Brij Ballabh and Deepak Sankit

Brij Ballabh and Deepak Sankit, both award-winning master crafts persons from Jaipur as well as craft entrepreneurs, in the midst of the pandemic, decided to... Read More

Brij Ballabh and Deepak Sankit, both award-winning master crafts persons from Jaipur as well as craft entrepreneurs, in the midst of the pandemic, decided to set up the first Crafts Council in India led and created by artisans themselves. They have held more than 150 zoom and live discussions since then, focussing on the needs of the craft and weaver communities of India, involving every possible stakeholder from artisans, to designers, bureaucrats, non-profits, businesses, stores, exporters, academics, research institutions to see what pathways can be built to nurture, sustain and innovate the thousands of craft traditions of India. One of the first award ceremonies is going to be the 1st CCWA Chhipa Handblock Printing Awards in Jaipur. Jaipur district has multiple centres of hand block printing for centuries like Sanganer, Bagru, Kaladera,  Badagaon Jahota, Jairampura and Jaipur itself. These centres have a long history of royal karkhanas set up since 1700's.The traditional language and culture is still alive and CCWA is video documenting it in their own dialects, recording the living practitioners and masters. They are also making wooden blocks for their first award ceremony to celebrate Chhipa, the caste of handblock printers in the Jaipur region, and printing them on fabric. Brij Ballabh Udaiwal has been sharing the various processes through images and videos on his facebook pages for many years. Show Less