Handicrafts | The Art of India Decoded into Modern World

Handicrafts: Story of India

India is one of the world’s oldest civilized countries with roots deepened in Handicrafts items manufacturing and Export business. If you read the sacred texts of Ramayana and Bhagwad Geeta, then you will find the mention of “Hasth Nirmit“(Hand Made) items in them. And even before the arrival of Britishers to our motherland, India was the key exporters of many Hand Made Items like Jewellery, Carpets, Cloths, Armors, Swords, and others to the world.

Also, as before the British dominated Indian States, most of the revenue of the State was generated through the sale of these items only. The story of the Indian Handicraft sector is that long and widened.

What is Handicraft?
In simple terms, Handicraft is the art of creating a beautiful object using the manual labour of once hands. This art requires the actions of Artisans (a person skilled in art form) to craft and object with a precise amount of raw material (generally Natural in occurrence) and his/her labour.

The term Handicraft is not new in the world. Every part of our globalized society was once fully devoted to the use of Hand Crafted goods only. Understand the concept of evolution for that. If we can recall truly, than before the Industrial Revolution in the west and colonization of west – mostly all the items were manufactured by hands only. There was no machine- then means that all the items that were once used by our ancestors were part of today’s Handicrafts Industry.

For example, if you visit a museum today you might find items like teapots, bowls, paintings, tools, and other utilities that belong to some pre-industrialized era with one common factor – all of them are handmade.

Origin of Indian Handicrafts Industry

Although it is highly difficult to trace the existence of the Indian Handicraft Industry, the remains found in the Indus Valley excavation at various locations suggested that the trade of Hand Crafted Goods was one of the businesses at that time. Researchers have suggested that they have found items like statues, earthen pots and cooking tools, and others that have pointed towards the existence of the Handicraft Industry even at that time.

After Indus Valley, we have traces of traded Indian Origin Metal Crafted and Wooden Carved items on the world-famous Silk Route from India to Eastern European countries. Also, to mention here, Indian Textile Products and Diamonds (which were hand polished at those times) were a key demanded product throughout the world.

And even before Britisher – during the Mughal Era, we were one of the strongest exporters of many hands made goods including Gold Ornaments, Block Print Textile, Carpets, and even its raw material. But the arrival of Britishers was starting off the Black Era for the industry.

Destruction of India’s Handicraft during British Rule

It is not hidden to the world that India was one of the strongest market forces before the arrival of Britishers. We were once celebrated as the key Gurus to the world in both spiritual and materialistic ways. Products of Indian Origin were demanded all over the world and we share the biggest share of global GDP at that time. But the British and their colonial forces attacked the backbone of Indian Industries.

The greedy nature of our invaders strikes the two main segments of India – Agriculture, and Handicrafts. Also, they did it in a very systematic way. First, they reduced our supply chain and cut us off from the world. Then, they impose sell of their origin goods (which were made in British industries) to the local market – which forced the artisans to leave their art and start working as labor. Now, because of this act, many art forms and numerous products are now completely lost.

Recent Evolution in the Sector

After 15 August 1947, the industry started rebuilding itself. The freedom of India from British Dominance gave hope to the lack of artisan families that now they could trade well in the local market as well as enabling its export to foreign lands.

In the same spirit, The Government of India created and organized various programs and events to promote Indian art. They also now provide artisans with subsidiaries over funds and relief over taxes on Handicraft Items.

Hand Block Print Workshop – Artisan demonstrating art to visitors in a workshop.

Effect of E-Commerce on Handicraft Business

Now as we are heading towards the era of Online Shopping and Home Deliveries – we are also evolving. Now, most of the online shops like Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, and others have Handicrafts Storefront enabled in them. Because of this evolved market sellers are able to promote and sell this Indian Heritage to all parts of the county. Because of which the demand is increased in the market to many folds now.

Various Forms of Handicrafts Business in India

Here are some of the key classification of Hand Crafted Products of Indian Origin.

