Mumbai gets new exhibition space dedicated to arts, craft

South Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda art district just got a new addition — Artisans’, a 1,000-sq-ft exhibition space that will focus on arts, crafts and design.

South Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda art district just got a new addition — Artisans’, a 1,000-sq-ft exhibition space that will focus on arts, crafts and design.

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Regular exhibitions will showcase arts and crafts from across India and around the world, along with lectures, seminars and projects on art, craft and design.

Artisans’ opened on Thursday with an exhibition of ply-split braiding work by artist Errol Pires, who also teaches at National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. Ply-split braiding is a wool-weaving technique used by Rajasthani artisans to make harnesses for camels. Pires uses the dying craft of zig-zag and intricate weaving patterns to create scarves, dresses and decorative items.

Later this month, there will be an exhibition on the Bihari art of Madhubani painting and a workshop on the art. There will also be an exhibition-cum-sale of fabrics made from natural dyes, hand-crafted woven saris and appliqué work, ahead of Diwali.

“At the core of our establishment is the aim to support long-term craft revival,” said Artisans’ founder Radhi Parekh, a professor at NID. Parekh gave up a job as a visual designer in the US and returned to India in 2008 to set up this dream project in part of her father’s textile trading office.