NIFT to revive traditional arts

National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFT), Gandhinagar, is all set to take forward its movement to revive traditional arts in Surendranagar which are facing the risk of extinction.

The institute presently taken up a project to revive five traditional crafts and is in the process of obtaining intellectual property rights for one of them. Also, following its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Raymond, the institute is close to signing a similar pact with Pantaloons.

NIFT has undertaken the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) project, a three-year project initiated by the govt under the aegis of the Ministry of Rural Development for which a sum of Rs 3 crore have been sanctioned.

Under the project, students from different disciplines will work closely with 2,000 artisans who have been classified as living below the poverty line.

The artisans have been traditionally involved in khadi, stone carving, brassware, patola and tangaliya.

"Tangaliya, a style of weaving in which designs are made by hand-knotting along with weaving is an art that if not revived with urgency will be lost forever. Therefore we are channelling our energies to bring it back to life by applying for intellectual property rights for the same, " said Binaya Bhusan Jena, Assistant Professor, Fashion Management Studies Department.

According to Jena, IPR evaluators from Chennai will visit Surendranagar where the cluster of artistes practising Tangaliya is located.

"We have already submitted a report advocating geographical indicators for the art and hope to see it come through soon, " said Jena.

The institute wlll establish trade linkages for the artisans and will also take them on trips to visit traders and other art dealers to give them exposure to the market situation.

NIFT, which had earlier signed MoUs with 26 international universitites this year and is in talks with Indian industries is also looking to develop its corporate network.

On the occasion of the institute's industry convention in Ahmedabad, the institute announced the launch of a trend project called 'Mapping India' which would study standard sizes and design intelligence in the Indian industy which has not been done for the country before.

The project will see students and faculty of NIFT generating a database of specific body measurements of approximately 25,000 subjects across the country. The institute plans to install 3-D body scanners for the same across all its centres.

The industry convention, held just before the final placements in January for some of the courses also ended up in job offers in principle for the students.

Around 30 of the top textile majors in the state including Reliance Industries, Arvind Mills, Chiripal Group and others attended the convention and suggested Gauri Kumar, Director General, NIFT to hire more material experts faculty for the students.