Every year, in december or jan, the Kalakshetra foundation hosts a Dastkar Bazaar where over hundred different traditional craftsmen from all corners of India set up stalls to sell hand-made products. The bazaar is a platform to interact directly with craftsmen who man their stalls and also to marvel at the few people of each of these far flung communities who passionately hang on to their traditional skills that could otherwise so easily die in our fast paced industrial and digital world today.
Many craftsmen have innovated with traditional wisdom to bring new products that are relevant to the city-shopper. Paper, jute, bamboo, clay, wood-work, textiles, jewellery, leather. The place looked festive with colourful penants strung from the trees and hundreds of eager shoppers strolling around.
I did this sketch on 21st January for the 34th worldwide sketchcrawl day! It is now well into february and about time I shared it.
The sketch is lovely. As a person who has seen many of these fairs, over the years do you find any change in either the quality of the work or the range of products and crafts on display?
ReplyDeleteYour sketch is beautiful and certainly captures the Dastakar atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteAs a regular visitor, do you see any change over the years in the number of participants or the crafts that are showcased?
Hello and thanks for the encouraging words. Somehow, 2 comments appeared when I published one..... something strange going on. To answer your question, I definitely feel there is way more stalls selling fabrics and textiles and lesser percentage of other products in the last couple of years. Maybe it depends on sales too. Those who didn't do well here don;t opt to come back?
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