Role of Craft & Technology in Interior-Architecture

Prof. Ar. Smriti Saraswat

Hello everyone. Today we will have the next module of the course Role of Craft and
Technology in Interior-Architecture. This is module 2 and it deals with craft what is its
definition, what do we understand from this term, and what are the varied perspectives
on art and craft, are they the same things they are different, let us just see. So, the
contents for this module today we start with craft – meaning, definition, understanding.

(Refer Slide Time: 00:56)

Varied perspectives on art and craft, craft - classification and examples; Then we will
traverse a little bit through the history of Indian crafts. We will also have a look at craft
maps of India. Then few movements in history of arts and crafts what are the current
challenges that we face and then few references.
So, what is craft? It is not a very easy term and it is not yet difficult it is just that
sometimes we do not observe or we do not put things around us in proper words. So, lot
of people use art for craft, craft for art and lot of us might not even know what exactly
craft is all about. So, to understand this term, because it is very important for a course
like this where one of the nodes is craft and technology, we need to understand what is
craft.

(Refer Slide Time: 01:54)

Now, this is where infographic that I had prepared if we see this closely and I will stay
on the slide for a while, so that everybody can have a closer look. This clearly shows that
craft has been the centre of many socially driven initiatives, it has enjoyed an
extraordinary locus when we talk about the fields of design, visual art, architecture.

So, if we see craft, craft could be associated to so many things with surround us it is
something which is very universal yet at the same times it would be something which is
very personal. It is very multidisciplinary, it could belong to the elite, it could belong to
the popular when we talk about craft we connoted to arts and crafts movement that I
have happened in history, it also has some link with the interior architecture that we are
going to see throughout this course.
When we talk about craft there is also a mention of indigenous, locality. There is very
much a talk about materials and skills and craft persons. Then there is something called
is creative economy maybe we will just come across it later. It also makes us talk about
or believe in ethnicity, morality, domesticity.

Craft is about communication, story telling, process, traditions, vernacular. So, if we see
over here we could understand the kind of challenge one would face while talking about
craft, trying to define it, describe it. So, much that surrounds us like almost everything
that has a mention of craft do it. So, we will slowly and fold and see what many people
have defined it as, how do they perceive it as, what kind of activities do we associate to
when we talk about craft. So, let us just unfold all of it.

Going by an initial definition which is given by the director at the craft council UK and
initial definition of craft means objects made for use. Like very simply the objects made
for use.

(Refer Slide Time: 04:11)

Such as a cup for drinking or a chair for sitting, before commercial manufacturing these
objects were made by hand and the techniques for creating them one learn through
family, a community traditions, all occasionally through an apprenticeship program with
master artisans. So, usually these traditions and these learning methods and skills they
were transferred from a one generation to another, and it was like a family tradition.

Craft also refers to the manual dexterity and artistic skill which is required in working
with materials and in creating objects that can be ornamental or functional or both. So, it
usually involves materials, making and it involves community traditions that are
transferred from generation to generation and it involves a utility, it is made for use.

(Refer Slide Time: 05:24)

So, craft could be referred to as making and the processes which are involved during
making of something. It is a very wide term and like I was discussing few slides ago. It
just encompasses almost everything that surrounds us.
(Refer Slide Time: 05:44)

Another definition which is given by Dr. Nichola Houghton; “Craft is the development
of practical, aesthetic and thinking skills and of creativity through the conception and
production of individual works and an in-depth engagement with materials.” Here also
what we see in-depth engagement with material. So, material a very very primary focus
when we talk about craft, and related to materials we would talk about skills, and these
skills belong to certain guild of people, some craft person, some artisans.

(Refer Slide Time: 06:20)

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Another definition, “Craft can be considered as the designing and making of individual
artefacts, encouraging the development of intellectual, creative and practical skills,
visual sensitivity and a working knowledge of tools and materials.”

So, again we say another word tools. So, when we talk about materials and skills they
will be tools, there will be techniques, the entire process. So, this vocabulary we have to
build on we have to stay with this and we have to see how everything is encompassed
within this umbrella term called craft. This definition or understanding or description is
given by making connections toolkit makers and making. Few other perspectives or few
other definitions we can just have a glimpse through these also.

