Crafts Training for India – Asia InCH – Encyclopedia of Intangible Cultural Heritage

YOUR VIEWS

I am fortunate to have been involved in the setting up of two significant new Institutions that are focused on the creation of trained human resources and strategies for the Crafts Sector in India. These are the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur set up in the mid ninety’s and the Bamboo and Cane Development Institute, Agartala. Both are informed by the vast body of work carried out at the National Institute of Design over the past forty years in our collective attempts to understand the role of crafts in the Indian context as a major resource for both design education and for the economic and social development of India as a whole. During the various deliberations that led up to the establishment of these new initiatives a number of insights emerged on the role of the crafts in India and the need for expanding the involvement of new players in the strengthening of the sector and expanding it in many new directions through design and strategic interventions. Some of these concepts were captured and formed the basis of our strategic initiatives for new education of designers and craftspersons to meet the challenges ahead. The problems of the craft sector are manifold and it also represents a major area of opportunity for development planning in the scenario of the scanty financial resources available in our economy for such a widespread development initiative. Crafts are a great source of emplo...