An interesting fare

Photos: S. James

ATTRACTIVE Artefacts on display

If you think your wardrobe needs an overhaul, this is the right time to be at the Gandhi Museum for the “shilp bazaar” and choose your pick from a formidable choice of bamboo saris, Uler chiffon saris from Andhra, chikan work from Uttar P radesh, ghagra-cholis from Gujarat, exquisite embroidery work from Jammu and Kashmir, ikkat and appliqué work from Orissa and much more.

Or if you are keen to add to your home collection showpieces made of glass, bronze or pine wood, leather hand bags, terracotta statues and ethnic, antique and even made with paddy jewellery to name a few – you will get them all and at a reasonable price too.

At the first glance, the Budhha Vinayaka and the five-headed Vinayaka in terracotta catch the attention as an art collector’s delight. Sujatha Muralidharan from Hosur has brought them all for the exhibition. It is not her unique collection of Vinayakas that people are making a beeline for, even the jewellery she makes.

“All items used in our work are natural. We use baked sand for making the show pieces, face masks, smalls pots, jewellery,” she says. She even takes orders and customises the jewellery sets, complete with necklace and ear studs, according to the customer’s choice of colours and designs.

T.V. Gopinathan from Petta, Thiruvananthapuram, is attracting people with his horn carving artefacts. He carves out peacocks, fishes, cranes, flower vase and flower stands from horns of buffaloes and bullocks. “We then polish and carve with instruments and add natural colours to give a sheen look,” he says. The cost of his pieces range between Rs. 160 and Rs.1200.

Women in particular will find the shopping fun as it is not much pocket-pinching.

The attractive churidar sets cost between Rs.300 and Rs.1200. Among the other items that are on display include dhokra castings, stone carvings, woollen carpets, cane furniture julas, conch shells, kantha stitches, jute crafts of West Bengal, Saharanpur furniture from Uttar Pradesh. A few master crafts persons are also giving live demonstration of their art to buyers.

The exhibition has been organised by Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, in association with Small Industries Product Promotion Organisation, Madurai.

The organisers said that the main objective of conducting this mega-event Gandhi Shilp Bazaar is to invite artisans from all over the country and arrange for a direct market linkage between them and the public.

The participating crafts persons can see the demand for themselves and also guage the changing trend and taste of people so as to orient themselves for such future exhibitions.

More than 150 master crafts persons from all over the country have put up the stalls. In order to create cluster awareness and promote the concept of self help groups 30 stalls have been exclusively reserved for handicrafts self-help groups. The Gandhi Shilp Bazaar is open between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. till July 20.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu