Celebrating the skill of rural artisans
The Hindu
40 artisans have displayed their wares at ‘Pudu Vaanam’, a three-day event hosted by the Crafts Council of Puducherry
Artisans from across the country are showcasing their wares at the ‘Pudu Vaanam’ crafts bazaar that began as part of the Pondicherry Heritage Festival on Friday.
Hosted by the Crafts Council of Puducherry, the three-day event is featuring an array of products ranging from crewel home decor from Srinagar and Pen Kalamkari (Srikalahasti) to Ikkat (Hyderabad) murals (Wayanad/Kerala), bamboo craft (Bengaluru), quill art (Dindigul) and batik saris (Kolkata).
About 40 artisans, including several first-time exhibitors in the city, are participating.
Tourism Minister K. Lakshminarayanan inaugurated the event in the presence of Vinoth Kumar, Assistant Director, Handicrafts, Handicrafts Service Centre, Government of India.
The exhibition will be on at Craft Bazaar, Gandhi Thidal, from 9.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m.
In some cases like the Forest Way Trust in Tiruvannamalai, the backstory to the exhibits have women joining hands to empower themselves by creating fabric from natural dyes or upcycling to recreate from waste.
Embroidered crewel decor made entirely from wool from Srinagar at the stall of Jahangir Ahmed Bhatt is a rarity for festival shoppers in the city. C. Gunavathy, an artisan from Dindigul, has showcased intricate quill work (paper filigree) that fetched the ‘Poompuhar State Award’ in 2019. Some products that have become strongly associated with their regions such as the banana bark craft from Kalakad (Tirunelveli) and palmleaf crafts from Sirkazhi are also on display.
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