No cottage industry, now modern craft

High craftsmanship got much-needed patronage – and a reason to modernise – this week, with the Union Cabinet clearing a ₹13,000-crore scheme that Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised during his Independence Day speech. The ‘Vishwakarma’ scheme aims to nurture the skills of artisans and craftspersons, and maintain a quality-aesthetic standard that ensures they are integrated with high-value value chains. This is an important step. Indian products have so far failed to make the grade as art and craft one is willing to pay generously for. This is largely to do with the absence of brands. Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport‘s Terminal 2’s modern ‘yet’ exquisite engineered-bamboo interiors is as much high artisanship as the intricate dhokra work of eastern India. Kashmiri papier-mache works selling in Delhi high-street shops should have the brand recall of Bruges crochet work or Venetian glass products.

The high-end crafts market is hyper rarefied and competitive. Which means the need for careful brand-building not via ‘PIB’-type tacky brochuring or fusty emporia, but through curated exhibitions and international touring shows. Which is why Indian craftsmanship must reinvent itself, moving away from the ‘cottage industry’ to the studio-workshop, gallery, shopfront value chain that lifts the whole ecosystem to a materially and qualitatively higher level.

This can happen if there is a dedicated, long-term focus on a few aspects: improving the quality and aesthetics (colour, design, use of materials) of traditional products; skill development of artisans; infusion of new techniques and technology; and a rousing, modern, global-facing marketing intent. Quality and innovation – of design, of marketing – must be a non-negotiable ingredient. ‘Traditional’ can’t be the only box to tick. The look and feel of most Indian artisanal works haven’t changed over years, indeed, centuries. That craft is equally an art must be driven home in this necessary push towards India’s new value invested in its craftspersons, crafts and craftiness.