Papier mache sculptures made by one of my favourite artists Carrie Chau.

Carrie chau

some interesting fibre reads.

Using banana fibre for sanitary pads in africa.

This in an interesting article which shows how the absorbability of banana fibre has been used in the making of cheap yet hygienic sanitary napkins.

Making of the Fibre

The stem of the banana plant is cut and processed. The skin is then peeled off, and fibres are extracted. The extracted fibre is cooked in a big pot of boiling lye, an alkali solution. After cooking for several hours, it is then washed to remove the alkali. Using a tool, the fibre is removed from the skin. Soft fibres are used for weft, while the hard fibres are used for the warp. The fibres are immersed in water and squeezed lightly. They are then separated by running nails along the fibres from the root moving upwards. Individual fibres are joined together to make one continuous thread. This is a tedious and time consuming job requiring much patience.


The extracted fibres are made wet to avoid breaking, and are spun in a spinning wheel. The thread is now dyed steamed and dyed. After dyeing, the thread is laid out according to the design and passed through a temporary reed. The ward is wounded onto the beam and passed through the reed and heddle. The thread is moistened frequently to avoid breaking while weaving. Once the cloth is woven, it is washed, and boiled in an alkali solution. Later it is washed, dried, and neutralized in rice vinegar solution. Finally, the cloth is washed again, dried and ironed.

The machinery that made banana fibre production unique and easy

This article was interesting , as ive been thinking about appropriate technology and how today craft sectors seem to need such technology in order to make their craft viable for any market.

A funny banana story

A Japanese fruit company has been playing Mozart to its ripening bananas, claiming it produces a sweeter product.

The Japan Times reported they arrive as ordinary unripe, and presumably unmusical, fruit from the Philippines at the Toyoka Chuo Seika fruit company. But then their whole existence changes. Mozart’s "String Quartet 17" and "Piano Concerto 5 in D major," among other works, play continuously for one week over speakers in their ripening chamber, the paper said.

A representative from the fruit company, Isamu Okuda, said the company believes it makes the fruit sweeter. And apparently consumers agree -- the “Mozart bananas,” which made their debut last July, are sold locally for the equivalent of $3.60 a bunch and sales are up over last year’s non-music listening bananas.

http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/arch/cloth.html

paper making recipe notes

next step?- thinking out loud

After talking to Roohi I realized that a lot of my understanding of the organization were true and some of my assumptions weren’t. She answered some questions I had and gave me a perspective from an organizational point of view.

- At the scale of SKKK as an organization things get rather complex as you have financial backup, there are targets to reach despite some quality glitches.

Scales make it difficult to produce all the designs and idea that are waiting in line. But the main problem is the lack of time to test the designs and then produce them. She also said that there is no sustained effort to keep things going. One needs a system put into place first.

- a big problem they have are with the cuts and sizes , however they see that locals these days don’t want to get into this vocation (more lucrative mining and other jobs such as engineering etc picking up.) Other trained professionals don’t agree to come to a village like Sandur and work.

- Many of the lambani women shifted vocations when the mining industry became big, but then they realized that the benefits that they got here, the intensity of the work and the steady income at the organization they realized was way more beneficial in the long run. Also the organization valued each member and gave them personal assistance if needed. They wouldn’t be laid off for no reason. The ration scheme is the biggest incentive. The free medical services provided by the organization are supremely underused as people have a notion of free is worthless.

- - beyond providing these schemes and helping the women with advice on financial management, in terms of personal problems , the organization cant do much unless approached. The lambani women seem to have strong cohesive bond and are very helpful to one another.

Roohi seemed to agree with my perspective of the role of the artisan as being a skilled worker, but keeping in mind her role as a value adder to the craft. Over time as the reason or the tradition for the craft changes , and it becomes just a means of livelihood there is a change from artisan to a survivor. There is a need do work, get her wages accordingly and go home and feed children rather than spend time designing and thinking. The artisans’ role has changed over the years from that of designers and creators, to just creators. The changes in lifestyle has declined the use of the traditional craft , so the organization used the dying skill and put it to alternative use to revive the craft.

-At the moment the main questions that are running through my mind are what the role of the artisan is and what kind of intervention a designer can do, without imposing ones self too much on the artisan?

