Search

Youth in formerly colonized countries are very, very passionate about decolonization. The only signs we see of it within India are conversations about appropriated imagery.  Why is that? 

Imperialism in Bharat triggered an identity crisis. Eurocentric selection criteria, beauty preferences and the way dominant cultures produce knowledge are all things that perpetuate unfair power and structural dynamics. Why is Indian jewelry priced lower than French designs? Why is an Italian handwoven shirt worth more than an Indian one? Why do some brands pretend that Indian hands did not make their clothes? The questions matter even if there are no easy answers.

India has a layered history of conquest, meaning Britain was the last imperial power, but not the first. Invasion was frequent and history is long. It is worthwhile to ask, when did Indian-ness in the business of crafts, culture and heritage emerge? What could fashion and craft gain from coming to terms, again, with India's history?

Crafts are at a moment of transformation due to external forces from technological, regulatory and customer changes. These drivers invert the nature of competiton, which could make crafts more valuable than at any time since colonizlization. What should India do to prosper?

This dialogue explores industry research and structural a analysis you won't hear anywhere else.

Can the circular legacy of traditional crafts model change for the rest of the world? The carbon dioxide lifetime equivalent of a cotton handmade rug is 3.5% that of a machine-made rug. Explore the very small environmental footprint of handmades and why that matters more than ever.

This panel is a data-driven dive into Indian craft supply chains with an emphasis on handmade processes as intrinsically circular and regenerative.

Mita Kapur has a rarified view into the what's next for India's creatives and global thought leadership in general. She leads one of India's largest literary agencies, manages the JCB Prize for Literature and Women Up, a leadership conference.

She has deep insight into where culture is headed and how India's crafts and heritage will be perceived in the future. This dialogue is Mita's take on how cultural forces are shaping the business of crafts, culture and heritage. 

Indian royals have roles as stewards of cultural and institutional memory. But, they have other roles too: championing their region's economic development; craft research, documentation and conservation together with their personal passions and goals.

The original context of crafts (important to decolonization conversations) appears to be alive and knowable in India's oral and written history, largely unexamined. India is the only former colony where ages of craft inheritances still exist. This could broaden global conversations about most crafts. Crafts. Culture. and Conservation. This hour is an insider’s guide to the Royal Family of Karauli.

The Industrial Arts of India was a series of global exhibitions with the goal of modernization through inspiration. This talk explores Indian influence on global industrial arts with the showcase of India's highest level of technical and artistic achievement.

Dr. Gupta explores how India always saw herself as the center of making culture. However, exhibition host countries pushed India towards the margins and took credit for India's genius.

This talk traces the gradual translation of adornments into distinctive social clothing. It surfaces traditions of self-exploration, androgynous style and the aristocracy’s need to fit in while visually standing out.

This talk explores the experiences of two grassroots projects: Women’s Integrated and Synergistic Empowerment (WISE) and Women Entrepreneurial Network’s (WEN).

How did they harvest value, document & communicate handmades uniqueness and develop comparative advantage?

How are they making small steps capture real value in the transformation towards Web 3.0?