(Refer Slide Time: 07:25)

Many try to define craft through materials or disciplines or a combination of the two, for
example: wood, jewellery, furniture, weaving, ceramics. So, if I talk about wood that is a
material, if I talk about furniture, furniture craft, so, material and craft.

Same way if I talk about material stone is a material in carving could be a stone craft.
For some craft is about making objects predominantly by hand. So, we also have this
word now handmade. We are functional and aesthetic considerations are equally
important. So, while it is aesthetically pleasing, visually appealing it also has a function
to cater to that is what most of the people tell about craft and how it distinguishes it from
other artistic activities. Let us go ahead, now let us talk in the context of India.

So, our own Vastu Sutra Upanishad how does it tell about Indian crafts? In India unlike

in Europe no principle distinction is made between fine arts and practical crafts.

(Refer Slide Time: 08:35)

All handiwork that is manufactured is shilpa. So, we see this word shilpa which comes
from Indian history it is there in our scriptures and epics. From painting, sculpture,
architecture to pottery, weaving, mechanics, engineering, metal casting, leather work and
perfumery.

The term is also applicable to dance, music, poetry, drama and medicine. With respect to
Indian stone craft shilpa covers the fine arts, through sculpture, architecture design and
production methods. The letter include the skills of carving and masonry. This proves
that the evolution of Indian craft, art and construction were connected. Now, this is very
important this tells us that Indian craft art construction were very interconnected in fact,
architecture interior architecture interior design all of these are relatively very new
disciplines.

Earlier there was no subject or a fields like this, everything was like a shilpa we
depended on a shilpakar we dependent on stapathis. So, those were the different kinds of
methods and different kinds of sciences that were involved, but the same which we have
now transcended into the modern disciplines of architecture, interior architecture, design,
interior design.

Continuing with this because of the traditional caste system it translated into a system of
guilds, such a fundamental association between architecture and the fine arts led to the
design and sculptural ornamentation of traditional monuments. The fusion with the
Islamic tradition further strengthened this language.

(Refer Slide Time: 10:40)

Now, is craft and art are they same, are different, are they similar? When do we use a
term called art? When do we use a term called craft? What are the hairline differences
between them or are they completely two different ways of describing some activities or
processes. Let us just dwell into that.
(Refer Slide Time: 11:08)

So, one definition or in understanding that is given by Howard Becker, “ ‘Art’ and ‘craft’
are two contrasting kinds of aesthetic, work organisation and work ideology, different in
their emphasis on the standards of utility, skill and beauty. Now, this is important. He
talks that both of these terminologies differ quite a lot as far as their standards of utility
skill and beauty are considered. Activities organised as craft can become art when
members of established art worlds take over their media, techniques and organisation.

So, he further also tells when can craft become art. We still are very away from
understanding the primary difference between the two. So, let us just delve more into
this discussion and let us see what art and craft are all about.
(Refer Slide Time: 12:04)

So, art is the expression or application of human creative skill, and imagination typically
in a visual form, such as painting or sculpture producing works to be appreciated
primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

This is one understanding on art that it is majorly an expression it deals with

(Refer Slide Time: 12:55)

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There is another definition I could not trace who has said this it is probably anonymous.
“Art is a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities. Art has
had a great number of different functions throughout its history, making its purpose
difficult to abstract or quantify to any single concept.” So, this caller does recognise the
purpose and the utility attached to art, but also says that it is very difficult to quantify on
measure it.

(Refer Slide Time: 13:18)

This is one very interesting slide and I find it very fascinating. Here if we see this you
see a chimpanzee we see he is cracking a nut with the stone. So, what I am trying to say
here is that mostly all the craft have emerged out of needs. We needed something and we
had to make something, we had to create something and we involved certain material,
certain skill sets and hence it led to the creation.

So, craft emerged out of needs and most of the scholars and the people who have
immense knowledge in this field of craft, they say that craft is something that emerged
out of needs, whether it is to do with Indian scenario or it is to deal with other places
globally. But this is one unanimous understanding about craft that it emerges out of
needs.
So, starting from cracking nuts to creating stone tools for hunting to creating shelter and
then ornamentation in the form of carving, slowly and slowly as our needs increase, as
our skill sets developed we started with the material and then we explored it in various
different forms in different dimensions, in different walks of our lives.