After my visit to Sandur and Anegundi, and learning about the complexities of craft sectors, I feel that working in such environments by carefully planning small workshops would be a good start to getting an insight into these questions.

Considering the time that I have for this project, I feel that Kishkinda trust will be a better place for me to work at, as it is a smaller organization and more open to design experimentation. There will be a small group of women who will work with me and help take the project forward. I will be just a kick starter in a vague sense.

why intervention?

After my first visit to the organization and understanding the local context of the craft, assessing the existing resources, skills and processes as well as the products I realized that there was scope for creating new product lines using new processes and expanding the market range. The organization creates many large products like baskets, boxes, lamps etc, that are good for export markets , but the local shop.Many foreign tourists who come there look for small products and souvenirs that are relevant to their use.

Also I feel there is more possible exploration of the potential of the raw materials to create a different range altogether.

Why small products and souvenirs?

These are easily achievable in a week and a half and are a good way to test simple design. It will pose a challenge in understanding the craft and the materials and also test this understanding, as I will be able to see the success of these products.

Also so far I have had a problem in out sourcing work from others for college projects and always ended up learning the skill myself . This would give me an opportunity to learn how to communicate design in conversation and sketches.

Why paper moulding?

-The fact that the craft that is already existent is making use of waste I find very cool. When we look at the life cycle of the products , they are extremely sustainable. If we can use the same fibre waste to come up with a completely different product and different form, it would be great.

-The women seemed to be excited about the idea of making paper and doing something new.

- it would be an opportunity to experiment with the material, research on existing methods and trying to adapt to the facilities there. (electricity issues , appropriate tech, etc)

- Introducing a new craft and experimenting on it with the women would hopefully bring in ideas for them to innovate. (my assumption based on my experience)

How realistic is the scope for my intervention?

Well considering the time I have, I don’t think trying to set up an enti running paper unit is very realistic. However it helps to have Shama, who is already involved at looking at these design possibilities. I see my role as a research person and someone who could help in forming a system for creating these crafts along with the artisans. I don’t see myself as a full time facilitator . However working with the supervisor and a couple of artisans throughout the experimental process will hopefully give them a sense of ownership to the craft.

I feel a large part of my stay will go into implementing and experimenting the process, product formation may or may not happen in the duration of these two weeks. It will have to be long term interaction. The fact that the kishkinda trust is a small organization and open to experimentation will help in this.

So for me to begin any form of intervention I need to see what are the things I need to keep in mind while designing my intervention.

During this course I would like to use the participatory method in a way that I can provide the skills for the artisans and suggest some product ideas , but keep it open so that there is a lot of exploration and they come with ideas on their own.

While I was at Anegundi, I managed to get a reasonable insight into the following:

- the backgrounds and the lives of the artisans.

- Their involvement level in the craft

- Skills, materials, machinery, markets, resources, traditions

- Existing processes of the craft in terms of materials, processes, technologies and practices.

- Religious practises, social hierarchy and education systems.

- Market research, and what works, where and why.

STAGE ONE: (planning)

a. I need to understand the process of the craft (to design new products)

b. match it to the needs and trends of their market

c. look at functionality, form and match the language to that of the material.

d. look at other innovations that people have done in other parts of the world and bring it into the workshop.

e. See simple thing that have helped other organization in the process.

f. Understand the process of basic and comple paper making and papier mache

g. What are the other materials that can be combined to increase strength, decrease costs and make the process and product more effective?

h. What are the resources used in the process, and what are the issues related to those resources? (water, electricity, storage of fibre etc)

i. Understand nitty grittys like season, what are the dependencies, sun, rain etc.

j. How will the craft be sustained? Is it worth spending all the energy in order to make a product from the waste?

k. Economic factors- how sustainable is it?

l. What is the work force like? Is the process too laborious? Is it worth it?

m. What is the best way of doing it in a manner that can be taken to do mass production as well as keep it simple and effective?

n. What is the available / existent machinery that might help speed up the process?

o. What are the parameters I need to work within?

p. Look at the lifecycle and the hazards related to the product?

q. Where will the resources come from?

r. If we use bleach where is the water disposed?

s. Ways of communicating the process without making it seem restrictive, so that there is room for innovation.

t. Find source, find storage possibilities

u. Time span of the product cycle

STAGE TWO (production):

a. reality check and testing of the basic method

b. how many people to start the workshop with

c. tackling unexpected problems

d. finding solutions/ alternatives to make process more efficient

Things I need to find out when I get there:

the banana fibre I need to think about the coulouring and discolouring of the products.

