New Delhi: In an effort to take traditional Indian crafts "forward" and making them a part of the contemporary lifestyle, a new heritage festival is being organised here.
The first edition of 'Heritage 265' will bring together hoteliers, fashion designers and craftsmen on a single platform to draw attention to the rich treasure trunk of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
A brainchild of hotelier and architectural restorer Aman Nath, the festival is a public-private partnership between The Neemrana Music Foundation (TMF) and the governments of Gujarat, MP and Rajasthan.
It seeks to showcase the heritage of these states and help them "garner the recognition they so richly deserve".
"This initiative is to marry (urban) India with (rural) Bharat and to see that all the creativity that lives on in the villages is also incentivised through design processes from the city so that all of us become users of this.
"I have been involved with architectural restoration which is also very important because it is the physical heritage and if we do not keep our masons and carpenters alive, then it just takes one generation for all of this to die down," Nath said at a press conference today.
The two-day festival, that begins on November 25 at the JLN Stadium is being organised in collaboration with YES Bank and the Embassy of Italy.
According to activist Laila Tyabji, who as come on board to promote the Indian crafts, the focus of heritage restorers should shift from mere preservation to incorporating artisans into the economics of the country.
She said that traditional art forms from different corners of the country have been taken for granted, and called for making them relevant to contemporary lifestyle.
"We are fortunate that we have millions of crafts people in every corner of the count who can make anything from a terracota tumbler to a temple... they are part of our culture our heritage and also a part of our economics.
"However, because Indian crafts have always been around for several thousand years, we tend to take them for granted.
Even those people who want to protect the crafts and preserve them always think they should remain the same," she said.
However, crafts have never been static. They are part of market economy and they have to move with lifestyle and people's needs, she said. .
