When tradition meets the market

The concept of a ‘bazaar’

The SWRC-Barefoot College started working with crafts in 1974. The craft section of Barefoot College later became Hatheli Sansthan, an independent registered non-profit society in 1992. The story began when the first Tilonia Bazaar was exhibited in Triveni Kala Sangam in Delhi in 1975 encouraged by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, Pupul Jayakar, Shona Ray and many others. Tilonia Bazaar was one of the first concepts through which rural crafts found a way to connect to the urban India and the market. The Bazaar helped in establishing craft as an integral part of people’s development. Now the ‘Bazaar’/haat is a popular concept, enabling lakhs of crafts persons to find alternative markets in India.

With leather, the stench from bag tanning was used as rationalization for continuing with untouchability.The “Regars”, traditional leather workers, finally settled for buying EI tanned hide from Ajmer, Agra, Kanpur and Ahmedabad. Designs were changed. A whole range of designers came and went, building the archives with the rural craftspersons.

They learnt both about the process of design and catering to a new market. This new aesthetic proved marketable and was sustained by the enthusiasm of the urban buyer and later by young people wanting to learn about their traditions and contribute to the common heritage. The leather workers, now independent producers, have found their markets and, like the Harmara leather workers, have an abundance of orders. Their work and finish has reached market standards.

Hatheli crafts in Tiloniais women centric. Appliqué, Handicrafts Garments and sewing are acquired skills: traditional tailoring was restricted to a caste. The beautiful block prints, appliqué, thread work, bandhej(tie and dye) and now hand woven fabric from our in-house looms and also from other co-operatives have become the basic material for women’s, men’s and children’s garments.

We are connected with 5 districts and 48 villages of Rajasthan with a diverse group of artisans across community lines employing 250 artisans out of which around 235 are women who have been trained in various crafts.The number of craftspersons working now with Tilonia does not reflect all those trained or those who have benefited from the process.

There is a distinct and palpable change for the better, in the lives of the craftpersons who continue to use combination of design, finance and marketing. Women however continue to be unskilled in marketing. They come either from working class or Dalit groups where no handicraft skill exists, or from socially oppressed groups in purdah like the Rajputs and the Muslims. In associating with Tilonia’s craft work, the women have acquired craft skills, enough to earn supplementary incomes. They have been encouraged to understand banks deposits, acquire a minimum functional literary, the functioning of their local panchayats and understanding issues of health.

Hatheli is an independent registered society and has managed to invest its resources in building an economic stability for the craftspersons and women. It has a reputation for working with worker management and expertise on the job, carrying the barefoot approach into the production and marketing of handicrafts. The income from its sales is reinvested into capital for the continuation of the process and also for supporting some activities on campus.

Tilonia Bazaar is the blend of tradition and modernity. In a manner in which the core values of traditional crafts is sought to be kept alive while catering to demands of contemporary life. We have two outlets/shops, one in the Barefoot New Campus and the other at Patan, on the Jaipur- Ajmer NH8 highway.