!
We have just spent some time in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat. This is the city I visited in January for the open elective textiles course at National Institute of Design (NID), India. This time round I attended a conference called "Make It New Again: Models for Innovation in Traditional Craft" run by the SANGAM Australia India Design Platform and hosted by NID. The conference ran for 3 days from the 22nd of November and I met lots of new and inspiring people. To give you an idea of what the conference was about, discussions were based around the ways in which craft fits into the contemporary world, how to keep innovation and creativity alive in the craft sector in the face of an increasingly industrialized world, and determining a proposal for 'best practise' in pursuing a collaboration between designer and artisan across the global divide between India and Australia. Some fantastic presentations were given and some thoughtful discussions around building confidence in artisans, raising the perceived value in craft, establishing an understanding and respect for culture, tradition and religion, how to develop a sustainable model of income generation, allowing scope for creativity and input from the artisan, along with proper attribution and copyright of designing and making.
A lot to fit into 3 days! Especially with 1 day full of roundtable discussions.
Here is what I got from the discussions, (essentially my summary) and how I would move forward:
Respect and Consent: Build an understanding of one anothers societies, cultures, traditions and beliefs. Talk about where your identity comes from and the cultural ties that contribute to your sense of belonging. Develop a mutual respect for one another. Spend time. Build trust.
Transparency: Make sure both parties receive fair wages, explain all the extra costs in distributing and marketing a product, make sure both parties are clear on the information they want conveyed to the public and that both understand that ownership and copyright is key to the sustainability of both parties' business and income. What is the target market you are appealling to? How do you manage the target market's expectations?
Confidence building: Transfer of skills, knowledge, technology, developing an appropriate set of tools and equipment, training and building self belief and dignity in the craft.
Longevity: Make an agreement on the scope of the project. Is this a long term partnership or are both parties clear that it is seasonal? Often cultures have a vastly different sense of time. Expectations might vary. Clearly lay out the expectations held by each party, what is an achievable negotiation?
Ownership agreement: Decide on the amount of creative input from both parties, establish how flexible interpretation will be, agree on ownership/copyright, does one person have copyright or is it a joint venture? If the relationship breaks down, what will happen to the project?
Considerations: Traditions ~If you are revitalising an old tradition, what needs to be maintained and what is allowed to be changed? Where has the tradition been in it's past? How has it changed and what might it have been influenced by? Culture ~Is there an element to the process that is sacred to a particular culture? Is the retelling of these stories appropriate to those that are a part of the culture? Religion ~ Is there a form of this craft that is too inherent in a belief system to be changed?
Communication: How will the collaboration function? What will each party contribute? What are the channels of communication you will use?
Sustainability: Work towards sustainability for both people and environment. What are the ingredients or materials needed for your project and how can you tailor this to make it more sustainable for the environment and healthier for people? How can you minimise transport?
Attribution: Allow an opportunity for identification of artisan and designer. Are there models of labeling you could draw from? How might the story be conveyed? Will you be identified by name? group? region? country? What is appropriate for each party?
Impact mapping: Quantative and qualitative assessments on how this endeavour has impacted on people, place and community. How could this be improved?
I realise there is a lot that this summary doesn't cover but I would appreciate any comments on additional I could use.
This time quite a wordy post and not many photos, I suppose that's just a reflection of how my time has been spent lately!
Some people I met:
(Left out last names if their last name wasn't public)
Alexa ~www.seekingindia.wordpress.com (which gives a much better summary of what the symposium actually consisted of)
Minna Loft ~http://northcity4.com/2012/11/artist-interview-minna-loft/ (Love the thinking behind her work and we made such great friends! <3)
Sutopa Parrab ~www.tribal-chic.com (This isn't the first time I have met Sutopa but it was lovely to meet again and I'm hoping to visit her studio in Jaipur while I am here!)
Renu Mittal ~http://in.linkedin.com/pub/renu-mittal/b/b32/216 (Renu runs Cotton Route and has trained several groups of female artisans to sustain their own business)
Matthew Butler ~www.matthewbutler.com (Matthew is developing some fair trade ranges!)
George Hiley ~www.theshopforchange.com (Check this website out! George gave a great presentation on how this platform can be used)
Jenuarrie ~http://thegalleryeumundi.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7_12 (Jenuarrie gave a fantastic presentation on her work in Australia)
Medhavi ~www.happyhands.in (I am excited to come and visit happy hands in Delhi! Medhavi was a great contributor to many discussions)
Lucy Simpson ~www.gaawaamiyay.com (This is also not the first time I met Lucy but lovely to see her in India and an honour to exhibit with her. Lucy is also a graduate of COFA and has had great success with her textiles design business Gaawaa Miyay)
There are plenty more people that are well worth mentioning. These contacts are simply the ones I established good connections with and have information about =).
