CrafterSpace

Crafter Space is a "Craft Cluster"

See crafts.janastu.org for an update on ongoing activities

Twenty First century approach to craftsmanship. Because the skills of the craftsmen are traditional, time-tested, and often ancient, the training of craftsmen has generally been stuck in the past, unresponsive to changing markets, applications, competing technologies -- and even blind to the new relevance of craftsmanship in the modern, mechanized world.

Place not only to build skills, but also for craftsmen to band together as entrepreneurs to create new entrepreneurial synergies together. Collective empowerment, taking advantage of talent differentiation and division of effort, creating capacity for scale.

The way things stand today, particularly in the urban context, with the current system of schooling, there is very little exposure to skills and the potential in them as sustainable sources of livelihood. There are strong associations of identity, economics and intellectual capacity that there is a shying away from 'manual labour' as is trickled down through the educational system. This skilling institute, is not a space unique to the training of skills and capacity building but also at the level of attitudes, challenging assumptions, appropriately placing the relevance of skills and their role in the larger ecosystem of society, culture, economics and environment - all humanistically, holistically.

Purpose

The objective of this initiative is to (re)place the role of 'craft' in society as a necessary way forward for the current social, economic, environmental condition. Increasingly, questions and critiques are being raised with regard to how people earn their livelihood. Is money the only motivator for work? Or do people actually want to feel useful and offer value for their 'worth'? How does a question like that get addressed? One of the ways is through the 'revival of skill and more importantly correctly placing, with a dignified approach, these skills as necessary for sustainable economic ecosystems to develop and thrive.

Socially, as mentioned above, dignity of labour comes from a sense of pride, which can come from the recognition of value that such skills have to offer. Economically, money shall begin to flow in the direction of those practising crafts when there is increased appreciation for them. This, may be achieved by introduction of programmes, not only at their physical spaces but also through training programmes, awareness drives, workshops conducted in schools, colleges and other learning spaces, facilitating the creation of an atmosphere for dialogue on the necessity of skill training, its usefulness at the level of the body (it requires labour so it's good for health), mind (it require focus to execute such skills), sociality (it requires an element of social centric design thinking in order to come up with output that is useful and caters to the need of the user), environment (the use of natural fibres and material that is naturally produced, mostly through agriculture, makes the products environment friendly)