(Refer Slide Time: 14:45)

Now, about art, this is a very famous painting from a very famous artist Jamini Roy and
again here for art most of the scholars and most of the literature emphasises that art
emerges more like expression from personal experiences and not so much out of need or
utility. So, it is usually non utilitarian. But all these perspectives and definitions and
discussions that we are going through there is lot of debate still going on and lot of
people still think that art and craft have very blur boundaries and they are more or less
same.

At the same time most of the people and the scholars believe that the boundaries have to
be maintained and art cannot be craft and vice versa. So, we can probably explore
through all the modules and try to develop an understanding for our own cells as we see
all these perspectives, images, explanations and the discourses that we have throughout.

Now, I would just leave those perspectives about art and craft till that point because as I
said it could be very challenging and confusing to have a very clear understanding and
specially after this module itself when we had a very little discussion about it. So, let us
just explore across through other modules also.

So, we will focus now on varied classification of the word called craft and certain

examples that will help us understand what basically craft is about where all is it applied.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:27)

These are the varied classification. Now, just a few slides ago we were discussing that
most of the times crafts are defined through varied materials. So, if you see the slide lot
of the crafts that are described over here or mentioned over here they are basically define
through materials itself, which is a very practical way of classifying craft because as we
had been discussing, that there is always a role of a material and then the associated
skills and the tools and the techniques. So, it becomes very easier to understand craft in
terms of the material.

So, if we see over here again this is not a very exhaustive list, but lot many of the crafts
which have been described over here ceramics and glass crafts, fibre and textile crafts,
flower crafts, leather work, mixed media, needlework, there are paper crafts, origami, we
have wood craft, furniture crafts within wood also there are ’n' number of craft
techniques there is parquetry, there is marquetry, there is carving, there is inlay, then
stone crafts. Again within stone craft there is whole lot of set of techniques stone inlay,
stone carving, then we have metal crafts bell making and so many others.

We could also classify crafts in terms of there purpose, function or connotation. So, we
could have a classification like ritualistic crafts, hobby crafts, votive crafts. So, if we talk
about terracotta specially it was actually practice as a votive crafts later it became
something utilitarian and then it extended into the domain of interior architecture. So,
then we have utilitarian crafts.

Now, this is this classification is borrowed from literature, but here again the wonder
when we say that craft is something which is made for use which has a utility do we
really need to put this specific classification like utilitarian craft. So, we can question
this. Everything does not have to be very sacrosanct (Refer Time: 18:42). Rural crafts,
urban crafts, folk crafts, decorative crafts, ornamental crafts, so there is a long list and as
we discover and learn more each one of us could add to this list and we can have our
own understanding about the topic and the discipline.

(Refer Slide Time: 19:02)

These are examples of the stone crafts, and these are very historical monuments which

are very famous in Indian history. And we see lot of sculptures and carving weather it is
a step well or it is a Meenakshi temple which is in the south or we have the sculptures of
Khajuraho.

We see very exquisite works over here, lot of skills, lot of handwork involved, lot of
sense of scale and proportion and aesthetic. So, all of this here which is done by hand
and which has certain meaning and utility, all these monuments the examples that we see
in the history of architecture of India they are still talked about we still learn from them
and the material the technique the skills that were used in those times there is so much to
carry forward.

(Refer Slide Time: 20:01)

This is another slide that talks about the wood carvings in Uttarakhand. So, here if we
see the carvings, now Uttarakhand is known for its timber and their varied locally
available woods like Tun, Thunair (Refer Time: 20:11) which really allow for very very
exquisite carving.
(Refer Slide Time: 20:19)

Now, again this is a slide that talks about the textile craft of Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand is
known for its textiles also, specially Bageshwar and like this is a setup in Almora, lot of
textile work happening the looms over here.

(Refer Slide Time: 20:38)

These are some craft forms which are from city palace Udaipur. So, we see the work
here which is done by stained glass there is a play of light and colour. We see here the
paintings which are done on the ceiling which were done in those times with natural
dyes. So, lot of sensitivity involved and connection with the nature celebrating the forms
that we see around us.

