Met this extraordinary gentleman today. It was his humility that struck me. Told me that he exports handicrafts. When someone says 'handicraft', I understand it to mean something ornate and ready to crumble to pieces. To be honest, I didn't think too highly of the handicraft industry. So it was easy for me to conclude that he must be a successful, but little known curio exporter. But then, I was curious. And as I spoke to him, the stuff he did for a living, did not sound ordinary. So I asked if I could accompany him to one of his factories at Bagaru Industrial Area, 25kms from Jaipur.
Tut tut. My impression of what 'handicraft' is, has changed. The warehouse of the Dileep Trading Corporation was a museum. To create something in 2004 and make it look as if it was part of the original china onboard the Titanic in 1912, is most definitely, splendid art. The museum warehouse would normally be ignored for a shed that could house defunct aircraft. Once inside, I was convinced that M Night Shymalan could have used stuff from here as props for 'The Village'. There were cookie jars that looked really old, but I was told, that they were manufactured yesterday.
Mr. Dileep works with his team to develop curios for the world market. No he does not advertise. He does not really need to. His clients love his work. No there are no copyright violations. Everything is 100% original, from design, to crafting. But no patents either. If they did, his company would be filing a 100 patents a month. Its not economical, nor practical, he told me. Kids from design schools come to the place to get fundaes. I spent close to two hours touring the place. Awed. Dazed. Spellbound. Brass. Woodwork. China. Was this what they call handicraft ?
Guess what stopped me dead in my tracks. The form of a lady holding her legs close to her body with her forehead resting on her knees. Just the form, in white Plaster of Paris. It was simply beautiful. The delicate shape had been set in a mould. Allowed to harden. Then dusted and smoothened and inspected half-a-dozen times. And finally, packed into a cardboard box that had the words IKEA NÅGON on it. And labelled below, 'Made in India'..
