Kolkata, 26th Oct'16: India, home to one of the most ancient civilizations, is a unique example of cultural and geographical diversities. The various cultural practices are deeply rooted in people’s daily lives . Even during the 21st century. It is the history of several millennia that has come together with the geographical variations to make India as incredible as it is today.

Every ritual, culture and tradition, sculpture and painting, dance, music and drama as well as handicrafts form a definite statement that only India can be proud of.

The history of Indian crafts and craftsmanship on one hand is a story of man’s engagement with Nature. Those nimble hands turned hard rock into objects of divinity, minerals into lamps to worship them, plants into woven textures to wear and waste materials into beautiful objects of everyday utility.

Thus, craftsmanship in India comes naturally to weave myths, legends and simple daily lives into different forms of creativity amongst Indians and yet remain to enrich lives for centuries. Therefore India as an agricultural and forest based society, Nature’s resources provide an almost never – ending supply of material on which the artisans whole –heartedly depend upon for their existence.

The vast complexity of Indian crafts is as old as the India history. Almost 5000 years old, the panorama of Indian art and crafts reflects a unique interaction with social, economic, cultural and religious forces. This history may be a bit staggering, but has its first reference in the Indus Valley Civilization. With high technical excellence into pottery, metal and terracotta, jeweler making, weaving, etc the then crafts men fulfilled the local needs of the people of the time.

Indian crafts and craftsmanship also has a special place in Indian epics. The great war between the Pandavas and Kauravas, in the famous Indian epic of Mahabharata, speaks largely of Indian handicrafts. Thus, describing the changes of ages, from the Dwapara to Kali Yuga, it is Mahabharata that describes that the artisans will lose their skills to the makers of this shift.

In order to understand this diversity, history shaped transformation in Indian crafting tradition over time. Social and cultural diversity has multiplied particular forms of artifacts in this passage of time. These crafts always become canvas of common people to express their state of mind.

Artisans nurtured their artistic skills with the aid of royalty in pre – colonial period where destruction of artistic skill was the phase of the British envy in the colonial period. Modernity, however as an outcome of communication and globalization tends to have universal forms that homogenize cultures across continent. However, this creative variety was a result of each regional or sub-regional group asserting its own identity in the objects and cultural expressions. Therefore from traditional clothing to other Indian arte-facts, everything holds a unique identity with the artisans as well as a difference in the people and lives from their neighbor, today.

In post colonial period many attempts to empower Indian craftsmen including several Government initiatives which have been very supportive to improvise their skills. The initiative took shape with superior crafting skills that have appreciated throughout the world and create a large demand but to match its supply the crafting segments are still lacking its position.

Kiukart is an initiative to match the supply side of the crafting segments. Kiukart , a budding online ethic store for Indian Handicrafts has developed itself here as houses of Indian artisans so that they and their rare produce find a place of prominence across the world market and give opportunity to their markets and help the consumers to get articles of their choice without unnecessary inflations. At the place of prominence of this initiative will bring a new foundation of crafting development that will bring a reformation in crafting economy.
Visit: http://www.kiukart.com/