If anyone asks me the list of to-do-weekend items, there will be one entry there for sure - and that is 'Shopping'. But this weekend, shopping was done in a different place with a different experience - at the Crafts Bazaar held at Valluvar Kottam, Nungambakkam, Chennai. Never before, I have seen so many artisans at the same place ; with such a rich variety of Indian crafts - some of which I have never known to exist before.
The Crafts Bazaar 2010' organized by the Crafts Council of India is an exhibition of traditional, tribal and contemporary crafts from all over the country. The bazaar itself is a totally different experience with over 150 artisans participating from different parts of the country and the specialty of this bazaar is that the artisans sell directly to the customer.
One has a lot of options to choose from - the shell crafts, mats from Tamilnadu, tribal jewellery from Nagaland, stone work from Orissa, beaded work from Gujurat, neem wooden combs from NewDelhi were some of the items under display. In short,the bazaar is a rich Indian feast for the eyes and anyone who visits the bazaar is sure to walk out happily with their shopping finds.
Leather hangings, puppets and lamp shades with intricate art work from Andhra Pradesh. I had my eye on the black and white lamp shade each time I crossed the store...
Terracotta products from West Bengal!
Beautiful spoons and Shells embedded in wooden boxes ...
Dwarka Prasad and Bhagwati Lal from Rajasthan posing for our camera with a kaavad ( a box with numerous doors that is used for story-telling ) in his hand.Some day I would like to get a kaavad pictured with my own story ... ;-) !!
Exquisite Silver Jewellery
Wooden Blocks used for Block printing from New Delhi. (The Artist's name is Mohammad Ayyub; He can be reached at m.tahir4@gmail.com )
Colorful Bangles embedded with stones from Andhra Pradesh .
Wood Carving from Andhra Pradesh...!
The elegant display of crafts by CCI !!
Colorful Lacquer-ware from Karnataka...!!!
Lovely pics as usual...what did you get from there? May you get your own kaavad box one day! I believe those bangles from andhra are called "Lac" bangles...at least, they look like lac from the pics...in hyderabad you get it aplenty in the charminar area...I loved the terracotta figurines (on the wall frames) and the tiles....also the reclining ganesha...sweet!
ReplyDeletethis is a wow!! post Emreen.. You know Im so envious of you.. dont you??
ReplyDelete@Patty : Thanks a lot ;-) ;-) - May be you can schedule a visit to India next time during the Craft Bazaar season.... ;-) ;-) ....!!
ReplyDelete@Kary : Thanks for the info about Lac Bangles kary ! I got some terracotta figurines,wooden blocks to try out block printing,then some lacquer-ware Xmas ornaments, beaded hangings,tile coasters and a bee-garden stick from CCI etc,.,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posdting loved going to the virtual craft mela!
ReplyDeleteOh how I miss these craft bazaars sitting here so far away! I love kaavads too! And I am guessing this is the yearly one that happens in valuvar Kottam- I'm from Madras too :) Now even gladder that I stumbled on your blog!
ReplyDeleteOhhh these Craft Fair are such delights. I can spend hours hopping from one store to another. Since I am not in India right now, I enjoyed this e-tour all the more! Thanks, Emreen :)
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