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The Kalakshetra Dance Academy at Chennai hosted a 10 day Crafts Bazaar called Dastkari Haat. They had stalls set up showcasing handicrafts and textiles from all over India. It was more of a central-east-west India affair but quite interesting nevertheless and had all the art curious of Chennai shuffling about in the dust. The beautiful , large , tree filled premises added to the charm of the whole thing but made the pictures a little shadowy and dodgy , still here's a few : (click for detail)
Block printed fabric streamers
Sikki Basket Lady
Sikki Baskets
Mehndi (henna) + Snowmen
Cool Graphic Kites
Bead work Bangles
Patchwork Quilt with the most amazing details
Shadow puppet
Ceramic Ware
Papier Mache ware
Madhubani Artist
Gond Plushies
wish I could have been there at this bazaar...sigh...the Mehndi Snowmen really took my fancy :)and of course the bead work bangles and cool kites! Did u buy anything from here?
ReplyDeleteVindy
Vindy !
ReplyDeleteyou'd have loved it ! it was even cooler at night, they had performers , documentary screenings , music, dance , etc.
I bought the beaded bangles, a pair of chappals , a couple of rainbow hobo bags (pictured in the next lot) and some other colourful knick-knacks. My mum bought a million saris (or atleast a dozen).
I'm drooling :)
ReplyDeleteWish India was closer.
Oops, I deleted Corrine's comment accidentally . Corrine , I have family in Jeddah , maybe I should send some through them ;)
ReplyDeletebibbi ! you need to visit India soon!
ReplyDeleteThose kites look amazing, I've never been any good at actually flying them but I suspect I'd want one just to hang on my wall..was there any of that Etikopakka (sorry, I'm not sure how to spell it) lacquerware on display? I have a few toys like that, and they're gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteBFH,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I know what Etikopakka lacquerware is, is it similar to the channapatna stuff?
I'm intrigued, think you could post a pic or point me in the direction of a link ?
And the kites - these little boys near me were buying dozens of them when I took the pic . To be honest , my room has too much colour going on - it's giving me a colour headache!
Wonderful! All this colours...
ReplyDeleteI just found you from Bibbi and I come back soon.
oh god! I'm so jealous!
ReplyDeleteI love the bangles. and the plushies. and the shadow puppet. I so want the puppet! and the quilt.
monday morning and I see this - I will just whinge all day now.
MC: Here's a link to a place with pictures..
ReplyDeletehttp://etikoppaka.com/index_2.htm
They have six pages of thumbnails, mostly toys from what I can tell. I left a link to one of the pics below.
http://etikoppaka.com/images/11_Doll_Candle_Stand.jpg
WOW! thats SO MUCH eyecandy in one go!! the things I loved from this lot- the sikki baskets, thr sun cups :) the interesting blanket 7 the pretty bangles! They didn't have SUCH interesting stuff when they came to Bombay!!! :(
ReplyDeleteWow, these images are incredibly inspiring! So, so beautiful... and thanks, Bibbi, for linking to this today on your blog.
ReplyDeleteMarie Louise : thanks for visiting !
ReplyDeleteHM: I'm not going to lie, it was really quite a charming set up. It was exotic to even me and I currently reside in India !
BFH : Yeah I had a few of those toys as a kid :) I don't remember what exactly but my guess is kitchen sets ;)
Vineeta : There's more , I was feeling a little overwhelmed by all the pictures I had to upload . The bangles are great eh?
Nature Morph : Thanks for coming by!
Hey I went to Dastkari Haat too! And yes, it was really amazing. I spent a lot of time just staring at the huge kalamkari painting they had near the entrance. And the State craft maps were really cool too. I bought a few Gond paintings that I know are going to inspire some designs for Brass Tacks.
ReplyDeleteAnaka , welcome :)
ReplyDeleteI did too ! I took a picture as well, will upload it in the next lot. As well as the cool maps ! The Gond paintings were beautiful ! I already bought a couple in a previous fair type thing , they're so quirky and contemporary looking .
Wow!! I heard it was awesome:-))
ReplyDeleteLooks vibrant too...I just love art and craft melas...
I think I would have bought the whole Sikki Basket Shop;-) Love the beautiful kites!!
Thanks for sharing:-)
Arch
Hey Arch,
ReplyDeleteyeah it was awesome !
The Sikki basket shop was so picture perfect , like a postcard !
ayyoooo! WHY do these things happen only when im NOT at home?!
ReplyDeleteboo hoo.
lovely! it's such a pleasing sight to see so many beautiful colours in such artistic expressions. I've never seen the sikki baskets. They are so amazing! thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteHi Masalachai,
ReplyDeleteYou have an extremely beautiful blog here with interesting informations. I would like to know about the plush toys you have featured. Any idea where one can get the Gond plush toys? and also the ones you have featured here from gujarat. http://masalachaionline.blogspot.com/2008/01/plushies-things.html
keep up the good work!!
Seema, the only Gond toys we found were the ones that were part of the display ! trust me we looked around, my sister was hell bent on getting herself the turtle, but no such luck.
ReplyDeleteAs for the appliqué ones , I had some luck with Contemporary arts and crafts in Madras, I think other stores like Kalpadruma might be worth a look . I'm not sure where you are from but check out stores that sell Indian handicrafts and Fabrics.