​Saturday Feeling: Kutch artisans turn design entrepreneurs

​​As children, my sister and I were taught to weave baskets from plastic wire, sitting for hours to fold, insert and tug the strips into squares or little ​nellikai knots, a skill we’ve both forgotten. Those plastic baskets that w​ere taken to market are now sold in boutiques as ‘designer ​koodais’, the price tags finally recognizing the hours of finger-numbing labour, mathematical ability for pattern-making and sensibility for colour required. In India, art has a tradition of being produced by the community for their own use or for trade, but more importantly, there was no distinction between ‘art objects’ and items of everyday use. Shawls to keep you warm carried tassels and mirrors, blankets to snuggle into ​were embroidered ​with birds and trees, ​thalis and tumblers were engraved with patterns or names, and doorsteps got new ​kolams every morning. Many of these crafts are finally being recognized as art forms—prices are rising commensurate with creativity, artisans are feted, and designers share credit for collaborations.

Unfortunately, there’s another side to it, too. At a recent exhibition of ​kantha reimagined as art in an upscale store in Delhi, I was taken aback to see that the credit for each piece went to a studio. The names of the artisans who had bent over the fabric for hours, possibly days, stitching in the patterns imagined by the designer, were missing. I probably shouldn’t have been upset—for years, studios, couturiers, exporters and brands have arrogated to themselves the creativity and skills of craftspersons. In Kutch though, where more than 30 kinds of crafts are still practiced, there’s change in the air, as ​Avantika Bhuyan and Pooja Singh report this week. ​Artisans in Kutch are training as designers and setting up their own labels and businesses to take back their inheritance and make a name for themselves and their communities​. Within Kutch, the weaving communities have benefitted more as their work segues naturally into the fashion industry. Other practitioners—of crafts such as lippan and knife work—are still working out ways to adapt and thrive. But this generation of artisan-entrepreneurs are an example of what could happen if craftspersons elsewhere in the country are supported with design interventions and business and marketing know-how.

​Should you dress up when the world is warring?

Sujata Assomull has been home in Dubai since the start of the US and Israel attacks on Iran. Living through a moment of conflict and doing so as a fashion commentator has shifted her understanding of clothing’s social and cultural role. Even though people don’t go out much, they are dressing well—smart, comfortable and casual—as they go about their work, looking put together in order to hold on to a sense of normalcy. No tracksuits, no pyjamas, none of the covid-era dressing rules—instead, the way people dress is a reminder that dressing fashion isn’t just frivolity, but something that helps create a sense of resilience and holding oneself together.

​Summer essentials for your kitchen

It’s the season of popsicles, iced drinks and cubes of watermelon as the temperature rises across the country. Rituparna Roy puts together a list of gadgets and gizmos, from portable fans to earthen water dispensers, to help you churn out summer goodies while staying cool in the kitchen.

​Understanding athletes

Rohit Brijnath has spent a lifetime following, observing and writing about the people in sports. In his column this week, he contemplates the idea of why we are fascinated by athletes. Even though we’ll never quite fully decode athletes, it’s the investigating of who they are which is rewarding—the places that made them, the suffering that drove them, and the grit that binds them.

​Two shows where science meets art

Bite the Bullet, a solo exhibition at Project 88, Mumbai, is a coming together of disciplines in Goutam Ghosh’s work. Geology, archaeology and mathematical knowledge meet philosophy, music and tantra. Meanwhile, at Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre in Paris, Sujata Bajaj is showcasing her new “spacescapes” as part of the Living Arts of India show. This series marks the culmination of more than five years of exploration of images taken by the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. Avantika Bhuyan examines how the two exhibitions not only represent very distinct styles of abstraction but also two unique approaches to science and scientific data.

​Review: Nike Mind Mules and Ray-Ban Meta glasses

It is easy to see why the Nike Mind 001 Mules and the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses have been buzzy conversation starters. The mules, created by Nike’s newly minted mind science department after a decade of research in neuroscience, promise to improve focus and calm in the wearer. Since their launch in early February, these shoes, instantly recognizable by the 22 orange nodes on the soles have been sold out everywhere. Similarly, the newly launched smart glasses from Ray-Ban come loaded with a camera, two speakers on the stems and mics that let you interact with them. The futuristic products sound good on paper but Shrenik Avlani tested them to know if they are worth your time and money.