In the seven years that I have shifted to Santiniketan, I have met many artisans. In fact, the great thing about Santiniketan is that whatever I desire to have crafted, I find easy to fulfil. Be it weaving, hand dyeing, embroidery, print or leather, bronze, iron, wood, bamboo, there are artisans here who work with all this and more. This is probably because the old town of Bolpur and its adjacent university town of Santiniketan are surrounded by villages where handicraft is still thriving.
Of course, it has not been entirely easy to get these artisans to appreciate how I have wanted to use their skill to fashion things for myself and my home, and then for the small crafts shop that I run.
The ironsmith who normally makes hammers and sickles and spades was very unwelcoming when I first showed him drawings of the curtain rods that I wanted for my house. I had to convince him to come home. Once he appreciated what I was going to do with the rods, I had no more trouble. The variations of designs that he did for me to embellish the two ends of the rods made all the effort worthwhile.
The man who works with wood made me a tray that was heavy enough to build me muscles. His response was that he had made it strong enough to last. Once I explained that I have no children and, therefore, would have no grandchildren, he fashioned a piece that was a pleasure to use. Since then, he has made more trays and cheese boards and mosquito coil holders, which have earned me many compliments from customers.
Ever since I met a Santhali tribal who draws on paper to sell to tourists, I had been thinking of a better way to utilise his fabulous line drawings. Although tourists would stop to admire his work, many were reluctant to buy them thinking of the shrinking wall space at home. I thought if I could use his skills to make something more utilitarian, maybe we could get him a larger market.
It took many months of coaxing (their shyness and introversion make it tough) to get him to visit our place of work. I had wanted to use his lines on the covers of diaries that we make in leather batik. After he arrived, I showed him diaries that we had made and explained how we would use his craft to embellish them. Once he was given the sized leather, gum (which is required to work the batik on leather) and brush, he set to work. But for a man used to working with paper and colours, working with gum on leather, which almost does not allow you to see what you are drawing, was quite traumatic. It is only when we coloured the leather and his fabulous lines (drawn in gum and, therefore, resisting the colour) showed up against the dark background that he had a sense of what he had created. He was ecstatic and continued with great enthusiasm.
When I went to see how far he had progressed I noticed that many of the figures he had drawn of crows, peacocks, cows, geckoes or tortoises were done in such a manner that the diary would have to be opened horizontally. Although it was fine occasionally, I told him that most people preferred a diary to be held and opened vertically.
He nodded and I got back to my work, satisfied that he had understood. I came back an hour later to find that for many of the diaries the designs were drawn at the back. When I asked him the reason, he held the piece vertically (to get the message across) and flipped it. He then said the users would find it interesting to turn to the back to look at the design. Sadly, I had to tell him that it was not a great idea. Only because I know my customers are not that evolved.