What are the methods of disposing water after our dyeing.

videos from the thanda

" i searched all over for my lover but didnt find him anywhere. i went here there and everywhere , but didnt find him anywhere."

A group of women at a thanda, enacting and singing the Lambani dance for weddings. Towards the end you can see a glimpse of the tradition of the daughter wailing as she has to leave her mother.

some notes and thoughts

What can be my role as a designer in a craft industry?

Designers I feel can be an interface between tradition and modernity, helping match a craft production to the requirements of contemporary living. Crafts in India seem to still be predominantly cast in the rural shadow, where as the market is becoming increasingly urban if not global.

Working at Sandur made me begin to think very deeply of questions related to what craft is today, what the role of a designer is, and what was and is the role of the artisan. I had always looked at the craft sector from a very superficial point of view. There was always a desire to learn, and find ways of preserving our traditional and other craft forms.

Having read about, and been to several small-scale craft communities (that weren’t connected to an organization), I had slightly different, although not romantic, image of who an artisan was. In my opinion the artisan was the designer, the producer and the marketer all rolled into one. Today the artisan isn't directly in contact with the urban client, and the bulk users. This has taken away from him being able to be any of these three. He is no longer attuned to the wants and tastes of the consumers. One can see a similar case in Sandur. Because of this change in market and the needs of the customer, a designer comes in help to bridge this gap- the artisan now becomes a skilled labourer. Mechanically producing designs given to him or her, one after the other.

In Sandur especially I began to think ‘what the craft means to the artisan today’?

In most cases I think, craft started on a small scale where things they made were bartered, or made for personal use. Or are sold for a small amount in the local market. Over the years as industrialization has led to a massive boom in production. Way cheaper, industrially produced replacements for the craft have come into the market. There is such a variety – all cheaper. The craft being at a high threat from these, is suddenly looked at in terms of money- and when looked at this way, the craft is way more expensive than the cheap, industrially produced replacement. So this means that the client changes to wealthier possibly urban person.

For the Lambani women their kashida was for themselves, to create beautiful aesthetic pieces for when they got married. Over time , with changes in the environment and lives of the Lambani, as they migrated and adapted to other cultures, this tradition has changed. Also today with busier lives and changes in vocations, this tradition would be expensive and inconvenient for them to follow.

The dyeing craft needs to be saved, the context and market is suddenly changing so much that someone like a designer needs to step in here.

It is important to look at socio cultural and economic aspects before we can begin intervention.

“Taking the craft out of its culture objectifies it.”

The whole beauty of craft is that each piece produced is unique and an expression of the artisan. Craft production cannot be mechanical, each product is expression of his or her own creativity and has a unique cultural identity. Generally traditional crafts have been usually developed gradually in a particular context and evolving in response to changes in the needs if a particular society.

In the case of Lambani kashida, this was a ritualistic craft. Its meaning is irrelevant today and so a change in cultural practices have led to the death of the ritual that the craft was originally used for. What is the best way preserving this craft? What are these parameters when it comes to Lambani craft? Has taking the craft out of its context objectified it?

After working with the Lambani women, I feel that there is critical need for designs, motifs and techniques to be documented. Artisans have a record of their craft in their minds and their fingers. Hence there is a real danger of motifs, designs, and traditions dying out due to changes in the environment and lives, underuse or even the death of a specific artisan group. I remember coming across 3 or 4 families in Kutch, each had only two or three people involved in the craft, and who were the only ones in the world who knew it. The fact that craft traditions are oral traditions makes their documentation important.

For instance, when I came back I did some research on the Lambani , and I it is said that they were very closely connected to the Banjara community in Rajasthan. The Banjaras I know have very rich tradition of stories and motifs in their craft. Today the Lambani don’t remember any, but something makes me believe that they too had a whole lot of these. I can’t stand here and judge saying that this loss is bad, however personally I think it’s a sad loss.

Working at the Sandur Kushala Kala Kendra made me think of this distance between the artisan and the client.

