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| Sunday, 13 April 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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New life for our handicrafts by ASIFF HUSSEIN
"Athing of beauty" it is said "is a joy forever" and nothing could be more true of Sri Lanka's traditional handicrafts. Its unique silver and gold jewellery, pottery, textiles and wood carvings, brass and leather ware, reed and cane work have long captivated the hearts of art connoisseurs on the lookout for something novel. Yet the fact remains that the market for many of the really traditional handicrafts is somewhat limited due largely to a limited choice in the range of products as well as the bulky nature of many of the items. This is especially true of foreign buyers who would prefer a greater variety and somewhat smaller products than those which one commonly comes across in the market today. Indeed, there are those who contend that it is high time our handicrafts underwent a transformation to meet market demands if it is to survive into the future. This they feel could be accomplished by introducing new designs based on traditional styles or by blending traditional designs with modern ones. Playing a pivotal role in transforming our handicrafts industry is the National Design Centre, a state-funded body coming under the purview of the Ministry of Enterprise Development.
The Chairperson of the Centre, Swarna Obeyesekere contends that it is high time our traditional craftsmen were given a boost by the state, not only in promoting their products, but also in helping them come up with new ideas to meet the needs of today's market. She points out that in a context where more and more western countries are going back to nature and appreciating traditional art forms, it is imperative that we too revive our dying arts and crafts and improve on them before they pass into oblivion. The emphasis given to new designs in Sri Lanka is very much less when compared to other countries, hence the need to improve on our designs and market them efficiently, she stresses. The National Design Centre presently runs two design studios cum workshops at Moratuwa (for pottery, coir, reed, cane and wood work) and at Nattarampotha in Kandy (for brass, lacquer and leather work, textiles and jewellery). What these studios do is to design new handicrafts by coming up with the concept thus enabling their manufacture as prototypes in the workshops. These prototypes are then test-marketed and introduced to independent craftsmen who would thereafter embark on their production on a large-scale. Our recent visit to these studio-workshops proved a rewarding experience for here are products which are truly novel, but nevertheless traditional.
The studio at Katubedda, Moratuwa has as many as 15 master designers regularly turning out some very exquisite handicrafts. Here one comes across some alluring items such as clay pottery ornamented with coloured fibre, colourful purses made of reed, lampshades of some very unique designs and some extremely ornate boxes and chests. The studio at Sri Narendrasinghe Kalapuraya in Nattarampotha, Kandy which was only recently set up is located in a model village especially set up for artisans by the Department of Small Industries in 1964. The village has as many as 105 traditional artisan families engaged in manufacturing a variety of handicrafts including brass ware and silver jewellery. The studio is hence ideally located to ensure that the designers work closely with the villagers and disperse new ideas among a greater number of artisans than would have been possible if it were located in some distant urban centre. The studio which has only three designers so far has already turned out an array of charming products such as silver trays, brass ware, reed bags and a variety of other fancy items. It also plans to embark on new designs in textiles and jewellery besides turning out souvenirs of miniature monuments which will be shortly made available at various religious and cultural sites visited by tourists. The natural dye laboratory located here has developed some unique natural dyes especially for reed products. Asitha Kusaladharma of the R&D Unit explained that they had developed in collaboration with the University of Peradeniya, several natural dyes by combining plant extracts such as patangi (coesalpinia sappan), venivel (coscinium fenestratum), nil katarolu (clitoria terneata), bulu (terminalia belerica) and kos (artocarpus integrifolia) with non-toxic, environmentally -friendly chemical agents known as mordents.
For instance, patangi extract combined with calcium carbonate yields a red dye, while venivel combined with dolomite gives a light yellow dye. Nil katarolu combined with magnesium sulphate gives a purplish blue dye. Kos with magnesium sulphate yields a golden yellow dye and bulu combined with ferrous sulphate gives a black dye. These dyes have already been introduced to Henavala village which manufactures traditional reed mats. Plans are also afoot to set up a nursery for dye-yielding plants in the outskirts of the village in collaboration with the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens. Featured are some of the handicrafts turned out at these studios. |
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