Bringing Back Work to the Villages is Key to Sustainability, say Experts

KOCHI:
Bringing back chunks of work concentrated in cities to villages is the key to sustainability and handloom industry is no different, said Rahul Mishra, acclaimed fashion designer here, today.

Speaking on ‘Designing a sustainable model for Kerala handloom’ at CERA #Design Kerala Summit here on Wednesday, he said though handloom is expensive many people can afford it.

“Let’s face the fact that handloom is expensive. But, out of 3.5 million people, half of the population can afford luxury. And it could change the face of the handloom industry and the lives of weavers, if the latter choose to make it a part of their lives.”

To achieve this, it is necessary to create more awareness that the real craft lies in the villages, he noted. “By bringing the focus on to the villages, the long lost uniqueness in designs also could be brought back,” he said.

The Kerala government is organising the two-day summit as part of Kochi Design Week, seeking to leverage trail-blazing design solutions in rebuilding Kerala,battered by the August floods and landslides.

Asked why the acclaimed international designers are not exploring handloom especially that of Kerala, Mishra said “It’s just because they are not aware of the existence of such a rich and opulent fabric. We need to create more awareness,” and, suggested that “a directory of weavers, their places and crafts can indeed be of immense help to connect them with the designers.”

Vinod Nair, former Fashion Editor, Hindustan Times, was the moderator. Speaking on ‘Designing future of living spaces – A sustainable approach,” experts noted that post floods, the availability of land have reduced, considerably. In such a scenario, how to ‘densify’ whatever little left should be the focal point, they noted.

Cyrus Clark of Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) said the wisdom of past could not be forgotten at any point of time when it comes to rebuilding the state. Architect Ajit Vyas was the moderator. P K Sasidharan of CERA Sanitary ware, architects Jacob Cherian and Fahad Majeed also spoke.