Kim
We have just spent some time in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat. This is the city I visited in January for the open elective textiles course at National Institute of Design (NID), India. This time round I attended a conference called "Make It New Again: Models for Innovation in Traditional Craft" run by the SANGAM Australia India Design Platform and hosted by NID. The conference ran for 3 days from the 22nd of November and I met lots of new and inspiring people. To give you an idea of what the conference was about, discussions were based around the ways in which craft fits into the contemporary world, how to keep innovation and creativity alive in the craft sector in the face of an increasingly industrialized world, and determining a proposal for 'best practise' in pursuing a collaboration between designer and artisan across the global divide between India and Australia. Some fantastic presentations were given and some thoughtful discussions around building confidence in artisans, raising the perceived value in craft, establishing an understanding and respect for culture, tradition and religion, how to develop a sustainable model of income generation, allowing scope for creativity and input from the artisan, along with proper attribution and copyright of designing and making.
A lot to fit into 3 days! Especially with 1 day full of roundtable discussions.
Here is what I got from the discussions, (essentially my summary) and how I would move forward:
Respect and Consent: Build an understanding of one anothers societies, cultures, traditions and beliefs. Talk about where your identity comes from and the cultural ties that contribute to your sense of belonging. Develop a mutual respect for one another. Spend time. Build trust.
Transparency: Make sure both parties receive fair wages, explain all the extra costs in distributing and marketing a product, make sure both parties are clear on the information they want conveyed to the public and that both understand that ownership and copyright is key to the sustainability of both parties' business and income. What is the target market you are appealling to? How do you manage the target market's expectations?
Confidence building: Transfer of skills, knowledge, technology, developing an appropriate set of tools and equipment, training and building self belief and dignity in the craft.
Longevity: Make an agreement on the scope of the project. Is this a long term partnership or are both parties clear that it is seasonal? Often cultures have a vastly different sense of time. Expectations might vary. Clearly lay out the expectations held by each party, what is an achievable negotiation?
Ownership agreement: Decide on the amount of creative input from both parties, establish how flexible interpretation will be, agree on ownership/copyright, does one person have copyright or is it a joint venture? If the relationship breaks down, what will happen to the project?
Considerations: Traditions ~If you are revitalising an old tradition, what needs to be maintained and what is allowed to be changed? Where has the tradition been in it's past? How has it changed and what might it have been influenced by? Culture ~Is there an element to the process that is sacred to a particular culture? Is the retelling of these stories appropriate to those that are a part of the culture? Religion ~ Is there a form of this craft that is too inherent in a belief system to be changed?
Communication: How will the collaboration function? What will each party contribute? What are the channels of communication you will use?
Sustainability: Work towards sustainability for both people and environment. What are the ingredients or materials needed for your project and how can you tailor this to make it more sustainable for the environment and healthier for people? How can you minimise transport?
Attribution: Allow an opportunity for identification of artisan and designer. Are there models of labeling you could draw from? How might the story be conveyed? Will you be identified by name? group? region? country? What is appropriate for each party?
Impact mapping: Quantative and qualitative assessments on how this endeavour has impacted on people, place and community. How could this be improved?
I realise there is a lot that this summary doesn't cover but I would appreciate any comments on additional I could use.
This time quite a wordy post and not many photos, I suppose that's just a reflection of how my time has been spent lately!
Some people I met:
(Left out last names if their last name wasn't public)
Alexa ~www.seekingindia.wordpress.com (which gives a much better summary of what the symposium actually consisted of)
Minna Loft ~http://northcity4.com/2012/11/artist-interview-minna-loft/ (Love the thinking behind her work and we made such great friends! <3)
Sutopa Parrab ~www.tribal-chic.com (This isn't the first time I have met Sutopa but it was lovely to meet again and I'm hoping to visit her studio in Jaipur while I am here!)
Renu Mittal ~http://in.linkedin.com/pub/renu-mittal/b/b32/216 (Renu runs Cotton Route and has trained several groups of female artisans to sustain their own business)
Matthew Butler ~www.matthewbutler.com (Matthew is developing some fair trade ranges!)
George Hiley ~www.theshopforchange.com (Check this website out! George gave a great presentation on how this platform can be used)
Jenuarrie ~http://thegalleryeumundi.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7_12 (Jenuarrie gave a fantastic presentation on her work in Australia)
Medhavi ~www.happyhands.in (I am excited to come and visit happy hands in Delhi! Medhavi was a great contributor to many discussions)
Lucy Simpson ~www.gaawaamiyay.com (This is also not the first time I met Lucy but lovely to see her in India and an honour to exhibit with her. Lucy is also a graduate of COFA and has had great success with her textiles design business Gaawaa Miyay)
There are plenty more people that are well worth mentioning. These contacts are simply the ones I established good connections with and have information about =).
Kim
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