Indian Handicrafts

Handicrafts are creative products made by skilled hands without the help of modern machinery. In the modern world, hand-made products are considered to be a fashion statement.

Indian culture promises exclusivity, beauty, dignity and style of handloom. Handicrafts are a mirror of the cultural identity of the ethnic people who make it. Three categories of Indian handicraft are folk crafts, religious crafts and commercial crafts. Due to increased demand from market folks, this craft is turning into a commercial craft.

Through the ages, handicrafts made in India like Pashmina Shawls, Kashmiri woollen carpets, Wood work art, Zari embroidered fabrics, silk fabrics etc. have maintained their exclusiveness. India is also famous for its Kaseras, Chiteras, and Meenakari. In the ancient times, these handicrafts were exported to far off countries of Europe, Africa, West Asia and Far East via the 'silk route'. Visitors to handicraft fairs are often more busy comparing prices rather than examining the craftsmanship of the items on display.

Perhaps that is why Indian handicrafts are more visible and appreciated outside the country. India is one of the major suppliers of handicrafts to the global market.

A consumer must first learn to distinguish the real from the fake.

Pure handmade textiles, for instance, can only thrive when they offer something that machines cannot. The evolved aesthetic and functional sensibilities that match the individual’s warp of hand skill with the weft of personal insight can only survive when appreciated and recognised. Artistic weaves with natural dyes, handmade block prints, asymmetrical loom, embroidery and organic cottons of fine counts. All these constitute an exclusive range of products.

Cottage sectors and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises promote manual skill. The Centre has announced a ‘Fund of Funds’ to incentivise growth for MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises).

‘Handmade’ has different meanings for different people. It no longer implies the use of skilled hands, informed by an agile mind and subtle function, motivated by a tradition that moves the spirit. Machines are rapidly being configured to make anything that was earlier made by hands alone. With the passage of time powerlooms is not just displacing the hands of six weavers but also their sense of making and being.

Many handcrafted ‘khadi’ or cottage industry enterprises are helping the poor by promoting traditional livelihoods and heritage.

Handicraft industry has the potential to generate millions of decentralised livelihoods and earns billions of revenue. In a post-pandemic world, it can create a sustainable movement for manufacture, clothing and lifestyle.

Handicraft is step towards sustainable development. By manual skill, we can reprocess colourful plastic tubes, old clothes, broken bangles, telephone cables, all sorts of waste into unprecedented incarnations, creating new ‘handmade’ items.

Machines can make everything which may be not possible manually, but it can't showIndia's rich cultural heritage, people's skills and love for motherland.

- Kripi Sansanwal