(Refer Slide Time: 20:59)

This one is a very famous building in Agra it is called Radha Swami Samadh and here
this exquisite stone crafts, its remarkable work that has been done. So, on the left side we
see lot of stone carving and we see motives from the nature which are done in so much
detail that it appears almost real and 3D. And here on the right side we see the stone
inlay. So, also the colour, so there is green marble, there is white marble, there is red
marble and the weight is put together and contrasted. So, again inlay work is another
craft stone craft.

So, the examples was very few and simple, when we go to the next module then we will
establish more interrelationship we will see more on the craft forms, how are they done,
what is the process involved and how do they have a interrelationship with the interior
architecture, what is the role of craft and technology in creating of interior architecture.
Now, let us have some nostalgia and traverse through the history of Indian crafts. So,
when we talk about Indian crafts it is inevitable that there is a mention of Shilpa Shastra.
(Refer Slide Time: 22:23)

Shilpa Shastra literally means the science of shilpa arts and crafts. It is an ancient
umbrella term for numerous Hindu texts that describe arts crafts and their design rules,
principles and standards. In the context of temple design Shilpa Shastras were manuals
for sculpture and Hindu iconography; Prescribing among other things the proportions of
a sculptured figure composition, principles, meaning as well as the rules of architecture.

They were sixty-four techniques which were mentioned in our Shilpa Shastra it is so
amazing to see the mention of such techniques. Sixty-four techniques for such arts or
crafts sometimes called bahya kala or external or practical arts are traditionally
enumerated, including carpentry, architecture, jewellery, farriery, acting, dancing, music,
medicine, poetry, etcetera.

Beside sixty-four bahya kala or secret arts which include mostly erotic arts while shilpa
and vastu shastras are related, Shilpa Shastras deal with arts and crafts such as forming
statues, icons, stone, murals, painting, carpentry, pottery, jewellery, dyeing textiles and
others. Vastu shastras deal with building architecture, so there is so much mention of all
the different craft forms art forms that we see in our Shilpa Shastras and it is very
fascinating to look back upon them and learn from them. If we see through our history
there is lot of mention and predominance of varied craft forms.
(Refer Slide Time: 24:15)

For example, if we see the kushan period we see there is the mention of sculptures,
jewellery, leather, metal work, then there is mediaeval period where we see the lot of
mention of portray, there is weaving, lot of metal craft came into picture.

Gupta period of words came to be known as the golden age of arts and crafts, and we see
lot of mention of handicrafts, varied forms of paintings, there is inlay work, glass
engraving, then enamelling. Modern periods or another range of varied kind of craft
forms there was sculptures. In fact, more than 84,000 stupas were melt, there was
carving there was relief work, in this valley civilisation we see lot of mention again
potteries, sculptures, stone, terracotta, jewellery was also there which we see a lot in
Indus Valley civilisation. Vedic age head another set of craft forms. So, this gives us a
glimpse that India has been very rich in varied craft forms.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:18)

This is one document which is given by a very famous Stella Kramrisch and then she
talks about treatises on Shilpa Shastras and how in our sculptures and literature there is
lot of mention of art and craft forms.

So, if we see over here Natya Shastra it talks about music and crafts in second century
north India. Then we have Vastu Vidhya, it talks about sculpture, icons, painting, minor
arts and crafts. Then there is a mention of Ratna Shastra, then Ratna Sangraha which
talks about jewellery and there are varied kinds of treatises which will tell us that there
was so many different kinds of craft forms that India had been very rich in, some many
of them originated here few were borrowed, few were a result of intermingling and
invasions. So, I will not discuss in detail, but very quickly I will show the very
interesting craft forms of India.
(Refer Slide Time: 26:17)

This is one map.

(Refer Slide Time: 26:19)

This one talks about the handloom clusters.

This talks about the handicrafts.

(Refer Slide Time: 26:30)

This is the textiles map of India. They are so exquisite and the huge range, so visually we
get to know about them.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:35)

These are some craft maps which are developed by Jaya Jaitly Ji and she has done a
remarkable job they are beautiful. So, to end I would just like to quote craft in India is
not simply about a mechanical process and end product and marketability. In fact, it has
deeper meanings and associations which are influenced by backdrop narratives of
spirituality, religion and everyday life. And I have paraphrased this quote.

(Refer Slide Time: 27:10)

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These are some references. This will be very helpful for all of you to go through this
module in detail.

Thank you.