Handicrafts of India

अभिनन्दन from Gaatha

Gaatha project was originally conjured only for researching and documenting the rapid erosion of Indian craft clusters and heritage. However, we soon learnt from the artisans themselves that need was not to do research alone, but to restore ‘pride and serious commercial opportunity’ in their ecosystem. Today Gaatha thus aims to bring the lost respect and wealth back to these beautiful and aesthetically rich Indian handicraft clusters. These researches are important because just like Industrial goods sell on ‘features’, crafts sell on the processes / stories / heritage that go into making them.

We should give crafts a fair chance, someone is right now merrily making something for us, singing a folk song, in a humble house, deep inside India.

Buy: Indian Handicrafts Online
Research & Archive: Indian Crafts

Indian craft documentation


Discover: How can we truly understand a product or artwork without knowing its stories and iconography? So, we begin by documenting from the heart, to learn more about ourselves and our connection to everything around us…
Research & Archive – Gaatha.org


Shop: After documenting the craft, we carefully design and handpick masterpieces. Every piece we curate is rooted in authenticity, with care that the benefits flow back to the makers, so they can keep creating, and we can keep admiring, again and again.
Shop online – shop.gaatha.com

What is the meaning of Gaatha?

Gaatha’ means a great story. For us, it is the story of the hand and the act of crafting—an act that has played a vital role in developing ‘civil-ness’ within any civilization. The ancient practice of crafting is almost always a reflection of its time… and at times, it is powerful enough to make time itself reflect it.

Gaatha has been working in the craft sector for over 15 years, actively supporting the Indian artisan community by providing a unique platform for their products and voices. It is the transfer of this value system—more than just the handicraft itself—that lies at the heart of the ‘Gaatha’ project.

Above all, we aim to identify and recognize the faceless Artisan.

A TALE OF CRAFTS

(A Blog on Indian Handicrafts | Since 2009)

08May

Winds of Change ~ Indian hand Fan (Pankha)

With the disappearance of the relevancy of this hand fan (Pankha) craft in India, the tradition deeply rooted and tied to India’s craft culture is starting to wither away
19Mar

Moonj

Moonj is harvested in the months of October and November. Women weave and compose baskets for their household utility and also to form a part of a bride’s trousseau. This is largely carried out as a secondary occupation to agriculture in Uttar Pradesh.
Iron Nutcracker
11Feb

सरौता ~ Nutcracker

a few artisans in sarangpur, Madhya Pradesh, who are making nutcrackers they were so fascinated by. The students watch wide-eyed as a pair of metal-smiths forge a piece of metal and file the head into an L-shape, one of them controlling the forge while holding the article..
beetle in costume
21Jan

Beautified by Beetles

Things like precious pearls and gems, pure gold and silver wires, ivory and rare animal fur, feathers and shiny beetle wings were used. In the making of the Jama ( A dress ) especially, the gota patti work incorporated a unique kind of sequin made from Elytron or the fore-wing of the Jewel-Beetle that belongs to Buprestidae family.
Dhalapathara saree design
03Jul

Dhalapathara ( saree weaving)

Dhalapathara saree used to be the first choice of everyone. Dhalapathara, literally meaning white stone, was at its peak from late 1800s to mid 1900s. It was a regular at weekly markets of Bhubhuneshwar, Calcutta, Sonepat, even in Madhya Pradesh during the 1950s. Oh! the traders from Kolkata used to drool over these Dhalapathara sarees!


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