Today the scale of production has changed drastically too. The artisan needs to, using his traditional skill and tools, cater too bulk orders, deadlines and someone elses aesthetics. Once, the aesthetic was natural, today it is imposed upon him by the designer. This is in some ways small scale, planned industrialization. The client and artisan are separated by large distances- they don't speak the same language both physically and metaphorically. They have no association.

The designer tries to bring about this association through workshops and exhibitions sometimes, but the disparity seems to be very large.

“When design is saved for a professional designer and the craft is relegated to the artisan, the latter is left as nothing but a skilled worker”. I felt this very strongly while I was at Sandur. The artisans themselves felt such alienation to their craft that there was no personal interaction with it. Each stitch was theirs, but the forms the stitches created they had no feeling for. The new colours, the materials the textures and especially the new forms, didn’t speak to them.

Gowri bai said to me, “ I dont like these colours at all. We would never wear these colours, they are so dull! I don’t why these city people like such colours. Designers come and give these to us, and we just use them.” Would you like to add your own design and colours and then sell it? “ No one would buy our colours. And we don’t have the time or know how to design. Id rather come here, stitch what they tell me to and get my money.”

For someone who has this distance with the craft and the client how does the designer facilitate creativity? What is the best way to do so? How can the designer unleash the creativity of the artisan while making himself invisible?

What is the priority - the pressing need of conserving just the physical craft, even if it means alienating it from the artisans themselves, or trying to slowly in the long run re-create a local market and slowly bring craft back into their lives?

Im not sure how this can done, but a possibility could be that the designer can make the craft more viable using cost effective and sustainable technologies, methods materials and tools and processes that act as value addition to the craft.

He or she can help select or reject from traditional and contemporary experiences. There definitely need to be changes in craft if it is to be economically viable and user based.

For example at Anegundi , they have created a very simple slicer using blades, as a substitute for hand tearing, to ensure that all the barana fibre strips are of equal width. This brings about a uniformity and consistence in the product- giving it a better finish and making it a more viable product to sell. Using appropriate technology we can simple and least expensive ways to make processes simpler and faster. These need to be sustainable and efficient in the long run and as well as specific to the local conditions.

notes for participatory mapping in the pottery town (cox town)

Krupa suggested that i do participatory mapping of a community that works from their place of residence. I was to look at and map the following :

a. roles played by men and women
b. space mapping for family and for livelihood
c. economic and political pressures on the community
d. link between this community and the neighbourhood

To begin thinking of the various tools i could use for mapping the community, i needed a starting point. In this case, having visited the locality a couple time before and having interacted with one of the families, i felt that a reasonably good starting point could be to note down my assumptions of what problems the community could be facing to do with each of these areas. This would help me initiate conversations and questions that would them lead to new unthought of realms or even break my preconceptions.

However, as i went deeper into the planning i realised that three days is just not enough to want to set out doing reasearch in a participatory manner. How would i be helping the society? Was i just going to be doing one of those college projects where you go into a community, ask people questions, take their time, but come back and do nothing with it? Would people trust me and offer "real" and personal information if im not really there to help them? Does it make sense to do it? i began to feel uncomfortable to approach the community.

However i ran some ideas for the activities through my head.

The pottery town is a busy place and i wouldnt really be able to get a group of people for an activity at the same time. So the best way would probably be to do the research with a sample of the community, in smaller groups. Maybe 3 men, 3 women from different age groups, and 3 children.

Other than the specific activities, it would also be important to notice body language, general personality and behaviour, and possibly clues from their interaction and conversations with others along the way- these are more likely to be "real" and instinctive.

To keep the activities short and simple, yet to give me a reasonable understanding of the community these are some of the activities that i thought of.

a. role played men and women

Activity- A day in the life of/ role play.

I would create a brief persona of someone (ie someone who lives in one of the houses here) of the opposite sex and ask them to tell me what a day in the life of that person would be like. During the activity i would give them scenarios to find out details of the roles played in terms of decision making, freedom to expression and doing etc.

Some possible questions for a 35-50 yr man role playing for a woman of a younger age (would possibly give me what a man thinks an ideal female's role is);

- You have just finished your 2nd PUc and want to go study in a college on the other side of town, how would you tell your parents and what do you think they will say?

