‘Be true to yourself and your roots and celebrate with handmade beauty this Diwali’
India’s leading design professional and thinker, Rajeev Sethi, is a Padma Bhushan awardee and known globally for his contribution towards preserving the rich cultural heritage of Indian subcontinent.
Recently he curated the “Jiyo” outreach program, supported by the Japan Social Development Fund and monitored by the World Bank to showcase innovation in rural India and to prove to the world, what “Village India” can do for the urban markets, both inside and outside India and even the hi-end luxury markets.
This empowering programme for the rural skilled poor was all about creating inclusive business models for the marginalized tribal communities of Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh where the artisans made handicraft items. The highlight was handmade products of village artisans but espe- cially “the innovation in lights” - lamps were created in Gond art or Mandla pottery from Madhya Pradesh, the Tolu bomlatha or leather puppet forms were transformed into beautiful lamp shades while the sikki grass that grows in marshy areas in Mithila, dyed in colour was creatively used to create home décor objects.
A few years back Sethi did the much-acclaimed Diwali series with Louis Vuitton creating a thousand window displays round the world. He shares some tips on how to keep essence of Diwali alive in one’s home. Edited excerpts: I think the rural man or woman possess multiple skills that are not taught in schools. These skills can create a vocabulary of goods and services that have no equivalent in machine and cannot be reproduced by so-called artificial intelligence. When an Indian produces Information Tech- nology (IT), he is doing somebody else’s homework. However when he does things which are within his own control, vis-a-vis the material, the skill, the context in which he is working, then he creates original content. And in a knowledge society, original content is everything. If you are talking architecture or design, there is one thing you can put that is factory made and there are only a few things that are made by hand and have that character. Only rural India in the entire world possesses those skills today. The first thing is to have a clean home and before that a clean conscience and a clear insight. If your body and mind is clear, the cleanliness will appear in the home as well. That light inside will shine outside and everywhere. Coming to the home specifically, I strongly feel that you must, in whatever way, bring these amazing symbols of the goddess into your door. Also, please hang real leaves and real flowers that are beloved to the Goddess and not plastic torans from China.
You must reach out to your neighbours not just with goodness but with gifts that are handmade. Please don’t recycle things that are made by machine.
Instead spread cheer and happiness in giving gifts that are made by people who are less privileged. If you are giving handmade gift you are helping others to improve the quality of their lives and that is what Diwali is all aboutinvesting to spread cheer into other’s life. Light is a source of energy, it’s a source of renewal, happiness and belief. I believe we should find the most innovative ways of lighting every corner of our home.
If this can be done with design-led products which are made by hand by skilled poor in villages with paper, bamboo, grass, please go ahead and invest in them. Put them out in every part of your home. With the happiness they give you, they will give happiness to another person’s house. And that is the spirit of Diwali, “sharing”.
Talking about innovation in lights, our first exhibition for all these lights called Unnain was in a village called Baripada. In that area called Mayurbhanj where there is no electricity we took lamps and lights so they could get a sense of pride what they are making and who they are making for. The main purpose of what we are trying to do here is to show what village India can make for themselves, for urban youth for the global and hi end markets.
The products vary from lampshade with Ikat design to Kalamkari, paper mache lamps with Gond art, sabai grass craft, origami leather lights etc. At an intangible level, I would say add honesty to your relationships. At a tangible level surround yourself with handmade beauty.
If it’s made by somebody else’ hand, good and if it’s by a skilled poor, even better but if it’s made by your own hand, it’s the best- it is “Sone pe suhaga” and I am not able to find the English equivalent of this idiom. In my time, my grandmother knew strains of ninety six colours. Today we know that there are seven kinds of white and as many types of black. So colour does not mean colourful. It can be also very subtle, very nuanced and minimal. Colour is a very individual celebration and its combinations are even more individualistic. I feel there is nothing like Indian colours and the word Indian is loaded. I would refer to whatever is true to you, as being the source of your celebration. I am not going to give a colour scheme for Diwali. Instead I would just say that be true to yourself and your roots. Identity is everything – if an international brand can do a Diwali series, what is stopping us Indians from paying tribute to this wonderful festival in our own way.