How This Kutch Non-Profit's Crafts Are Winning Hearts Everywhere

When the Kala Raksha Trust was formed in 1993 to preserve the culture of the ethnic communities living in Kutch, India, the organisation could scarcely have imagined that one day they would be presenting trunk shows at American institutions like the Peabody Museum at Harvard University and the Smithsonian. But, that is exactly what has transpired for this small non-profit.

By supporting more than 1,000 women artisans in 25 villages who incorporate their traditional art into designing contemporary apparel and bags, Kala Raksha’s unique and vibrant products have achieved widespread popularity and appreciation in the intensely competitive market for Kutch crafts. For instance, look no further than their beautiful fabric board games which were recently exhibited at the Ewha Womens University in Seoul, South Korea.

These board games come in seven different varieties: the “ashta chamma,” “chopad,” “nav kankri” (nine stones), chess, snakes and ladders, checkers, and “vagh aur bakri” (tigers and goats). The “ashta chamma” is a 2-4 player game which has been designed using Jat embroidery techniques on natural cotton; “chopad” is a cross and circle game similar to pachisi and ludo; “nav kankri” is similar to the strategic game of nine men's morris; the handmade chess figurines are played on a patchwork chess board made of naturally dyed cotton; the patchwork and appliqué of the snakes and ladders board consists of four leather players and a wooden dice; the checkers patchwork board comes with 24 beaded players in two colours; and the “vagh aur bakri” is a strategic two-player game that comes with four tiger pieces and one toy goat.

Spanning embroidery, appliqué, leather and pottery techniques in the creation of the board games, it is no wonder that they have proved to be immensely popular with children and adults alike. In fact, the Kala Raksha Trust received the Crafts Council of India’s 2004 Sanmaan Award in the Best Game category for their snakes and ladders offering. Prices for the games begin from INR 1,740 and reach up to INR 8,850. All games come with instructions on how to play them.

Mukesh Bhanani is a project coordinator at the Kala Raksha Trust and has been instrumental to the organisation’s success. He says that traditional Indian board games not only provided entertainment but also served as a means of preserving cultural heritage and passing it down to future generations. “The mythological themes and stories depicted in these games helped to keep ancient legends and myths alive, and the handmade nature of these games added an extra layer of cultural significance,” he says.

“Our aim is to revive traditional techniques and innovate upon them to bring new life to these classic games. By combining traditional craftsmanship with modern innovations, Kala Raksha is helping to preserve India's rich cultural heritage and make it more accessible to new audiences. In many Indian metropolitan areas, we have built up brand recognition through direct sale exhibitions and our client base is made up of middle- to high-income earners who are conscious of environmental and fair trade issues.”

Since the founding of the non-profit by Prakash Bhanani, Dayaben Bhanani, Judy Frater and the local artisans, the Kala Raksha Trust has strived to improve the capacity-building, educational, and financial resources of the craftspeople and their communities. They have conducted design workshops with reputed designers over the past 21 years for their artisans, and held functional literacy workshops as well as preventive health care and education workshops on microcredit. After the devastating 2001 Bhuj earthquake which killed at least 13,000 people, the organisation stepped in to help its workers by raising funds to reconstruct an entire village made up of 124 homes and three artisanal centres.

To further uplift the local communities and ensure the longevity of their livelihoods, the Kala Raksha Trust opened a resource centre, museum and an educational institute called the Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya. The artisans themselves are responsible for maintaining the museum's collections. They were involved in all phases of its development and assisted with the collection, documentation and layout of the permanent exhibition. The experience demonstrated the mutual benefits of involving communities in presenting and utilising their own cultures.

Meanwhile, the Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya (KRV) was launched in 2005 as a design school for artisans in India. They were financially supported by the Indian government’s Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) office, UNESCO and private donors in this effort. The educational institution, whose environment, curriculum and methodology is designed to be appropriate for traditional artisans, models a new approach to the rejuvenation of traditional arts. As a sign of how seriously they want to improve the quality of their teaching, a new curriculum is in the works that will include information about courting markets and new avenues, pursuing collaboration opportunities with established designers and design houses, and building partnerships with key institutions and organisations that will upskill the artisans and benefit them economically. The overhaul came after 122 artisans who completed the one-year course noticed that there was a gap between the market and the products they made.

As demand for Kala Raksha’s products continues to grow in India and abroad, they are busy planning their next moves. They will launch an online shop for KRV alumni and students to reach out to clients across the world; host residencies for visual artists, designers and traditional artisans from India and abroad to collaboratively train under the craftspeople of Kutch; forge collaborations with universities and educational institutions across the world to create exchange programs and workshops; and partner with well-established art and craft spaces, stores and exhibition venues across the country to showcase KRV’s products.