Working Together: Equitable and Effective Cooperation between Designers and Artisans

Working Together: Equitable and Effective Cooperation between Designers and Artisans

GoCoop & Sangam Workshop | May 10, 2016 | Elective 1 | tulip sinha

The ‘Working together’ workshop was a partnership between GoCoop and the Sangam Project.

It saw participants converge in order to explore ways of working together in promoting equitable partnerships between craft and design. The gathering was constituted by a host of very gifted artisans along with a fair representation from the creative industry, particularly those who engage with artisanal practices.

GoCoop is India's first online Social marketplace that enables Handloom and Handicraft Co-operatives and artisans in connecting directly with Buyers. Marketplace brings together these producer organisations of weavers, artisans to collectively market their produce online, thereby significantly reducing cost of marketing, driving more efficiency and transparency in the Craft supply chain.

Sangam Project is a conversation between designers and craftspersons about how we might best work together to create works of lasting beauty and meaning.

The project emerged out of a three-year program of forums and workshops in Australia and India that aims to develop fair standards in product development which can add value to craft practice in partnership with art and design.

The UNESCO Code of Practice for Craft-Design Collaborations seeks to provide protocols for partnerships in product development that ensure fairness and sustainability for the craft sector. The first stage in the development of these protocols involved a dialogue between Australia and India which draws on the extensive research and thinking from both countries.

The workshop covered the following:

Case studies by designers/entrepreneurs and artisans

Current situation – overview and assessment

Challenges of working in the Crafts sector - brainstorming and sharing

Desired future – innovation (in product development), collaboration vs. co-creation (by stakeholders), integration (technology and marketplace)

Way forward – collaborator group formulation, creating consumer-checklist, marketing campaigns, co-design incubator

The workshop saw the emergence of new ideas from all the brainstorming sessions. Few of them being craft subscriptions, e-commerce platforms, growing ethical consciousness and new online publications.

Some of the participants were:

Sangam Project | case study by Mr Kevin Murray

GoCoop | presentation by Mr Siva Reddy

ANTS | Bangalore, case study by the founders, Shweta & Smita

Somaiya Kala Vidya | sharing by Judy Frater and Irrfan Khatri (artisan and graduate from the artisan-based academy of SKV, Kutch)

Kushala Kala Kendra | Sandur, case study

Women on Wings | a case study on marketing- version 3.0 by Mr. Ronald Van Het Hoff

Tuni | Swati Maskeri

Dastakar Ranthambore | case study by Ms. Devika

Mr. Sriram Narayana | Master weaver, Andhra Pradesh

Questions for craft-based practitioners

Challenges in the Crafts sector

Way forward ideas

Group Presentation

Some interesting points came out of this workshop, which can each be dissected endlessly.

! Value attachment - artisan-made vs designer-made

! Value-creation vs Value-preservation

! Consumer-centric marketing - what are the consequences on the craft / community

! Over-exposure - merits vs de-merits

! Reverse-marketing - effect on next generation of artisans

! Ethics - in interventions of material/technology and awareness creation

! Situated Knowledge - acknowledgment, ownership, partnership and co-creation in situ