Date:20/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/07/20/stories/2005072015140300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Crafts of India on display

Swahilya

ETHNIC WARE: A woman looks at a colourful exhibit at the handloom and handicraft exhibition in Chennai on Tuesday. — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: Wooden panels depicting dancing figures, huge elephant dolls stuffed with hay and stitched with colourful cotton, birds, jewels, trinkets and bangles from Rajasthan, idols made of bell metal and white metal, carved wooden panels, room partitions, centre tables and decorated walnut wood furniture, hand-woven textiles, pickles from Andhra Pradesh, shawls from Kashmir...

It is a little India out there at the National Art and Craft Fair at the Community Hall on C.P. Ramaswamy Road in Alwarpet. Organised by M.V. Handicrafts, the exhibition displays crafts from different parts of the country. The prices range from Rs. 10 to Rs. 80,000.

The participants come from across the country. The exhibition aims to promote the skills of artisans and help them to sell their products without the interference of middlemen, Anil Kapoor, organiser of the exposition said.

Inlaid panels, black metal items, brass items, stone paintings, radium, marble and stone statues, carvings in wood and whitewood, glass-work cholis and sarees, silk paintings, white metal items, rosewood carvings, stone and gold jewellery, Hyderabad pearls, churidhars from Rajasthan and Gujarat, leather, items, cotton and jute bags and purses, kondapalli and ettikoppa toys, wall hangings, zari work, jute, furnishings, khadi items, brass and bell metal bells, terracotta and ceramic vases, blue pottery from Khurja in U.P. and furniture from Srinagar are some items on display.

The exhibition is on till July 28 from 9.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m., with no holidays in between.