-When would you want to get married and when will your father want you to get married..and mother?

-Would you be allowed to work after marriage?

This activity would be ideal in a mixed group of men and women. Making a male play the role of of a women while having other woman around is likely to bring about agreements and disagreements based on how truthful he is about accepting the negatives and positives of the role a man like him plays. Hopefully it will also make him more sensitive to how this role.

Also the fact that he is just role playing will hopefully make it more fun and he might shed his inhibition.

I would construct similar questions for a middle aged woman, a young woman, a young man, and two children. Children would be important as they are likely notice little things are less inhibit-ant most often. The role plays would subtly address alcoholism, suppression and other issues mentioned in the mind maps, with the use of mild questions.

It may not be possible to this activity in a large group but generally in the workshops in the pottery town one tends to find a mixed bunch of people, i will try finding groups like this.

b. space mapping for family and for livelihood and

c. economic and political pressures on the community

There were a couple of ideas that came up for this- sketch mapping and then pointing things that they would like to change, and a village walk.

This activity would be ideal when done in a large representative group, as it would bring out many issues.

Also here it would be important to distinguish between the needs of the community and the wants of an individual.

It would be slightly tough to get a large bunch of people together and to get some who would be willing to spend time mapping the place out- hence i feel a quick village walk would be the best. (again im skeptical as to why someone should be spending time taking me around and pointing all the issues if im going to be helping them in someway!!)

During this walk i would ask them to talk about the layout of the community, what are things they have been waiting to change and why they havn't changed. What are the pressing pressures? and based on my mind map ask questions for them bring out the various spatial issues. Depending on how the walk goes, either during the course of the walk

or after i would need to go into some of the workshops to ask individuals what they feel. I would feed off the issues that the people who take me on the walk mention to find out the weight of the issue and how universal it is for the community. The individuals would also be able to give me an insight into the family space mapping.

A good way to record this activity would be video and audio interview recording.

Since in this activity i will be looking at issues at the family and community level it would give me a lead into the next mapping exercise of looking at economic and political pressures.Questions of why things haven't changed, and what the govt policies are , why hasn't the govt helped etc, will be very useful to understand the economic and political issues. hence i feel i can club the two activities.

Here i would also find out about facilities such as hospitals and schools- relate these to finances and govt policies.

d. link between this community and the neighborhood

For this activity i thought i could give the representative group a map of the locality and the neighborhood. Each member could mark the interactions they have with the surrounding areas. I would give example from the mind map of the type of interactions and ask them to come up with all the other ones that they could think of. I would give them symbols that they could use for the basic ones and ask them to come up with more for the others they add.

They would have to draw the symbol roughly on the map to mark the interaction.

Eg.

where do they get clay from?

What do you think is over here (pointing to the map)? have you been there? what do you go there for?

where do you go for medical help?

where does your child go to school? etc.

Using Participatory Photo Mapping (PPM) to Engage Communities - Part 1

Dr. Robert Chambers elaborates on Participatory GIS (PGIS) practice

Map making at the community level can be a very empowering tool in securing land

rights. Locally-produced maps present a collective expression by the community of

their entitlements, and have been used successfully in many contexts to persuade

decision makers of the legitimacy of local claims to land and natural resources.

For populations that have been marginal to national political and economic

processes, creating maps of ‘their’ lands has been a means not only to validate

their land claims, but also to becoming more powerful in espressing and defending

their rights within national processes. Legal recognition of rights is thus often only

one of a series of outcomes of community-based mapping. Increased community

pride and cohesion, ability to influence policy, sounder natural resource

management, and a greater political voice can be equally important outcomes.

These are all important milestones towards enabling people to more actively decide

what ‘development’ should mean in their own communities and territories.

Bruce H. Moore

Director,

ILC Secretariat

Maps are more than pieces of paper. they are stories, conversations, lives and songs lived out in a place and are inseparable from the political and cultural contexts in which they are used."

