A kaleidoscope of colour and craft! This is precisely how we felt as we entered the handmade collective hosted by A Hundred Hands, a non-profit trust, at Bengaluru's Hotel Woodlands on a weekday afternoon.
For the unversed, A Hundred Hands is a trust involved in the promotion of handmade art, craft, and even organic food to support all things sustainable and eco-friendly. We at Indulge got the opportunity to attend the collective where even the decor was made from recyclable material, rightly setting the tone of the event.
The collective this year celebrated the florals and flowers of India with 100-plus artisan groups. It saw creators from all across the country selling traditional Indian jewellery, clothes, paintings and more.
The collective took the attendees back to the good old days when people found pleasure in creating things from scratch using their hands. We moved from stall to stall and could not resist indulging in a shopping spree.
From the cutest embroidered earrings to khadi sarees, the collective made us realise that true pleasure comes from products that are creative, cost-effective, and reduce the carbon footprint.
One such artisan who strives to earn a sustainable livelihood from his art was Tenzing from Ladakh, who learned Thangka painting from his father when at the tender age of 12. The 27-year-old artisan who now owns a gallery in Leh was spotted by us when he was busy narrating the significance of the Thangka painting to one of his customers.
Thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting, mostly done on cotton or silk. The art form involves elaborate compositions with intricate detailings using natural colours. In the painting, the central subject is often a Buddhist deity and it touches a religious theme whilst promoting meditation and inner peace.
We sat with Tenzing for a quick chat and he shared how the art form has been passed from one generation to another. Now, he teaches it to tourists who visit his city. His small paintings are priced at ₹ 1,100 and the humongous wall pieces go for ₹ 5-10 lakhs on good days. Tenzing's father and uncle are award-winning artists who now create these art pieces for monasteries.
For West Bengal-based artist Sheramuddin, his art form is not just his job, but an integral part of his identity. So much so that he calls himself Sheramuddin Chitrakar, which means 'painter' in Bengali. He makes Pattachitra, which is a cloth-based scroll painting depicting folktales and mythological stories.
"I have been making Pattachitras since I was 12 years old. And my family has been in this trade for seven generations now," said the artist. His Pattachitras were inspired by the stories of Goddess Durga, the popular Manasa-mangal Kabya (the epic of the snake-goddess Manasa), and Ramayana, among others. While presenting them to us, he started to sing a ballad to narrate the story as well. "Of late, we have also dabbled into narrating stories on contemporary topics, such as 9/11 and Covid-19, through our paintings," he added.
Not just that. All the paintings — that have used paper as the medium — have been created using natural colours. "For example, we create the colour yellow from raw turmeric, red from saffron, blue from Bluebellvine flowers, green from lemon leaves., white from sandalwood, and black from soot," Sheramuddin said. The Pattachitras ranged between ₹200 and ₹2 lakhs!
Apart from them, his stall also had painted kettles, trays, dupattas, and sarees. There was also a stall solely dedicated to creating imprints of flowers and leaves on a natural fabric using a wooden hammer. This activity attracted kids in particular who were amazed at this natural dyeing method used by their great-grandmoms many moons ago.
We concluded our visit at the event with some filtered coffee and a delicacy named chiroti, predominantly served in Maharashtra.