EDUCATION FOR ARTISANS - Somaiya Kala Vidya · An Institute of Education for Traditional Artisans...

An Institute of Education for Traditional Artisans SKV Newsletter Issue No 3-2015August 2015

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Somaiya Kala Vidya E-News May 2015 Somaiya Kala Vidya is an institution for traditional artisans of Kutch, India. Combining over fifty years' experience of Somaiya Vidyavihar with eight years of design education for artisans, it offers sustained, coherent programs in design and business to provide effective, relevant and practical education. SKV honors and incorporates existing traditions. Its advisors are Master Artisans. Its faculty includes national and international educators. SKV outreach offers workshops to the world and courses in craft traditions taught by artisan designers. Artisan-to-Artisan programs demonstrate the importance of education for artisans, and generate awareness and motivation to build a movement of Design Craft.

EDUCATION FOR ARTISANS In 2014, Somaiya Kala Vidya launched the Business and Management for Artisans course, a "post graduate “course for artisans who have completed the course in design, the first business course expressly for artisans. The first class graduated in January 2015.

In April 2015, SKV launched its core Design for Traditional Artisans course. The course practically introduces working traditional artisans to design process, and prepares them for the contemporary market place. It assumes that artisan students begin

with certain levels of knowledge and skill, and provides protected time and space for them to freely explore their traditions. Each student uses his or her traditional medium to create a design collection for a target client, and creates a brand identity and a portfolio. SKV is excited to implement key learning from the BMA Course to make the design course more effective. We have added English classes to the course. In addition, this year's professional jury will be held immediately after the course. Students will have time to incorporate feedback and produce their collections for an exhibition sale in Mumbai, which will enable practical evaluation in the target market, and generate immediate income.

SKV's Advisory Council selected eleven eager weavers, ajrakh printers and bandhani artists. On 18 May they began their year of design education.

Course 1-Colour, was taught by veteran faculty Biskhakha Shome. She gave our year the joyful energetic start we intended, using nature, heritage- taught skillfully by our Master Artisan advisors, classroom theory and practical exercises. Poonambhai: "I learned a lot from the Masters. I learned that we already knew contrast in tradition." Aslam: " Sourcing was hardest, dyeing was most fun. I made 8 colours from one!"


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Course 2-Basic Design, was taught by Usha Prajapati, who taught artisan design students after nine years. She had become disillusioned with urban design students. But, she said, our SKV students charged her with energy. Usha taught rhythm, movement, emphasis and more using all five senses, theory, and practice with new and traditional media.

Khalil: "I learned to correct myself!" Mustafa: "A designer has no limits."

Jaspal Kalra, currently doing a PhD from NIFT Delhi in teaching design to artisans in Lucknow, taught Course 3- Market Orientation. Focused on understanding market segments, the course begins with a field trip to Ahmedabad. For three days the group visited a range of shops and homes of craft consumers. On return, the students analyzed clients, value and pricing. For homework, they created products for shops and individuals they had experienced.

Mustafa: We came here to escape exploitation; we want to get a fair profit."

Sohel: "My favorite place was House of MG- it gracefully combined tradition and high end."

With half of this compressed year finished, the students began their fourth course: Concept, Communication, Projects. Anuja Gohel,another veteran teacher, began the course as our newsletter goes to press. The students studied forecasts and fashion trends, chose themes and went on an inspiration trip- in the

first week! As Anuja explained trend boards, colour, principles of design, and market segments began to fall into place. The students evoked themes using natural elements and collage. Talha: "Each iteration gets better; but sometimes we choose an earlier one."

We are looking ahead to exceptional collections this year.


