From India to South Africa: A story of kalamkari

Bed sets and table linen available at CRAFTWORX. For more information, contact:
Ronnie Watt, clumber@iafrica.com, +27-82-557-3976

BALADARSHAN, Member of World Fair Trade Organization

Meeting the producers (6)

SPEED Trust, in partnership with the Panchayat Level Federation from Kayar, a remote village, near Kovalam, has trained a new group of women in basketry set up a new group of producers under the Self-help group scheme. 

Baladarshan -sister concern of SPEED Trust- is now proud to support this group in marketing these colorful baskets, from a small village in Tamil Nadu to USA, Canada, Europe, North India, Singapore, Australia and Japan.

Welcome to this group within Baladarshan network! 

Crafts exhibition

Baladarshan got the opportunity to display the handcrafts at Cholamandal Artists Village, Injambakkam, Chennai on November 17th.

Special thanks to Camille Allauzen, Beatrice De Carvalho and Nasrin from Shiraz Cafe for having granted this opportunity on the occasion of the Brunch of the French Community in Chennai.

Herebelow are a few pictures.

Meeting the Producers (5)

 Shri Haji Valimamad Suleman (known as Haji Kaka) resides in Zura village. Belonging to Sindh (Pakistan), his family migrates to Kutch in Gujarat generations ago.  Originally, Haji Kaka family was Hindu Rajput later converted to Islam.  Haji Kaka believes that the Garasiya Maldhari (animal herders) invited his ancestors to the village of Zura, insuring them that they would benefit of all facilities. Nowadays, the Lohar community is around 30 members, most of them are manufacturing bells, while some other are making agricultural tools and equipments. Haji Kaka lives with 10 family members, 5 of them are involved in bells making with him which is the major source of income. Haji Kaka taught his skill to his son, daughter-in-law, daughter and son-in-law along with his grandson Suleman.  He has extended this craft training to more than 30 artisans who run now their own workshop successfully. 

The task of mashing the local clay and mixing cotton into is performed by the women of the family. They shape the bell using with the copper brass powder (known as “Takkankhar” locally) before it goes in the kiln for firing. This process requires high degree of precision and final quality depends on this process.

Haji Kaka is a senior copper bell artisan. He became famous for his ability in providing voice tones to the copper bells. The copper bell artisans are making tones on the demand of Maldharis (animal herders) who need different tones of bell, helping them to locate their cow or buffalo herds grazing in outskirts of the village. Before, many artisans were skilled enough to supply this particular kind of bells, nowadays, only Haji Kaka and two other artisans have this ability. 

But since the demand of bells from Maldharis decreased, Haji Kaka and other artisans had to change significantly the usage of their crafts, converting the bells into wind chimes, musical instruments such the saragema, door bells, etc.  Haji Kaka is fond of music. He plays ‘Morchang’ (a local musical instrument) during the leisure times.

Haji Kaka has been awarded with a Merit Award from the President of India in 2005 and the prestigious Kamaladevi award presented by the Craft Council of India (CII) in 2007.

Photos by Pallon Daruwalla & Subrata Pandey

Kalamkari, Kalamkari

Kalamkari is a fabric traditionally printed with wooden blocks using natural dyes only.

Hundreds of new designs are now available, they can be printed on three different thicknesses of cotton: 80/80 (for home deco and accessories), 60/60 and 30/30 (shirting material).

New Prices lists

Our new prices lists are now published and applicable from Sept. 1st onwards.

To access to the prices lists, please log-on to www.baladarshan.com and download the corresponding ones.

Before ordering, please ask us our order form.

Nos nouvelles listes de prix sont publiées et valables à partir du 1er Septembre.

Pour accéder à nos listes de prix, connectez-vous sur www.baladarshan.com et téléchargez ces listes.

Avant toute commande, merci de nous demander un bon de commande.

Bells, bells, bells

The unique melodic tones that emanate from Kachchh’s metal bells give voice to a centuries-old craft tradition that the Muslim Lohar community brought to Kachchh from Sindh, Pakistan.  These metal bells, burnished in copper and brass, have long adorned the necks of cattle, camels, sheep, and goats which graze in Kachchh’s arid plains.  The bells signify each animal’s status and position in the herd. There are 14 standard sizes which range in length from 2 cm to over 30 cm.  

Only the head of the herd is worthy of wearing the heavy tehra number bell.  Today, the use of Kachchh’s traditional bells has expanded; they hang in entranceways, are combined to make wind chimes, and are used as other forms of festive decoration.  Finely tuned bells are used as musical instruments.  Kachchh’s traditional metal bells are handcrafted by Lohar artisans working in 28 bell making units in Nirona, Bhuj, Nakhatrana, and Ratadia.  

Metal bell craft requires highly refined skills and combined family inputs. First, men shape each bell.  They hammer rectangular strips of recycled metal into a cylindrical hollow.  Then, they weld a dome-like metal crown to the bell’s cylindrical body.  Next, artisans bend and attach a metal strip to the crown so the bell can be hung.  Once the bell is shaped, women dip it in a solution of earth and water.  They cover the wet bells with a mixture of powdered brass and copper. The bell, with its powdered coat, is wrapped in a pancake of local clay and cotton and placed in a kiln to bake. After it is properly baked, the cotton is peeled away and any excess clay is rubbed off.  Each bell is buffed and polished to accentuate its unique metallic lustre that is tinted with shades of yellow, gold, red, and brown.  A ringer, made of a dense wood called sheesham, is attached inside the bell, converting the hollow metal object into a musical work of art.

Artisans carefully hand set each bell’s tone with a tool called an ekalavai, a skill that Kachchh bell makers have mastered.  The quality of a bell’s tone is a reflection of the artisan’s skill and three factors: the size and shape of the bell’s body; the size and shape of the ringer, and the shape and curvature of the bell’s bottom rim. 

The skills needed to shape and tune the bells are difficult to replicate which gives the craft a significant market advantage and contributes to the craft’s success as a local livelihood.  Youth are enthusiastically engaged in the craft and have the potential to spread its practice and influence its future success.  The bell sector is growing however its future growth and sustainability is challenged by inadequate work facilities and technical upgrades, artisan’s inability to access affordable raw materials, a limited product range, and limited marketing and trade skills.     

The sector’s success has resulted in the growth of artisan work facilities. Metal bell making, which was once a home-based craft which was leisurely produced for local markets, is now produced on a larger scale with constant turnover. Today, most artisan units operate mini factory-like workshops.  Due to a lack of necessary capital and artisans’ pattern of daily earning and daily consumption, there has been little investment in bell making work facilities. Workshops are in poor condition and technologies inadequate.  Kachchh’s bell artisans need financial support and guidance to invest in their facilities and new technologies.

Bell metal artisans struggle to access affordable raw materials on which their craft is dependant. Bell making kilns require specially made coal to properly fire the bells. Because there are limited suppliers to this coal, it is sold to artisans at a premium. Artisans must also source brass flake, powder, and borax. They currently purchase these materials piecemeal from local traders. As price is controlled by the traders, these metals are subject to price fluxuations. Kachchh metal bell artisans must consider bulk purchases and alternate sources of raw materials to keep production costs down.

http://www.baladarshan.com/en/metal-crafts.html