Treasure trove for interiors

BRINGING EXUBERANT touches of colour and creativity as well as individual responses to traditional craft forms is `Pongal Pokkisham', a treasure chest of craft items which opens at Dakshina Chitra today. Mastercraftsmen and groups from many parts of the country come together to display and demonstrate craft as varied as colourful Chennapatna and Etikopakka utility items, exquisite scroll paintings from West Bengal, Naraspur lace products, coconut shell artefacts and much else. The fair demonstrates the evolving melange of traditional skills and contemporary lifestyle, forms and needs which are increasingly becoming the hallmark of the Indian craft scenario.

`Pongal Pokkisham' offers variety and excitement. Reach for the skies with the most exuberantly coloured kites. Master kitemaker Iqbal Daraz will demonstrate how he crafts his magical kites.

Treat yourself to the exquisitely delineated silk scrolls which tell both mythological and contemporary tales - Gurupada Chitrakar goes into the intricate processes of creating one. And for the home-maker and collector, master craftsperson Peer Mohammed offers a wealth of designer Pattamadai mats, fit for the most sophisticated interiors.

Stunning lace lifestyle products handcrafted by Godavari Delta's Women's Lace Co-operative include very fine crochet table cloths, bedspreads, blouses, table mats, tops and curtains.

Also on display are attractive, superbly finished Chennapatna and Etikopakka lacquerware items such as boxes, jugs, trays, bowls, jars and bangles. And on hand is Chennapatna's Ayub Khan's demonstration of his own ingenious responses to new design forms.

Ramani's dolls from Karaikal, ladies' bags, purses and artefacts, featuring the recently revived bead craft of Chettinad, are the other highlights of `Pongal Pokkisham'. A variety of meticulously crafted cutlery, serving spoons and decorative knicknacks created out of coconut shell and wood, and Chandrasekar's Tanjore paintings are also on show.

Those who are looking for exotic craft forms, Nepal Chandra creates colourful, `Chau' masks, bringing to Chennai the compelling flavours of Orissa.

`Pongal Pokkisham' will be on till January 15, at Dakshina Chitra, East Coast Road, Muttukkadu.

PUSHPA CHARI

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