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BMA BUSINESS MENTORS AND CO-DESIGN As part of the BMA Course, graduates participate in 10 month Business Mentorships. High level designers were matched with our twelve 2014 BMA graduates. The collaboration will culminate in a fashion show and sale in Mumbai in February 2016. The program is envisioned as an opportunity to experience Co-Design, a relatively unexplored method of working that will be an important way to further our goal of increasing the value of craft traditions. Artisans face barriers of language, culture and market experience in connecting with clients who understand and appreciate their traditions. SKV believes that artisan designers and urban designers can work together to bridge these barriers. We envision artisan and urban designers meeting on the same platform, and using each others' strengths in ways that allow creativity and ownership for all. Co-design rests on mutual respect and value.The way to build this becomes clearer when applying co-design. The first challenge we have faced in initiating our Co-Design Mentorship is communication. For the artisan designer, the challenge is to feel a genuine right to disagree, assert an opinion, and discuss on an equal platform.The communication challenge clarifies what SKV intends: to promote genuine self-confidence, in which the artisan understands him or herself as a designer. We hope that the Business Mentorship will enable the artisan designer BMA graduates to reach this level.

WORKSHOPS TO THE WORLD The world comes to learn craft traditions from SKV artisan designers. In July, we took artisans and workshops to the world. Faculty member Dayalal Kudecha, artisan designers Junaid Ismail Khatri and Abdulaziz Alimamad Khatri, and Founder Director Judy Frater all traveled from the west coast of the USA to the east, conducing workshops in Los Angeles and Jersey City, N.J. They taught bandhani, clamp dye, block printing and weaving to textile artists and designers from renowned studios of New York.

"Fabulous day! Each one of the artists is a true master of his expression!!" Janet Castro "I loved the final pieces of my prints, thank you for hosting the workshop!" Kristianne Molina. "It gave me a new perspective on my own work," Mary Jaeger.

1, 2, and 5-day workshops as well as a 22-day course are held regularly in India. For more information contact [email protected].


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OUTREACH Somaiya Kala Vidya Artisan-to-Artisan outreach programs share the benefits of artisan education and begin to practically scale the Design Craft movement. Artisan Designer graduates work with artisans in less exposed areas- as a sort of kick start to demonstrate that innovation in traditions, and design education can be beneficial. The programs culminate in an exhibition sale. Thus, all participants earn through sale of the products developed. The pioneer Bhujodi to Bagalkot project is in its second year. In May, Programme Coordinator Nilanjan Mondal visited Bagalkot to facilitate dyeing yarns for the next collection, and in June the Bagalkot weavers attended their second design course, in Basic Design. Shwetha Shettar and Dayalal Kudecha taught ten eager weavers elements and principles of design, working from tradition and nature.The weavers will use colours developed in their Colour class with layouts developed in this class to create dynamite Ilkal saris. For their participation, the Bhujodi team members are working in co-creation innovation. Faradi to Lucknow, our second project, teams suf and chikan

embroidery artists- not to learn each others’ traditions, but to learn from each other to innovate within their traditions. Following their first workshop, the artisans sourced gossamer Chanderi fabric, tassar silk and handloom cotton and began their samples. The project is less than four months old. But working with

enthusiasm, all participants were ready for their initial jury by the first week of June! They met in Delhi, and enjoyed feedback from Laila Tyabji, Gulshan Nanda and Jaspal Kalra at Dastkar. Manisha and Khushboo listened intently to advice on design and production for their collections, but courageously held their own on the issue of hand drawn motifs. In this first opportunity to do their own work, they want to draw their own motifs. "I want to work from my imagination!" Khushboo declared.

While in Delhi, Lakshmi,Tulsi and Tara took the opportunity to visit shops. When they showed their new samples to Delhi Crafts Council members at the Kamla shop, they immediately received orders! Artisans from both projects are focusing now on production for a joint exhibition in October at Artisans' in Mumbai. Get ready for a wonderful show!


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DESIGN CRAFT Design Craft, the Somaiya Group's innovative business to complement SKV's educational programs, will hold its first exhibition from 22 August, at its flagship shop, in Somaiya Bhavan, 45-47, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Post Box No.384, Fort, Mumbai. Phone : +91-22 61702100. The official opening of the shop is planned for later in the fall. Design Craft offers a juried selection of artisan designed and created textiles, and promotes artisan designers under their own labels. Currently, 34 artisan designers are represented. Design Craft brings the best in contemporary craft to one platform, provides artisan designers with a great opportunity to present their brands, and it will fund SKV's education for traditional artisans with the profits from sales. SKV and its graduates are formulating Design Craft membership. In the quest to insure continuous design development, SKV will offer members workshops in trends and concept development.The first will be conducted by Anuja Goel on 23 August.

INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT We are happy to announce that the SKV website is live! We welcome you to log onto www.somaiya-kalavidya.org. For a short time this will be a version in fine-tuning, so please send fine tuning suggestions.

This year, Kutch enjoyed a very generous monsoon. SKV was ready, and used the opportunity to plant a variety of local trees along the boundary of our campus. The architectural plan for phase one of our campus will be presented at the upcoming Governing Council meeting, after which we will seek official approval in order to begin construction.

Meanwhile, we continue our work in taking a program in design education to an educational institute.Somaiya Kala Vidya aims to be a fore runner in developing Artisan Designers and promoting co-design-- in Kutch, Mumbai, and beyond. An exciting development toward this goal is a link to the esteemed Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, soon to be formalized. We kicked off our MSU collaboration with a workshop in Fibers and Structures for the current design students by MSU Fellow Ankita Patadiya. Other academic alliances, in addition to our link to Somaiya Vidyavihar, Mumbai, are in process.


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STAFF AND ALUMNI NEWS Faculty member Dayabhai Kudecha, artisan designers Abdulaziz A. Khatri and Junaid Ismail Khatri all enjoyed a highly successful experience at this year's International Folk Art Market | Santa Fe. SKV hosted its third Institute of Rural Management intern, Priyanka Mishra. Priyanka's project was to create a business plan for financial sustainability of the institute. Founder Director Judy Frater was given a Vishesh Mahila Sanman award from the DSP, Gandhdham, Kutch.

SKV ONLINE In May 2015, Judy Frater and SKV were featured in "A Guiding Light," by Meher Castelino, in Fibre 2 Fashion Magazine. 9 July 2015, Dayabhai, Junaid and Aziz were featured in Hand/Eye Magazine's issue on Santa Fe: "Going Solo," "In Father's Footsteps," and "Never Looking Back." You can now browse our website. Learn more about our work on our facebook page. For a discussion on issues of art and artisan, follow Founder Director Judy Frater's blog

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 29-31 October 2015- Sambhavna Express- Artisan to Artisan Design Phase 2, an exhibition at Artisans' Mumbai 21-23 December 2015- SKV Design students' graduating show, at Artisans' Mumbai 9 January 2016- SKV Design students' Convocation, Kutch 6-7 February 2016- SKV BMA Graduate Co-Creation Fashion show and sale, Mumbai

SKV GOVERNING COUNCIL AND ADVISORS SKV has established a Governing Council, which includes Shri Samir Somaiya, Amritaben Somaiya, Judy Frater, Anjana Somany, Lokesh Ghai, and Irfan Anwar Khatri.

The institute is also advised by a team of visionary Master Artisans, who guide us in honouring and nurturing textile traditions:Gulam Hussain Umar -bandhani artist, Bhuj, Ismail Mohammed Khatri - block printer, Ajrakhpur, Ali Mohammed Isha -bandhani artist, Bhuj, Umar Farouk Khatri- bandhani artist, Bhadli, Shamji Vishramji Siju- weaver, Bhujodi.

SUPPORT SKV We have an ambitious road ahead- building a new campus, developing a range of programs for artisans and others. We offer education to traditional artisans free to women, and for a token fee to men. This year, in addition to our capital campaign, we have the challenge of raising nearly RS 20,00,000, over $ 32,000, to operate our programs. As we enter the second academic year, think now about making a tax-deductible gift!

Your generous contribution can help! You can make a difference in the lives of our very creative and

courageous artisan students!! Sponsor an Artisan Student and enjoy his/her success for just RS 70,000

($ 1,135). Every contribution in affordable increments will count!

Contact [email protected] for details.

With your support, we will surely take education for artisans forward. “ Be the change that you wish to see in the wor ld.” ―Mahatma Gandhi

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