NCERT Class 12 Heritage Crafts Craft Tradition Of India Design and Development

THE twenty-first century has brought with it accelerated change in every sphere of life, dependency on machines and excessive consumption of natural resources in a manner that is no longer sustainable. In the past the crafts sector had been rejected by many as an unviable economic activity for the twenty-first century.

Artisans still make up twenty million of India’s working population. Therefore this sector has to be developed in such a way so as to offer sustainable employment to millions of skilled artisans. Crafts producers cannot be economically viable unless their product is marketable. The product can only be marketable if it is attractive to the consumer, i.e., if the traditional skill is adapted and designed to suit contemporary consumer tastes and needs. Design does not mean making pretty patterns—it lies in matching a technique with a function.

In the field of traditional craft these two aspects of design and development are not always synonymous; design can lead to development, and development should be designed. However in the field of design and development a conflict may arise between function and responsibility. Whose creativity will be expressed—the developer’s, the designer’s or the craftsperson’s? Who is the client—the consumer, who wants an unusual and exciting product at the most competitive price; or the crafts community who needs a market for its products as similar to the traditional one as possible, so that it does not need constant alien design interventions, or is at conflict with the social, aesthetic and cultural roots from which it has grown?