Warren, 2004

Participatory mapping can be used as a tool for development intervention. It can be a great means of a community understanding its internal systems, its relationship with its environment, and its relationship with the larger world, in an in depth way. it has allowed for improved information exchange between community members and outsiders such as researchers,NGOs, government, but is especially helpful in the design intervention and the implementation of development in projects. However, participatory mapping isn't just restricted to this. It can also be a powerful tool for collaboration between communities and other groups. It can bring about an awareness of land and natural resources, and can facilitate the management of these resources. This form of mapping is done for the people and by the people, and enables them to actively express, inquire the purposes and outcomes of their studies. It gives them awareness of the realities of their lives and to plan what action to take and to monitor and evaluate the results. This method seems to be more likely to be effective as it involves the first hand, active involvement of the concerned community and is more likely to have longer last lasting, constantly evolving results- suited to the needs. It can also bring about the sharing of knowledge amongst the members, bring cohesion.

Participatory mapping provides a valuable visual representation of what a community perceives as its place and the significant features within- (geographic info, social, cultural and historical knowledge land use occupancy and mythology demography etc). Through it also emerges hidden knowledge, for instance , things that are drowned in people's memory- this is converted into explicit and externally-usable knowledge. It can be used as a tool to pass historical knowledge down through generations, hence, keeping alive cultural identity.

Participatory mapping involves a slightly different form of research than conventional mapping research, which treats people as objects rather than subjects. In the former, people are active participants in the collection of data and analysis. The knowledge that is created is of help to them and speaks about their lives. The research and action is directly connected to them. There is an authentification of data and stories as it is personal to them- it come from first hand sources.It is a democratic process in some sense that allows the incorporation of community values, the improving of decisions, and the building of consensus.

In a participatory method, a designer can help not only by assisting in research, analyzing the content and systemising knowledge, but can also contribute by linking the local situation to the larger external situation. He can form links and give access to external information pools. A designer can provide the "support and skills for communities to create maps themselves… determine the ownership of the map as well as raise awareness." although through the exercise communities evaluate their lives and environment, the designer can help them understand the value that others assign to the same. This is important while looking at development.

Participatory mapping has been and can be used to solve or bring awareness to various issues such as, transport development, land use issues, resource optimization, information related to land use and and as mentioned earlier, mythology even! The fact that the tools for this form of mapping are flexible enable this. Tools often used include mental mapping, ground mapping, sketch mapping, transect mapping, 3d mapping, interviews, videos, stories, audios etc. Some quick maps are even made with chalk on the ground! More technologically advanced tools include Global positioning system (GPS), aerial photos and remote sensing satellites, GIS etc. These are more expensive methods and often require training.

Generally interviews, conversations and sketch maps are good beginning point, this could lead into 2d,3d or technological mapping. Whatever the tools maybe, it is the participatory process of gathering information, collating, analyzing and enabling action, which is is also important.

Quick two day exercise of mapping Belur −2009

participatory workshops

Participatory workshops in my understanding are active learning environments that are based on activities that help supporting and bringing out creativity in the participants.The interactions help participants broaden their vision and the tasks help them create new expressions. Working together, the facilitators and the participants have an exchange of learning. The former learns about the existing skills, working environments and areas that he/she can help bringing innovation to.

Participatory workshop are especially helpful and useful in craft NGO sectors. Often in setups such as Sandur and Anegundi, the artisans are self trained or trained by their families. It is a form of livelihood for them rather than a vocation or hobby, hence design innovation is limited and mechanical production is given priority. This leads to a stagnancy in product lines. Also a lack of exposure and familiarity of the users, who are in distant cities, brings about disconnect between the products and the requirements of the market. This is where designers and participatory workshops can play a big role in bringing innovation. The activities provide a forum for identifying and discussing issues. They give users a voice in the design process, thus increasing the probability of a usable design. Here there is an opportunity for developers to meet, work with and understand their users personally.

A platform is created where there is the artisan is given the importance of a designer, and new design processes are introduced to them.

Preparing for a workshop- a few notes

This would include a thorough understanding of the systems that are currently in place, and identifying issues and possible solutions. These may not be the final solutions , but they will help to conduct the workshops. The workshops will be a good place to break down assumptions and bring about solutions from the artisans themselves.

Based on the problems perceived, the next step could be to think of activities. It is important to be clear about the techniques and the purpose of each activity. It is also important to know all the participants and create a comfortable working environment before beginning the activity.

Keeping personal log books for each of them will help them record their design process and see assess the impact of the workshop.