Handicraft Textile

Textile is always the No. 1 product in demand when it comes to the Handicraft sector. Here, Both Printed and Weave work products are included. Here in India, mostly all state produce their own variety of Textile products. Like Pashmina from Kashmir and Bagru Print from Rajasthan.

Handicrafts Textile — Handicraft Textile – Examples of Different Artforms

These products are unique when it comes to quality and process of manufacturing. That is also the reason that many of these art forms like Block Print, Barmeri Work, Banarasi Work, others are now Unofficial Geographic Indicator themselves.

Major Textile Products

Jaipur Print Fabric
Bagru Print Sarees
Barmer Bedsheets
Pashmina Shawls
Banarasi Sarees
Zari Work Cloths

Blue Pottery

Blue Pottery is the art of creating beautifully painted utensils and hardening it with a Quartz-glass coating to make the design permanent. Generally in Jaipur Blue Pottery art, the major colors used are Blue and Green. The Blue Pottery art is a variant of Indo-Persian Pottery form.

In this craft, an artisan paints the white-based pot/item and create the drawings using hands only. After this, the pot is then hardened in the furnace after applying a mixture of Quartz based solution that gives it a glass finishing.

These products are manufactured in Jaipur based factories and then exported to all parts of the worlds. These products are available in a wide variety of range when it comes to the size of the products from 1/2″ to 3-5 feet in length.

Major Blue Pottery Products

Pot
Trays
Tea Pots
Tea Coasters
Pen Holders
Flower Pots

Terracotta

It is the ancient art of making Earthen Ports and other utility tools. Traces of terracotta products were found in the excavation of Indus Valley Civilization and still are one of the major used segment in rural India.

The art of Terracotta involves a porter utilizing earthen mud to create decorative as well as home utility items. This method is totally manual and done using a spinning wheel.

In the process of making a simple item, let’s say a Diya, a porter uses a spinning wheel to create a concentric shape and then flame hardened it to a stable solid fixture.

Major Terracotta Products

Earthen Pots
Carved Flower Pots
Tea Pots
Decorative Hangings
Lamps

Wood Carving

Wood is one of the oldest and most abundant natural resource known to man. Also, it is very well known that our ancestors used wooden tools for hunting and agriculture – that implies that they learned to carve wood into useful utilities.

Since that time, we have replaced wood with other materials like metals but wood carving is still one of the best traits of men. We are still using furniture made of wood, we cut our food on wooden board, use it for making decorative items, carving wood into statues and other things.

Also, just to mention, the hand block industries thoroughly use wooden blocks for printing.

Major Wood Carving Products

Statue and Dolls – Animal statues like Elephant, Camel, Horse and more
Keychains
Miniature Figures
Photo Frames
Dancing Dolls
Corners and Drawers

Life of an Artisan

Who is an Artisan?

An Artisan is an individual entity that works in creating craft items. Generally, the artisan learns the set of skills from his family and shares them with the next generation.

In India, the artisans are distinguished on the basis of the caste of his birth. For ex., people belonging to Rangreez and Chippa community are known for textile printing similarly people of the Kumawat Community are known for Terracotta Art.

Also, in modern India, the categorization of caste to a particular work field is abolished so everyone is enabled in working their choice of field. So, now you can also find people from various categories working in the same field.

Socio-Economic Background

Mostly, the whole family of an artisan is involved in the manufacturing of the craft and its products. Similarly, we have seen that due to low-income sources and single income livelihood – most of the artisans belong to weak sections of the Indian Economy.

Also, as previously stated about the relationship between craft and social status – still most of the dominance is built up by people of a single community only.

Government Aids for Artisans

Since the independence of India, the government is trying the best efforts to restore the integrity of Handicraft Industries and its artisans. In the chain, the government is providing managing various funding programs to lift the livelihood of Artisans and production of Handicrafts items. Also, low interest-based loans are provided on a flexible time period to the craftsmen.

Various State Governments are also investing their resources to pool the market for Handicraft Business. Various workshops and exhibitions are organized from time to time to match the evolving market needs.