Handcrafted Happiness
A design fair that exhibits handcrafted jewellery, textiles and other accessories from across the country.
A handmade shawl always tends to trump a shawl made by machines as the intricacies that the handmade shawl possesses cannot be touched. Alas! one would have to go all the way to Kashmir For instance, to get a handmade pashmina or Varanasi for a Banarasi saree.
But need not worry as a design fair titled ‘Dastakar Design Fair’ is currently ongoing in the capital. The fair brings products across lifestyle and accessories not just in home décor items and wearables, you can also get some of your favourite textiles such as pashmina, banarasi, chikankari and Ari and Zardozi embroideries. Also, there is a wide range of crafts such as Khadi-Pashmina.
Apart from focussing on the sustenance and development of traditional Indian crafts, the seventh edition introduces new entrepreneurs to highlight their professional journey. There are over seventy entrepreneurs of craft and natural products who are exhibiting at the event.
Vijayshree Sovani a handicraft jeweller, points out that handcrafted jewellery “is very popular in the Indian market and women love to own such pieces which they can treasure all their life.” She continues, “Jewellery in India has a special place in a women’s heart and they will buy it for a lifetime and cherish it.” At the event, she displays handcrafted 92.5 sterling silver jewellery made using traditional techniques like enamel, filigree, embossing, cutwork drawing inspiration from daily facets of life.
On her creations, she comments, “I have tried to create a unique range which is traditional at heart but contemporary in look, each of the jewellery collections touches you in a special way.”
Jasveen Sabharwal, a Delhi-based textile designer on display and a potter, displays pottery products made in stoneware and terracotta with innovative designs and have also incorporated utility in them. Talking about her experience in the event, which in her words is, “So far so good!” She continues, “My products are being liked by people and they are different unique and one of a kind. As a potter, the sale is a bit of issue since the Indian market feels that it’s a breakable item and a bit expensive. But pottery does require a lot of patience, time and handwork to create as all the processes are done by the artist/potter herself.”