The Resurging Value of Civil Society for Indian Crafts
For wider adoption of digitally designed graphs by Ikat weavers of Barpali and Nuapatna in Odisha, consultation workshops were recently organised at DigiKala centres in both the regions. DigiKala is an initiative of Microsoft and DEF that aims to digitally enable the weavers in these two handloom clusters. The workshop was organised to address the inhibitions of weavers in learning to design on computers. DEF team members and design experts demonstrated to weavers how one can design more accurately and faster on a computer, thus creating a wide range of traditional yet innovative designs.
Meanwhile, to popularise digital designs and teach productisation to local weavers — and assist them in setting up independent tie-and-dye and production units — Team DEF was able to create two new designs, which have been translated into the production of 16 dupattas — a first for the clusters. While some of the work was outsourced due to lack of a tie-and-dye setup at DigiKala centres, the team was able to collaborate with weavers in the process and establish a better personal and professional bond with them.
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